I snorted. “Right? There will probably be some in Maine, too. They usually spend the spring and summer fixing all the potholes and frost heaves from last winter, just in time to get more potholes and frost heaves.”
“At least theytryto fix the potholes,” he muttered. “Looking at you, Pittsburgh.”
“I know, right? There’s one in my old neighborhood that’s been there since before I moved in.”
“Ugh. That tracks. You know, I heard some guy started spray-painting dicks on potholes. Apparently whatever city he lives in couldn’t give a fuck less about potholes, but they think it’s super urgent to get rid of graffiti dicks.”
“I can believe that. Hell, it’d be worth a try, but…” I shrugged. “In the end, we’d probably just end up with every street in Pittsburgh covered in spray-painted dicks.”
He laughed. “Would be pretty funny if nothing else.”
“You’re not wrong.”
The conversation hit a natural lull, and silence held for a moment or two. Then Jesse asked, “So what is there to do in Moosehead Lake?”
I shrugged. “Not a whole lot, honestly. That’s one of the things I like about it.”
“Yeah?”
I nodded, glancing at him before focusing on the road again. “It’s quiet. There’s not much going on. There’s a fair bit of hiking, and this time of year, the leaves are gorgeous. The nights get dark. Like,dark. We probably won’t see the northern lights thistime of year, but I’ve been out there in the dead of winter and seen them.”
“Wow. I’ve only seen them once.”
“Have you?”
“Mmhmm. A couple of years ago when there was that big geostorm—a friend and I took off north and found a park on Lake Erie. Really rural area with almost no light.” He whistled and shook his head. “Thatwas seriously cool.”
“I bet. Well, we probably won’t see them right now.” I paused. “Though thisisthe perfect time to see the moose with their full antlers.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yep. It’s rutting season, so the bulls have thehugeracks right now.”
“Think we’ll see any?”
“Well, if you want to, I know where to look.”
“Where to—what, do they have certain areas they hang out in?”
“Kind of, yeah. There are some old clearcut fields where they like to sleep. If you hang out by those clearcuts at sunrise, you’ll see the moose waking up.”
Jesse was quiet for a moment. “I feel like you’re making that up.”
Laughing, I shook my head. “I swear to God! The first time I went up there, I took a moose-watching tour, and?—”
“Okay, now you’rereallyyanking my chain.”
“I’m serious!” I gestured at his phone in the cup holder. “Look it up. Moosehead Lake moose-watching tours.”
He eyed me. Then he pulled his phone from the cup holder, and I could feel him peering at me as he said, “Hey Siri. Are there moose-watching tours in Moosehead Lake?”
Siri replied, “Here’s an answer from Moosehead Lake Outfitters.”
I glanced at Jesse, who was furrowing his brow at his screen.
Then he laughed. “Wow. Okay. So moose-watching really is a thing.” He dropped his phone back in the cup holder. “Color me interested.”
I chuckled. “That was my response when I found out about it, too. But now I’ve done it enough times, I know where to go, so I don’t have to pay one of their guides.” I patted the dashboard. “And lucky for us, I have four-wheel drive.”
