Chase had no clue why she was so excited about going to the river and trying her hand at fishing. She’d never thought much about fishing before, other than seeing it on TV or passing some old guys sitting on buckets lining the piers on the California beaches. The smell from their bait had made her nauseated, but for some reason, tromping through Northern California with Grizzly Adams was appealing. Yes, she knew who Grizzly Adams was because her father had acted on a few shows with the guy who played him in a television series. She couldn’t remember his name, but he’d been an animal trainer who had turned actor. Her father had showed her the programs one time, and Chase had marveled at the bear and man living such a dangerous yet somehow desirable existence. Little did she realize that the mean streets of Beverly Hills would be more unforgiving with just as many rattlesnakes.

“So you said it’s unlikely I’ll catch a fish. I thought you were a guide. Don’t you get paid to help people catch fish?” she asked.

“Are you paying me?” He stopped and lifted a shaggy brow. He so needed to wax those things.

“If you get lucky,” she drawled, stepping around him.

“Don’t play with fire, actress.”

“You’re good at the clichéd lines, huh?” she joked. Flirting with Zeke had proven entertaining. Almost as fun as aggravating Olivia. Of course, now she didn’t have to worry about that. The therapist’s sister was starring in that role. Chase had become the understudy.

“You can say that again,” Zeke quipped.

Chase laughed and looked up at the sun in the sky, then back at the pasture beneath the rays. Seemed to her as if Mother Earth had taken a deep breath and exhaled the world she wished—strewn with bright blossoms, dotted with buzzing flies, and wrapped in vivid colors of azure, smoke, and straw. She liked being in this beauty with Zeke. She felt like almost a different person, someone who belonged, if only for a moment, to this world.

They reached the edge of the woods, and Zeke pointed out a path to her right. Dressing that morning, she’d pulled on tennis shoes, but when she’d emerged with them on her feet, Zeke had shaken his head and pulled out a pair of waterproof boots that were about as stylish as a garbage bag. Of course, she’d once gone to a show in Paris where the designer had dressed his models in actual Hefty garbage bags. Supposedly, it was a message on the nonrenewable earth. Chase suspected the guy had missed the point since he had actually used plastic in the collection.