one
Hallie
Thevacancysignishand-lettered. Just a notecard in the window, black marker, someone's actual handwriting. I pull into the lot and sit there with the engine running, staring up at the Victorian hotel.
Silver Ridge.
Never heard of it. Didn't plan to end up here. I drove north until north stopped making sense, then west, the highway shrinking down to two lanes and then one and then just dark mountain curves with my headlights doing their best. Then streetlights. A main street. A sign that saidBrooks Boutique Hoteland in the window, that card.
Vacancy.
Okay.
The woman at the desk is still up. She greets us with a smile, doesn’t ask too many questions, and slides me a key.
"How long are you thinking?" she asks.
"I'm not sure yet."
She writes something. I lean to see.Open-ended.Like it's a standard option.
Maybe it is. Maybe that's what this hotel is.
Theo is a deadweight on my shoulder going up the stairs. He wakes up just enough to say "where?" and I say "bed" and that's the whole conversation. I get his shoes off and get him under the covers, and he's gone before I've straightened up.
I stand in the middle of the room for a while. There are extra blankets folded on the chair. The window looks out at the mountains, dark shapes against a dark sky.
I sleep with my hand on his back.
He's awake before the sun rises, standing next to the bed, holding a button he's found somewhere.
"Hungry," he says.
"Good morning to you too."
"Good morning. Hungry."
I Google the local diner and then take us to Juniper’s, which is already full with the morning rush.
Theo gets pancakes. I get eggs and coffee and then more coffee. The waitress has a grey braid and moves like someone who's been doing this for thirty years and does not need your input. I like her immediately.
Theo eats with the single-minded focus of someone who has decided pancakes are the only thing that exists. He gets syrup on his elbow somehow. I hand him a napkin. He ignores it.
I watch the street. Every car. Every grey truck. Brad drives a Silverado, dark grey, nothing remarkable about it. That's thething about Brad, nothing about him is remarkable, you'd never clock him coming.
I know he doesn't know where we are. I turned off location sharing in Kamloops, paid cash after that, drove routes that didn't make obvious sense. I know all of this.
I watch anyway.
"Mama."
"Mm?"
"That bird."
Magpie on the windowsill. Big, bold, looking straight at Theo like they have an appointment.
"That's a magpie."
