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“I don’t want to be a waitress my whole life.”
“Okay. What do you want to be?”
I looked over at him. “I don’t know. I’m waiting for something to speak to me. I think I’ll know it when I see it.”
Woofarine sniffed the grass on the side of the trail and started to circle, and Chris pulled out a poop bag from his satchel.
“Why did you decide to be a pharmacist?” I asked.
“I was almost a doctor.” He leaned over to pick up the poop. “I didn’t want to be bedside with patients. I want to help people, but I like the science side of it more.”
“Hmmmmm. That’s very nerdy, Christopher. Do you mind if I call you Christopher?”
“Uh, I actually do mind,” he said. “That’s what my mom called me when she was mad at me.”
“Does it trigger your flight response?”
He knotted the bag. “It makes me want to immediately clean my room.”
“Ha. At least it’s not McNougat,” I said.
“You have me there.”
I laughed and the corners of his eyes creased.
We stopped at a Porta Potty after about an hour of walking. There was a spigot next to it and we topped off our water bottles and Chris threw the poop away in the trash can. He looked at his watch. “Two and a half miles.”
I crouched to give Woofarine something to drink out of the little folding bowl I carried for him. He sniffed the water and turned away.
“Want me to take him?” he asked, nodding at the leash.
“Sure.” I scanned both ways down the bike trail and didn’t see anyone on the path. For it being a Friday, there was hardly anyone out here. It was weird to say, but I was kind of glad Mike and Jesse hadn’t come.
There was something calming about Chris. It took so little energy to hang out with him. We didn’t have to force conversation, we could talk about books or Woofarine or we could walk in total silence and I didn’t feel like I had to fill it—or he did.
Mike didn’t like silence. He was always joking or telling an animated story. I liked his stories, but sometimes it was nice to just be quiet.
“So what soup are you making next?” he asked, putting his water bottle away.
“Why? Any special requests?”
“I could be convinced to buy chicken and dumplings. It was one of the rare things my mom used to make. I haven’t had it in a while.”
“Okay. I’ll see what I can do.”
He smiled and put on hand sanitizer and offered me some. I rubbed it into my palms and looked around. The landscape had shifted from open prairies with green grass and wildflowers to woods and tall trees that bent over the trail. It was beautiful and tranquil.
“I almost passed on this to babysit today,” I said, watching the breeze roll through the canopy.
“Are you glad you didn’t?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. I am.”
9
CHRIS
I was having a good time. I was glad Larissa hadn’t left when the others bailed. I don’t think I would have stayed if I had to walk alone, especially because she would have taken the dog.
