"No plans for the day." I'd already emailed my boss at the forest service and the dev guys at my other job. They know they won’t be hearing much from me until I get back into my house.
"So you live on the mountain?" Claudia asks.
"I do. We don't have to talk if you don't want to. You can rest."
"You're not much of a talker?" Something in her voice makes my blood rush to all the wrong places. I shift in my seat.
"I can be."
"So you live on the mountain?" she urges again.
"Yeah, most of my life. That's my grandfather's place. But it's just me now."
"So we have something in common." I tilt my head. "It's just me too. It was just Miles and me. We lost our parents right after I graduated from college."
"Claudia—" She shakes her head a little.
"You know, I hate the woods. I hate camping. I’m a city girl. Manhattan is the place for me. But Miles just finished his residency at Stanford and he wanted to get away for a while so I flew three thousand miles to catch up with my brother, get in that sibling quality time we’d been missing so much. Some fucking getaway."
"They caught him. The guy who attacked your brother. He'll get life for this. Maybe more,” I tell her.
"Good." A few tears run down the side of her face. She quickly wipes them away with a tissue she’s gripping in her other hand. "Do you like it here? I didn't get to see too much of the town before we headed up the trails. It seems nice. At least the nurses are nice."
"Have the sheriff's boys been treating you alright?” I ask.
"Yeah. I got a little bit of the hysterical woman treatment, but I know they are just worried and a little out of their depth maybe. They weren’t being dicks or anything though.”
"I'm sure they'll let you out of here soon."
"I’m not looking forward to a six hour flight banged up like this, but it'll be nice to sleep in my own bed."
"Is there anyone you need me to call?" I don't know what makes me offer. Fern has probably made sure it was taken care of herself.
"I wasn't due back to work until Wednesday, but I told them who to look up."
"Good."
"It hasn't even hit me yet and I just miss him. I've gone months without seeing my brother, but just the idea that I'm never gonna see him again..."
"It's a lot."
"It's a lot,” she says.
"When something bad would happen, my grandfather used to tell me to imagine all the ways it could have been worse."
She lets out a harsh burst of laughter. More tears stream down her face. She doesn’t bother wiping them away. "Oh please. Try me."
"They could have been clowns,” I say. “I've encountered some crazy shit in these woods, but never clowns."
She laughs for real this time. "Oh my god. That would have been fucking awful." She laughs a little harder, grabbing her side. "Oh my god. I wouldn't have run. I would have sprouted wings and flown the fuck out of there."
"Yeah, if I'd seen a clown when I opened my door, you would have been on your own." I chuckle a bit myself, watching her as her laughter becomes a bit more hysterical. And then it hits that point. She finally cracks. That moment I think she's been waiting for finally hits. She loses it and starts sobbing.
I look over as Cliff throws the door open, making her jump. She starts shaking.
"Jesus, dude," I say. "Just give her a second."
"Sorry," he says, realizing his mistake. He eases back, closing the door all the way.
