Valentine's Day was a week away, and everyone thought Carlos was nearly over her. He thought he was nearly over her, too. Yet there he was, hiking up the overgrown trail at the back of Levy Park, up into the forest of tall old trees. He hiked for ten minutes, finally reaching the flat boulder next to that familiar crooked tree. He traced the heart he had carved into the side of the tree, and the initials it contained. CH + EG. Carlos Hernandez and Emma Gregg.
At least it had been two weeks since he'd last made the hike. That was progress. Better than when he was doing it every day. Anyways, it was almost Valentine's Day. Wasn't he allowed to think of her, when it was his first Valentine's Day without her after three years with her?
Carlos pulled a Corona out of his jacket pocket and and bag of crackers. He popped open the beer and sipped it while resting on the boulder. Recalling how he'd made love to her on this same boulder, a summer evening that didn't seem like so long ago. The air had been warm, the stars twinkling overhead. Afterwards they perched on the flat rock, leaning against each other, naked, feeling like creatures of the forest. Feeling like they had all the time in the world.
A breeze swirled across the clearing, and the leaves of the crooked tree tickled his hair. He didn't mind. He sipped his beer slowly, chewed his crackers one by one. Letting himself get lost in the memories of a better time.
When the beer was gone, he shoved the empty bottle back in his pocket, and turned over the empty bag, shaking the remaining crumbs out for whatever birds happened by. He looked at that carved heart one more time, let out a long breath, before heading back down the trail.
***
Under the moonlight, Shoga shuffled slowly through the forest. His loose brown skin rustled with every step. He stepped out of the tree cover, and his black eyes peered up at the moon, a thin sliver in the dark sky.
He found Hazhanaesha exactly where he'd expected, stretched out naked on the boulder. She hummed to herself, twisting a curl of her dark brown hair around her finger. She had a long and curvaceous body, and he felt a sudden lust for her which he quickly forced from his thoughts. It was an aspect of her nature to inspire desire, and it affected even him.
"Hazhanaesha! I knew I would find you here. How long can you remain here?" Shoga crept up to the boulder and stopped, gazing down at her with disapproval.
"He came again, Shoga..." she sighed. "Alone. He sat beneath me. I know he thought of her." Hazhanaesha idly traced the skin just below her left breast with a long finger. Her skin was pale as the moonlight, but her finger followed a dark line drawn on her skin, a line that curved in the shape of a heart. Inside the heart, more dark lines, forming letters: CH + EG.
"He comes to think of her," Shoga said. "That is why you are being foolish, my dear."
"I know," she said sadly. "When so much time passes and he's not here, I feel happy, because I know his love for her is fading. But I feel sad as well, knowing that when that love fades, he will no longer come."
"It is not our way to stay in one place like this," Shoga said. "You know that. This life you've lead is for the Unchanging. It is not for you, just as it is not for me. We are meant to walk the forest."
"I know." She leaned back, resting her head against the hard stone. "You told me it was foolish, when he was with her."
"It is still foolish." Shoga shook his head, rustling the leaves that hung around his face. "More foolish, perhaps. From sunrise to sunset, you stand in this spot. For what? To be there on those rare days he comes? So he can look at that heart he put on you and think about his other love? That is no life, Hazhanaesha."
"I love him," she said simply.
"So you've said." Shoga clasped his hands together in front of his broad chest. "A love that can come to nothing. How long will you stand here, waiting for him, when he no longer comes? How many seasons? In the end, he will stop coming. Just as you say. His love for that woman will fade, and he will no longer want to remember this place. He comes here for her, not for you."
Hazhanaesha closed her eyes for a moment. "The way he spoke to her, the way he held her, the look in his eyes.... You never saw these things. I saw them. He took joy from her, just by being with her. Why can't I have that? Sometimes, he looks at me in the same way... but I know he is only looking at this drawing he has put on me, and he is thinking of her..."
Shoga held out his hand. "Come, dear one. We will walk tonight. Over the hills and to the north. By the next moon, we can be in the ring of mountains, by the Lake of Mirrors. You know how beautiful it is there. This man will find someone new, one of his own kind, and his memory will fade from you, as his carving will slowly fade from your skin."
She didn't speak for a long moment, and Shoga had hope that she saw the sense in his words. But then she asked, "Will you give me your DaySoul, Shoga?"
"Hazhanaesha! What are you asking?"
"You've grown it, haven't you? You've been growing it for many seasons?" She looked up at him, her dark eyes imploring.
"Yes, I have! Many seasons! Would you have me spend it on this?"
"Please, Shoga..." She touched his gnarled leg with her fingers. "A day is coming, the Day of Lovers. Let me have just that one day. Then I will do what you ask, I will walk with you, over the hills and to the north. I will leave this place. But please let me have one memory, one memory that I can keep with me."
"It is pointless," Shoga grumbled. But he saw the hope glowing in her eyes, and knew that no matter his show of resistance, he would eventually give in to her request. "Near a hundred seasons, I've grown it," he muttered. "And I'll wait another hundred seasons to grow it again. And for what? A foolish girl who should know better."
"For me." She smiled softly at him. "A foolish girl. And for love."
"Two foolish things, then." He scowled.
**
On Thursday morning, Elena noticed her brother putting on his jacket. "Carlos!" she called to him. "Did you stack the beers in the freezer?"
"Just finished," he said. "I'm going to go for a quick drive. I'll be right back."
"Now? I still need your help getting ready. Valentine's Day is one of our busiest nights, you know."
"I know. I just need to make a quick stop."
She put her hands on her hips. "You're not going to that place in the woods, are you?"
He hesitated, and that was answer enough.
"Carlos! Are you serious? You're still wasting time thinking about her? Even after she cheated on you like that?"
"I know, I know." Carlos looked away. "But it's Valentine's Day, right? The bars going to be packed tonight with people in love, staring at each other with those lovey dovey eyes, talking sweet bullshit at each other... and I gotta be the bartender, serving them drinks and enduring all of it. Meanwhile, Emma's somewhere, probably in some other bar, with that guy, talking the same lovey dovey shit... I just need a moment to reflect, okay? Can you give me a pass today?"
Elena shook her head. "Fine. Do what you gotta do. But don't take too long, all right? I really need your help."
He nodded and headed for his car.
***
Carlos stared, completely stunned.
It was gone.
The boulder was there, of course, and he was positive he was in the right spot. But the tree was gone. He could see the hole where it had been, the loose dirt where it had been pulled out.
Carlos sat heavily on the boulder. He stared at the hole where the tree had been, wondering what had happened. Who had removed it? A vandal? Someone in the forestry service? Had the tree been diseased in some way? Or maybe an animal? Did bears ever uproot trees and carry them away?
