Leoti by Sienna Mynx

it on a shelf out of her reach. He’d give it to her, possibly tonight. “What are you doing?” she asked sitting down at the table. She opened a bag of chips.
    “Thought I saw one of the masks I made up there, just checking,” he said turning to smile at her. “Now, let’s have lunch.”
     

Chapter Five
     
    Tiffani mentioned a rental office. He hoped she was right. He could find no resort or any hotels in the area she would have stayed in. And the deeper he drove into the valley the more he dreaded night travel through the mountains.
    Many questions hammered him over and over. Already he was losing his nerve on the marriage issue. In fact if he were honest it was the silent treatment she put on him that had him ditching a gig and driving through Montana to find her. She was his. Not a day since he’d met her was he ever denied access to her love and forgiveness. It was going on two weeks since they last spoke.
    Carlton took a deep breath and gripped the steering wheel. The next turn off the highway drew him closer to Mission Creek, home of the Blackfoot Confederation of Native Tribes. So the sign read. His gaze dropped to the digital display on his dash. It was a quarter past three. He’d gas up and find this rental office. Wheeling into the small station he threw the car in park and looked around. A young man in a grease-stained shirt with faded jeans walked out. A wad of chewing tobacco was stuffed under his bottom lip. He shot a stream of dark spit to the side and squinted at him. Opening the door he met the attendant halfway.
    “Gas?” the guy mumbled.
    Carlton reached behind his back and plucked his wallet from his pocket. He looked over the rim of his dark aviator shades passing the guy a twenty-dollar bill. Dirt caked fingernails grasped the crisp bill the attendant accepted and started the pump.
    “Excuse me,” Carlton said.
    The young man glanced up from under his cap moving his gummed down wad around to the side of his jaw. “Yeah?” he spit again.
    “The cabins, is there a rental office here? A place to rent one?”
    The guy smirked looking him over. “Nah, private owned. Though Milton Jennings runs maintenance on a few, he can help you rent one if you want.”
    “Where can I find this Milton?”
    “He works out of Nate’s Foods and Produce doing odds and ends. It’s a mile up the road. Try there now.”
    “Thanks.”
    Carlton got back in, and he soon located the general store. He noticed again the emptiness of the town. Where was everybody? When he got out he put his sunglasses in his front pocket and strained to see through the storefront window. There was movement.
    “Good they’re open,” he said pulling on the door, but it held firm.
    “Go away we’re closed!” An old man with a grey beard yelled.
    “Open up please!” he said between pounds on the door.
    “Go away, come back tomorrow we got a busted pipe in here.” Nathan dismissed pushing something that looked like a mop handle.
    Now what was he to do? He wasn’t even sure where to start. “I need a moment! I’m lost,” he called back to him through the door. The elderly gentleman turned, his cataract eyes narrowed slightly at Carlton. After a long pause he set aside the mop handle and shuffled toward the door. Carlton stepped back, the door was unlocked and pushed open, and the overall clad gentleman gave him a questioning look.
    “Son, I can’t let you in, I’m knee deep in here. One of the freezer pipes busted. Sorry.”
    “Is Milton here?” he asked.
    The name registered. Frown lines replaced the wrinkles above his brow and around his eyes formed. “Milton’s gone.”
    Carlton sighed. “I need to find a guest, a renter of one of the cabins. Can you tell me where I can?”
    “Sorry can’t help you, Milton will be back in a few. You can wait outside if you want,” he started to close the door.
    “Wait,” Carlton threw up his hand on the closing door. He retrieved his wallet. Instinct said that his Josie