AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Aunt Izzie stomped on the gas pedal. The car lurched forward. “You will not ruin my birthday. Not another word about that dog today.”
We rode the rest of the way without speaking. Dana fiddled with her phone while I stared out the window, watching the tall pines pass and listening to the sound of the tires rolling over the gravelly mountain road.
In the parking lot at the bottom of the trail, Aunt Izzie pulled into a spot in the back corner, away from the dozen or so other vehicles. Danaleaped out of the car and raced toward the trail without waiting for us. Aunt Izzie and I watched my sister’s back retreating into the woods.
The meandering dirt path shot straight up for about four hundred yards before taking a sharp left. Dana had already disappeared around the turn by the time we started the climb. Though it was a warm, sunny day, tree branches flush with leaves hung over the first part of the trail, keeping it dark and cool. Oliver kept tugging on his leash, pulling me to the side of the trail, burying his head in the brush to sniff or lifting his leg to mark a tree or bush.
As we made our ascent, gnats buzzed around our heads. I waved them away with my hand. We stopped, and Aunt Izzie sprayed on insect repellent, filling the air with a nasty chemical scent. She handed me the can, but I didn’t take it, an aversion left over from when I was trying to get pregnant.
We started off again. Aunt Izzie walked a few steps ahead of Oliver and me, the distance between us growing as Oliver stopped to sniff. She looked back at us over her shoulder.
“We’ll catch up at the top,” I said.
Aunt Izzie nodded. “I want to find your sister. Talk to her so she doesn’t feel like we were ganging up on her.”
What we said was true,I thought, but I didn’t want to get into another discussion about the dog, didn’t want to think of Dana taking him away from me. “I doubt you’ll catch her.” Ever since we were kids, Dana raced up the trail while I took my time, observing the plants, trees, and rocks along the way.
Aunt Izzie took off, and soon she, too, disappeared from my view. Oliver and I trotted along. “It’s just you and me, buddy,” I said. “Better get used to it.” He looked up at me with that golden retriever smile, and despite the sadness I felt, I couldn’t help but smile back.
Soon there were voices and footsteps behind us, a man, woman, teenage boy, and preteen girl making their way up the trail. I pulled Oliver to the side so they could pass. The girl stopped too. “Aww,” she said, bending to pat the dog. “What’s her name?”
“His name is Oliver.”
“He’s really cute.”
“Thank you,” I said, as if I had something to do with the dog’s beauty.
“Gianna,” the girl’s mother called.
A chill ran down my spine. “Your name’s Gianna?”
The girl nodded.
“That was my mother’s name.”
“I don’t really like it,” she said. “People always mess up and call me Gina.”
“I think it’s beautiful.”
Hearing my mother’s name on this trail had to be some kind of sign.You’ll survive this blow from Kyle,I imagined her saying. I wasn’t so sure.
I continued on. Oliver pulled on his leash, leading the way as if he were walking me. Distracted by bright-purple flowers, I tripped over a knot of tree roots and fell. Oliver barked when I hit the ground and trotted back to my side. He nudged me with his nose and licked my face. “I’m fine,” I told him as I struggled back to my feet. Was I? A quarter-inch gash ran across my knee, and blood trickled down my leg. I looked up the trail, hoping Aunt Izzie hadn’t seen me trip. She was long gone, probably already at the waterfall with Dana.
I cleaned my cut with water and a tissue and fished through my backpack for a bandage. I found a box of Band-Aids at the bottom. They were decorated with an image of Bugs Bunny. Kyle had bought them shortly after we started IVF, and I had imagined placing the Looney Tunes bandage on a little boy’s scraped elbow.Does that Casey person really want to give the baby up for adoption? Will Kyle raise him or her?Oliver lurched at a squirrel, yanking me from my thoughts, and I continued on my way.
At the top of the trail, Dana and Aunt Izzie sat on a long log by the waterfall. Dana wore red Oakleys, and her head was tilted toward thesun. Aunt Izzie rubbed sunscreen on her arms. The smell of coconut wafted in the air, reminding me of the beach.
“What are you going to do with Oliver when you’re at work?” I imagined my sweet dog tied to Dana’s lifeguard chair, getting scorched by the blazing sun and burning his paws on the hot sand.
I pulled a bowl from my knapsack and poured water for Oliver. He lapped it up. I refilled his dish before sitting.
“Let’s talk about this later,” Dana said. She extended a bag of her homemade trail mix toward me. The mixture consisted mostly of chocolate chips and flakes of coconut. I picked through it, pulling out a few almonds.
We sat there for a while, not talking, listening to the waterfall. A mosquito bit my leg, leaving a small smudge of blood. The family who had passed me scrambled up a rock face in front of us. Every now and then snippets of their conversation that didn’t make sense drifted down to us, but then clearly: “Gianna, watch your footing.”
Aunt Izzie’s and Dana’s heads both turned toward the family as if they expected to see my mother. In a way she was here with us. Just beyond the log we sat on was the spot we’d spread my parents’ ashes.
“I miss her,” my aunt said. “She was my best friend.” She was drawing circles in the dirt with a stick, but she looked up and met my eyes and then glanced at Dana. “As sisters should be.”
