“A Mustang.”
“Not Jeremy’s sixty-six Fastback?”
“That’s the one.”
“Nope. I can’t let you drive that up that road. Jeremy would haunt me sure as I’m sitting here if anything happened to that car on my watch.”
“You and me both,” she said with a laugh.
“He did love that car.”
“I know. That’s all I can think of when I’m driving it. Another long story.”
His lips pulled into a thin line. “I’ll drive.”
“Do you really think it wouldn’t be good for the car? Or are you kidding?”
“When it’s dry, it’s not a problem, but the least bit of bad weather and you’ll want to have four-wheel drive. You could get a four-wheeler to leave at the road, but that would be a miserable ride to the house. Out of respect to Jeremy, because he loved that car as much as he loved you, I recommend you find a place to park it, and use it as a Sunday driver.”
“I wasn’t planning on having to buy a truck.” That would make things tight, and there was no way she could sell this car.
“You don’t seem the truck type. Now, Jeremy. He was the truck type. What happened to his truck? Or is that part of the long story too?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Jeremy and I grew up together. We were like brothers. Did you know that?”
“It’s really good to get to know you.”
“I never thought he’d leave Chestnut Ridge, but one day he just up and left. He’d never talk about it. Thank goodness forthe occasional hunting weekends, but you know there weren’t that many of those.”
“And now he’s gone,” she said quietly.
“Yeah. Still can’t believe that either.” There was a long silence until he cleared his throat and changed the subject. “You came up here with him a few times. I remember.”
“That was before I realized the cabin was the unofficial man cave. I thought it was best to let him enjoy that. He always worked so hard. He loved coming up here.”
“He missed you when he did. Talked about you nonstop. I feel like I know you, even though we only met that once.”
She didn’t remember meeting him before.
“Are you thinking to sell the place?”
“No. Actually, I thought I might stay up here.”
“By yourself?”
“Yeah. Why? Do you think that’s not a good idea?”
He eyed her. “I don’t know. It’s just kind of rugged terrain out there. A little bit of a hike from where you can park—” He got up and walked around the desk. “Doesn’t matter what I think. I don’t even know you. It is one of the most beautiful places on this mountain, though, and we’ve done a lot with the place since the last time you were up here. Come on. I’ll take you up there.”
“Thanks.” She followed his long strides out to a fire-engine-red Ford F450 pickup. He opened the passenger door for her and shut it once she was buckled in.
It was a nice truck. The whole King Ranch package and all. It smelled of new leather still. The truck was as neat and orderly as his office. A phone cord lay coiled next to the cupholder,and there wasn’t a single thing on the floorboard or littering the seats.
He hopped in, and they sped off down the road. “Your GPS would probably take you this way and tell you to turn here.” He pulled off the side of the pavement where a dirt road trailed off to the right. “Don’t follow that. Youcanget there from here, but a few places flood, and it can get a little iffy. I’ll show you how I go.”
Back on the pavement, he drove about another four miles. The road twisted and curved as they climbed the mountain.
