The trail led to the water after only a mile or two, and I left the trail and crossed the creek at its thinnest point, putting me on the side closest to town. Following the water rather than the trail, I meandered until I was in a nice, secluded area with no houses in sight.
As I walked, I let my mind wander as I usually did when hiking. I enjoyed going out on these hikes with Finn, but since he and Wendy got together, our hikes tended to be more scheduled. He had invited me on a hike and fishing expedition for a few weeks from Sunday that I was excited for, but until then, I was going to have to explore on my own. And I didn’t mind too much.
As I found a spot where the dirt gave way to gravel, I thought about as the life I was building. Here the creek widened to several dozen yards across, feeding into a lake. It was peaceful and quiet out there, and with the sun high overhead, I realized I had walked for quite some time. My legs were tired, and I wondered how close to a neighborhood I must be. There were houses across the lake with boats. I could just make out that a small street wound around that side, and there were more houses hidden by trees.
Figuring I was probably as far as I should go, I sat down, pulling out the fire-making materials and the pot. I filled the pot with water and strained it through a collapsible colander, catching the filtered stuff in another pot below. Then I made the fire and got it blazing before making a makeshift spit to hang the pot on. Once it was up, I sat back and waited for the sounds of boiling before I filtered it again and then returned the water to the pot to boil again.
I had just reached inside my bag to get the tea bags when I heard a crunch of leaves and a thumping sound behind me. The sun was nearing the setting time, and it had grown hot enough that I had removed my jacket and opened my shirt. I looked up, trying to see if I could find the source and couldn’t believe my eyes.
“Malia?” I asked, shocked.
“Gerry?” she said back, hobbling her way down the small hill. “What are you doing out here?”
“I followed the creek to the lake. Do you live out this way?”
“I do,” she said. “My sister’s place is right back that way. This is technically on her property.”
“No kidding,” I said. “I had no idea. I’ve hiked down this way before, but I didn’t realize this was your place.”
“How funny,” she said.
She was almost to me now, standing just above a little hill that looked like it would be more difficult to get down than she should be trying.
“I’ll pack up and head on out,” I said. “I didn’t realize I was trespassing.”
“You don’t have to go,” she said quickly, making me smile.
“I don’t want to intrude,” I said. “I can help you down if you’d like to join me for some tea.”
“That sounds nice.” She looked back up the hill toward where I assumed the house was, then grinned and looked back. “Or you could come up with me and help me to my place. I could repay you in cold drinks.”
The combination of my parched throat and the siren song of her voice was all I needed.
“Deal. Just let me kill this fire.”
17
MALIA
There was nothing that could have prepared me for seeing Gerry down by the lake.
Ever since I moved in with my sister, the lake was a place I felt was almost healing in its own way. Even without a leg, I found it rather easy to get down to the little ridge, and since it was getting chilly, I didn’t bother to go further. I figured once my prosthetic was in, I would start going down off the ridge and dipping my toes in the water occasionally.
I was aware that hikers sometimes went through that part of the yard, and being a single woman and responsible at that, Dee was always pretty cautious about making sure she knew who was out there and when. We had a trail camera on the tiny dirt trail leading to the water, and sometimes I would just stare at the screen it was attached to. I enjoyed the serenity of the lake and the woods surrounding it.
But when I saw someone out there, I went on alert immediately. I was glued to the screen for a few minutes until I thought I recognized the person. Then it hit me that the familiar shape wasn’t just familiar. It was Gerry.
I slipped on my sneaker and checked myself in the mirror. Thankfully, I had just done a video and still had full makeup on and was dressed nicely. Grabbing my crutches, I headed outside and down the path toward the lake. I still went a little slowly just in case it wasn’t him and I had to double back quickly, but as I got to the edge of the tree line, I tripped. I was just able to catch myself against a tree when I looked up and found Gerry staring back at me.