“Would he eat it?”
“I doubt it. I hope not. He’d probably just give it a good shake. But I wouldn’t want to find out.” He whistled and Charlie careened back in their direction, crashing through the understory, snapping twigs as he came.
Cassie laughed. “No wonder he’s never caught anything; he sounds like a freight train.”
Glenn fed the dog a treat from his pocket. “He’s not exactly subtle, but you know where you stand with him.”
She was tempted to ask if the same applied to him, but she didn’t know him well enough yet to tease. Subtle wasn’t the right word anyway since that implied indirectness, and Glenn was most definitely direct. He might have been the most direct person she’d ever met.
She felt a tug of uneasiness about Weber. Glenn would be appalled that she was talking to him. She doubted they would be here right now if she’d told him. She knew enough of him already to picture how his body language would change, how he would close up and become unreachable if she confessed she wanted to hand over her dad’s property to a developer. He’d been so passionate that night at the hearing and the thought of his stony disapproval left a tight, unhappy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She needed to be honest; this was too big a thing to leave unsaid.
The trail narrowed and she dropped back, trying to enjoy the hike and not conjure potential problems. It had rained the day before, and the path was spongy in spots. She watched where Glenn planted his feet and tried to do the same. At one point they skirted a marsh, and he pointed out the floppy leaves ofskunk cabbage and snapped on the leash so Charlie wouldn’t roll in the muck.
When the trail became rocky and started to climb, Cassie tied her windbreaker around her waist. She felt better on firm ground, away from the sticking mud. Walking in the woods gave her a surprising sense of peace. She felt smoothed out somehow, the tightness that always rode with her receding. It was enough to put one foot in front of the other and listen to the birds. And Glenn was happy here. She could see the way his whole body relaxed, how his smile welled up out of nowhere and lingered when he looked at her.
They scrambled up a craggy section of trail, and he stopped to point out a rock that looked like a layer cake, huge slabs of stone resting one on top of the other like a giant had slathered them there. “Glacial erratics,” he said, “left over from when the ice retreated. Eighteen thousand years ago this whole area was covered by ice. All the way up to Canada. Two miles deep, if you can believe it.” He angled her a look. “That’s taller than any of your skyscrapers.”
She brushed a hand over the rock, marveling at the force of an ice sheet that could tumble such giant boulders.
They unpacked their lunches on a flat rock overlooking the surrounding hills. “The view’s better in winter,” he said, “but this time of year you can’t see any houses, so that’s a plus.” He made Charlie lie down and handed Cassie a sandwich. “He’s a beggar so don’t feel sorry for him.”
“I completely forgot there were houses around. It feels like the middle of nowhere.”
He smiled broadly as he unwrapped his sandwich. “That’s the idea. So much of this area has been developed, but there’s pockets like this where you can see how the land used to look. Not even that long ago.” He took a bite of his sandwich. “Sorry, I’ll shut up. I’m being a bore.”
“No, you’re not.” The rock was just big enough for the two of them, and she sat close to him in the sun, their knees touching. A low hum of happiness started up inside her. She tossed the last scrap of sandwich to Charlie, who bellied forward to reach it. Glenn poked her gently in the side. “You’re encouraging him.”
She leaned into him. She should tell him about Weber, but she couldn’t bear to bring it up. It would spoil everything. Always so hard to deal with unpleasant topics, dig them out of the rootbound place they lived. Her mother, her own genetic fears and now the hard truth about the house.
Glenn looped an arm around her. “I’m glad you like it up here. I didn’t know if you would.”
“Why not?” But she knew why not. It was obvious she wasn’t an outdoorsy kind of person. She lived in the city and ran on concrete. She had a million pairs of shoes but didn’t own hiking boots. She’d muddied up her runners today. “Do I look that out of my element?”
“Not at all.” He drew her close. “You look amazing.”
“I wasn’t looking for a compliment.” She laughed, but he was so close and his eyes were that gorgeous smokey gray and when he bent to kiss her everything else flew from her head.
He kissed her the way she remembered from the other night, maybe even better, and they might have gotten into an uncomfortable position on that rock, but Charlie nudged her arm with a cold nose.
She yelped, startling Glenn, who knocked over their water bottles. They clattered off the rock, scaring Charlie, who’d begun investigating the cookies in her backpack.
“Well that was a mood killer,” Glenn grumbled, but he tousled Charlie’s head and fed him part of a cookie when he thought Cassie wasn’t looking. They relaxed in the sun, and she told him about her trip to the city and how she and Phil had decided to sell the apartment.
“Are you okay with that?” he said. They were sitting on the ground now, their backs against the sunbaked rock.
“It’s the right thing to do, but there’s a lot of things I’ll miss.” She gave him a wry smile. “You wouldn’t think much of it, but it’s a great apartment by New York standards. The whole place would fit into my dad’s kitchen and family room, maybe the mud room too. But Andrew grew up there, and I have a lot of memories.”
He trailed a finger down her shoulder. “I get that. I thought about selling the house at one point but couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
“That’s just it. It’s harder than I thought it would be.”
“How’s Andrew taking it?”
She shrugged. “He understands why it has to happen, but that doesn’t make it any easier. He’s having a rough time in general right now.” She glanced over at him. “You never told me about Lilah’s visit with her mom. How did that go?” She was dying to know about the ex.
“Surprisingly well.” He sat up, restless all of a sudden. “I had my doubts, but Sophie…er…my ex…actually stepped up. She says she wants to be more involved.” He shrugged obliquely. “We’ll see.”
“How does Lilah feel about it?”
