A twig snapped nearby. She jumped violently and muffled a gasp. Her heart beat such a harsh rhythm against her throat and ribs it felt as though it shook her entire body. Tears trailed down her cheeks as the sound of his work boots crushing the brush came closer. She cowered against the trunk of the tree, hoping the branches were thick enough to hide her. Her arm, smeared with sticky pine tar, ached from the wrenching he had given it. The needles from the branch that hide her, poked and itched in a thousand different places.

"Oh Lord, why did I come out with him?" she asked herself in despair. "I knew it was wrong." She had been flattered by his attention. He had made her feel special. She never felt special at home.

The thudding of heavy boots came closer still. She fought the urge to run again. His boots were steel-toed work boots like those worn by miners to protect their feet. She had noticed them earlier when he came to pick her up.

The sun was setting and she could already tell the temperature was dropping. Reaction set her teeth to chattering and she clinched them together to control the reaction. She worried about snakes in the underbrush. Her daddy had told her only yesterday that dog days had set in and that snakes were on the move. He claimed they were more apt to strike during dog days than any other time.

The toes of the boots stopped a foot and a half away. He muscles went weak with fear and she pressed her body tightly against the trunk of the tree.

"Jessie!" The sound of his voice was loud in the silence of the woods and she jerked.

"I'm sorry, Jessie. I didn't mean to hurt you." He eased forward a little, the weight of his movements breaking the fallen pine branches close beside her.

It hurt to swallow. Her neck felt as though the skin had been scraped away in spots. His big rough hands had grasped her jumper and the material had rubbed against her throat as she'd struggled to get away from him.

"Come on, Jessie. I'll buy you something nice to make it up to you."

He was always buying her things, a luxury she had never known before. The welfare checks didn't cover much more than food and clothing and precious little of that. Everything he bought her she kept hidden so her sisters wouldn't go blabbing about it to her mama, or take it for themselves.

"Please, Jessie, I promise to be good and keep my hands to myself. You just got me too worked up this time."

She felt guilty over her own part in the kiss and cuddle session. She should have stopped him sooner. It was difficult for her to say no and stand up to him though. She felt beholden to him for all the things he bought her. She’d really liked him until he had tried to hold her down.

"Jessie, Jessie, it's getting dark and I need to get you home. You don't want your mama wondering where you’ve been, do you?"

No, she didn't want that. Her mama would skin her if she found out she'd been up in the mountains with a man.

The boots moved to the right. "I promise I won't get anywhere near you, if you don't want me to."

He sounded as though he truly meant it. She began to wonder about her judgment of him. Maybe she had him pegged all wrong and he really hadn't meant her any harm. She began to worry about her mama again and what she would think if she found out about him. She touched her skinned throat delicately, still not quite convinced.

"Jessie, please come out. I promise I'll keep my distance if you do."

The combination of pleading sincerity in his tone and the fear of being caught doing something she knew was wrong was a pressure she couldn't resist. "Promise?" she asked. Her voice quavered like an anxious child’s.

"I promise," he agreed, then took a step back away from the tree.

She had to crawl on her hands and knees from beneath the branches. She brushed at the pine needles that clung to her clothing and hair before she looked up at him. Embarrassment wrestled with the last remnants of her fear as her eyes touched his face then skittered away.

"You shouldn't have teased me, Jessie." There was a chill in his voice she had never heard before. "You shouldn't have run off like that either."

"I didn't mean to tease you none," she denied weakly. The dimming light gave little more than an impression of his features.

"You shouldn't promise things and then not follow through."

She hadn't promised him anything. She didn’t know what he was talking about.

"All girls are good for is to tease a man. You shouldn't tease us if you don’t have any intention of giving it out."

She was beginning to get scared again. He sounded funny, sort of distant and cold. "You-you said you was going to take me back," she reminded him, her voice quivering fearfully. Her hands worked at the material of her jumper.

"She didn't keep her promises either."

"Who?" Jessie asked, her voice dwindling to a whisper.

He remained silent for a moment then said, "We better go."

She was eager to do that and hurried ahead of him up the hill to the gravel road that she had run down earlier. Their feet crunched loudly upon the surface, startling a squirrel and causing it to scamper up the nearest tree.

She began to feel a deep sense of regret by the time they had reached the clearing where they had left their picnic things. The afternoon had been so good. They had eaten a late lunch together beneath the trees and wandered the footpaths nearly all afternoon. The wild flowers she had picked along the way were still clumped together at one corner of the blanket. She bent to pick up the crumpled bouquet and missed something he was saying.

"What?" she asked, turning to face him. Pain exploded in her head and neck and tiny points of light danced behind her eyes.

"You should always keep your promises..." she heard him say as though from the bottom of a deep dark tunnel. "I'm going to teach you how important that is, Jessie."