Page 24 of Off the Trail

“And then I’ll run some errands and let you boys have the TV to yourselves,” she says.

“You don’t have to leave,” I say. “You like baseball.”

“I love baseball, but I have stuff to do. Now you better change for your new baseball bestie.”

I don’t come up with a reply to her teasing because I’m honestly stressed. I throw on some jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, then a flannel, slip into my socks and boots, brush my teeth, and then I remember Brooke never finished telling me what she started to over breakfast.

But I can’t ask her about it because when I leave my room, I find she’s already changed into a similar outfit of jeans and sweatshirt. She’s also opened the door and is ushering Shawn inside. I must have missed his knock.

He’s wearing jeans, too, and the light blue crew neck sweater he wore the other day when we ran through the rain together. He’s got on the plain baseball cap that makes his eyes look extra green. There’s an uncomfortable buzz in my ears as he sees me and smiles. “Hey,” he says, sounding happy to see me.

For the first time, it occurs to me I’m actually in serious trouble here.

Chapter 10

Shawn

Blaze’s sister Brooke is friendly and welcoming as she invites me inside. Their place is small, but homey. Lived in. Misty comes up to greet me, sniffing around my ankles and wagging her backside happily when I scratch behind her silky ears. It’s so different from my comfortably minimalist cabin at the retreat. I let out a breath, happy to find this refuge of normalcy. They have a lumpy brown couch and a flat-screen TV perched on an old trunk kitty-corner from a fireplace. I spot a laptop on the kitchen table, which is covered in the stuff that makes up a life: papers and magazines and reusable grocery bags. It feels like a home. It smells like one, too—cinnamon and dog and the faint whiff of charred pine from some previous use of the fireplace.

Where Brooke is friendly, Blaze isn’t unfriendly—he just seems a little caught off guard. Which is probably my fault. I took his invitation to come over and watch the game at face value and didn’t think about how I’m encroaching on his weekend.

All I was thinking about, to be honest, was how much I’ve been looking forward to seeing him again.

“We’re just finishing up breakfast. Do you want some pancakes?” he asks, glancing toward the kitchen.

“They smell great, but no. I’m full from my own breakfast.” Maybe this was a mistake. “I’m a little early for the game. Should I come back later?”

“No,” Blaze says quickly.

His sister seems to be hiding a smile behind the palm of her hand.

“No, it’s fine,” he says in a more normal tone. “But we were going to head over to the new house and check out the progress. You can come with us.”

I glance at Brooke, who nods, not hiding her smile any longer. I’m curious about the construction project Blaze has mentioned more than once. “Okay. Thanks.”

“So, Shawn,” she says as the three of us and Misty leave the house on foot. We follow the packed sand road that runs around the perimeter of the lake. “When did you arrive in Maine?”

I count back. “About a week and a half. Wow. It feels like both five minutes and a month. Maybe it’s the ‘no internet’ thing.”

“Ah yes, how are you surviving on Marika’s internet diet?” She sounds amused, like it’s some hippie quirk of the retreat owner.

“It was weird at first, but it’s been kind of nice not knowing what’s going on in the outside world.”

We chat about the retreat a little more, and then a bend in the road reveals an opening cut through the trees on the lake side. We walk down the evidently recently graded driveway, which gains elevation as it tops a little hill. Behind another copse of evergreens is a cleared area and a small construction site. Misty puts on speed, chasing a chipmunk who vanishes into the foliage at the edge of the cleared area.

“They’ve made so much progress,” Brooke observes, though to me it doesn’t look very far along. There’s a concrete pad and some two-by-fours sticking up from it, a stack of lumber on the ground nearby. Also, an idle digging machine and what looks like some kind of large table saw. No workers—it being Saturday. A chill wind kicks up, and I shiver. It suddenly not only feels decidedly autumn-like, it’s clear winter isn’t that far-off, either.

“Didn’t you say you want to get the roof on before the snow comes?” I ask.

“That’s the plan,” Blaze says. “Come on.” He gestures for us to walk onto the slab. I turn around, and that’s when it hits me that this house, when it’s built, will have an unparalleled view of the lake.

“Wow,” I say.

“You can see it, can’t you?” Blaze sounds pleased and proud.

“Totally.” Right now all I can see are trees, but there’s a flash of water here and there. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand how stunning it’s going to be.

“This takes you down to the basement?” Brooke says, looking down at a square hole in the concrete.