“Only if I'm leaving my property. It's not for humans. It's for mountain lions and bears. Years ago they'd all be settled in for the winter by now, but now—”
“Fucking climate change. Okay well, let's hope we don't run into any bears.” She pulls a pair of gloves out of her pocket and puts them on.
“You ever seen one in real life?” I ask.
I open the front door and Titus bolts down the steps and down the driveway. Claudia looks between us as I hand her the leash. I lock the front door, then I turn and take her gloved hand.
“No, I haven't and I'd like to keep it that way. We need the dog right? He didn't just take off for Vegas did he?”
I chuckle at how wide her eyes are. “He knows the routine. Come on.” I lead her off the porch and around the north side of the house to the mouth of the trail at the rear of my property.
“Uh. So. Can you see in the dark ’cause…I don't see a flashlight or handy cellphone light in your other hand,” she says once we clear the reach of my security lights.
“I know where I’m going and if you wait a minute you’ll see it’s not pitch black out here. There’s a difference between dark and zero visibility.”
“What in sweet nature man hell?”
I laugh. “Just relax and hold onto my hand.”
“Oh I’m not letting go for sure. You can believe that.”
I laugh again then slip my fingers into my mouth and let out a wolf whistle. It takes a few moments, but I can hear Titus’s tags jiggling as he sprints around the side of the house. He slams into the side of my leg. I grab his collar and take the end of the leash from Claudia and clip it on, then hand it back to her.
“Think you can handle him?”
“Yeah, Mr. Grylls. You just keep your eye out for woodland creatures who want to eat me and I'll handle the pupper. I’m too cute to be mauled.”
“I promise. You’ll be safe. Come on.” I lead her down the trail, holding the conversation until we get to the clearing. Claudia’s not much for silence, but I can tell by the way she’s gripping my hand she might be too afraid to talk. I ask her if she’s okay and she quietly replies with a yes. After about a mile, the sky above us is already starting to grow brighter through the trees. There’s still another hundred yards through the forest before we reach our destination, but the small gasp she lets out tells me she sees exactly what I see. The break in the trees and the wooded valley beyond.
I stop when we reach the clearing and take Titus’s leash from Claudia’s hand.
“Shep,” she says quietly.
“Nice, huh?”
“Nice my ass. It’s amazing. I think—I think this is what Miles wanted to show me. We just didn’t get this far.”
“I think he might have been taking you up to Grafton’s Notch. That has a different view. You can only get this if you come from my property.”
“It’s really amazing. And we can watch the sunrise from here?”
“Mhmm. You want to have a seat?” I say as I nod over to a boulder a few dozen yards off the trail that has a natural ledge cut into its facade.
“Yeah.” I let her lead the way. The rock is wider than it is tall and the ledge itself isn't that high off the ground. She hops up with ease and takes Titus’s leash from me so I can set my gun before I climb up.
“I think we need more of a concrete plan to take some of the stress off you,” I say once we’re settled.
“Okay. Let’s hear this plan.”
“I’m not going to ask you to leave. I don’t want you to. So let’s just shelve that idea for the rest of your time here.”
She lets out a deep breath that turns into a sigh. “Okay. I can do that.”
“And I think we need to talk about what happened. I might not be a medical professional, but I do care about you and I do consider you to be a friend even if we’re still getting to know each other. You can talk to me.”
“I appreciate that and I guess you’re right. For a long time I felt like you might be the only person I could talk to about it.”
“You can, but I think we should balance it out with something else. I came up with a list of positive ice breaker questions,” I say as I pull out my phone.
