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Brenda stretched out her legs and leaned back on her elbows. She’d put on a straw hat that shaded her face, but he could see the downward curve of her mouth. This conversation wasn’t making her happy.
He looked at the vista before them, steep slopes of thickly wooded balsam fir and white pine, giant cottonwoods and yellow birch. In the mountains, the fall foliage wasn’t as dramatic because maple trees didn’t grow up here. The flash came from the brilliant molten gold of birch leaves. When the winds came, they’d get blown off the branches in spectacular showers.
“Did I offend you?” he asked, when she hadn’t said anything for a few minutes.
“No,” she said after a pause.
He didn’t believe her. “Remember I said you should tell me if you’re tired and so forth? That applies if you’re annoyed or upset, too. Everyone knows I’m blunt and I say the wrong thing a lot. How can I fix it if you don’t tell me?”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “You said ‘set for life,’ as if that’s what life is. Being safe and taken care of financially. That’s what my mother believes. My father died when I was little—he’s the Bogosian in my name—and almost right away she married my stepfather. But my best friend had all the money she could ever need, and she’s no longer here. Since she died, I don’t see things the way my mother does, not anymore. I don’t think I want to marry just for stability. I guess I’m a rebel in my own boring way. ”
He felt ashamed of himself that he hadn’t seen that. She was living in Lake Bittersweet, after all, teaching elementary school. She wasn’t following what her family wanted. And that wasn’t even counting her gory book writing.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “About your friend.”
“Maura. It’s okay. How would you know?”
A thought came to him out of nowhere.
“Is she the reason you always wear something that’s pink?”
She turned her face toward him, confusion on her lovely features. He experienced a moment of dizziness, of astonishment that he was here alone with her under the vibrant blue sky of September in the mountains. She put a self-conscious hand to her bandanna. “You noticed that?”
“I did.”
She continued to stare at him blankly. Shit. His habit of blurting things out had just bit him in the ass. Now she was going to figure out he had a crush on her.
“Well, you’re right. It’s because of Maura. She had breast cancer, and also her favorite color was pink. We were best friends growing up. Then I went to live with her in Arizona while she was getting treatments. I thought she was going to get better, but she didn’t. It was…it really shook me up when she died.”
He desperately wanted to offer her some comfort, but she seemed to want to talk, so he held his tongue and listened closely.
“I had no reason to stay in Arizona after that. Granny found me the job here, and that’s why I came to Lake Bittersweet. My mother wanted me to go back to Connecticut and go right back to dinners at the country club and so forth. She still puts the pressure on for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, summer vacation, family weddings, graduations, you know the drill.”
He very much did not know the drill. “My family isn’t really like that.”
“What are they like?”
He shrugged, not sure how much she could handle. “My father’s MIA. My mother might be in rehab again, but we don’t really know. My brother Billy sent her some money for it. But we haven’t heard from her since. She didn’t even come to Thomas’ wedding.”
She went quiet. “I’m sorry. You must think I’m a spoiled bitch, complaining about my mother.”
Appalled, he said, “Good God, of course I didn’t think that. Besides, my therapist says there’s no point in comparing people’s suffering. It’s not a competition.”
She swung her face toward him, astonishment making her mouth drop open. “You have a therapist?”
“Yeah. It’s kind of new, but I like it. Gives me some perspective on things. It turns out that I had a pretty fucked-up childhood. We raised ourselves, well, Thomas did a lot, too.”
She touched his forearm gently. “I’m glad you have your brothers.”
It was hard for him to focus with her hand on his arm. It wasn’t just a fleeting touch, either. She let her hand linger. When she took it away, he realized his heart was hammering. He cleared his throat. “My brothers are the best. I’d die for either of them. They would too, except they both have kids now so I wouldn’t let them.”
That got a smile from her. “Please don’t die until you get me off this mountain.”
They smiled at each other, and, perfectly in sync, brought an end to their rest break.
As they hiked the next portion of the trail, the incline steepened. Galen kept a careful eye out for bear sign. This was the time of year when the black bears would be making their way toward hibernation. They were fat and lumbering after a long summer of feasting on fish and berries. No bear was looking for a fight, but if they ran across a human they would react, either warily or aggressively.
He spotted one pile of bear dung, but judged it to be about three days old. He showed it to Brenda, who took a photo of it.
