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“Good. I took the liberty of ordering pizza, and it’ll be here in ten if you want to join me on the deck.”
“You don’t have to feed me, Doc. The food you left in the fridge will tide me over till I can get to the store. Thank you for that, by the way.”
“You can’t subsist on lunch meat and canned soup for days on end. Come on, I ordered plenty. You do like pizza, don’t you? Poppy’s Pizza is legendary around here, and I ordered deluxe—their biggest seller.”
“All right, thank you.” His eyes dropped to the feline. “This must be the kitty you got in a bargain.”
“Wes, meet Boots. Say hi, Bootsie.” Her voice had gone up an octave, and she waved the cat’s paw in greeting.
“Boy or girl?”
“Girl.”
Wes let the cat sniff his hand, smiling at the woman’s obvious affection for the animal. Boots received his attention with a steady purr and half-lidded appreciation. “I didn’t think cats were affectionate.”
“This one is. I can’t sit down without her curling up on my lap—or my laptop.”
Avery checked her watch, then excused herself to interceptthe pizza at the front door. He agreed to meet her on the back porch in a couple of minutes.
After freshening up, he joined her. His stomach gave a hard growl at the smell of pizza. “Man, that smells good.”
“I would guess so. You’ve been on a steady diet of trail food for weeks. Restaurant food is the best part of finally reaching a town.”
He placed a slice on the paper plate she’d brought out. “The mattress and shower run a close second and third.”
“There’s a lot to appreciate about civilization. So, hiking the AT... It’s a huge commitment. Is it just something you’ve always wanted to do?”
He finished chewing a bit, thinking through his answer. He’d been asked this a lot along the trail, and he gave a generic answer that kept him from having to open up about his friend. But he was going to be here at least a couple of weeks—and she had practically saved his life.
“I had a friend in Colombia named Landon. He worked for Emergency Shelter International too, and over the years we got pretty close. Hiking the AT was a bucket list thing for him. He’d already hiked from Maine to Harrisburg and planned to finish it after our contract was up. I committed to doing it with him. Figured, why not? Sounded like fun, and I didn’t have anything urgent to get back to.”
Avery had stopped eating and was regarding him intently.
“One day there was a terrorist attack where we were working—suicide bomber. I was tuned in to my work on the hotel’s exterior and didn’t see the car’s approach. Next thing I knew I was facedown in the dirt.” The moment’s confusion and panic returned just like that, making his heart jolt in his chest.“Landon had thrown himself on top of me. I came out of it unscathed—but he didn’t make it.”
Avery’s lips parted. Her eyes swam with tears. “What a friend.”
Wes swallowed hard. Sometimes it still rendered him speechless that Landon had sacrificed himself for Wes. He’d like to think he would’ve done the same for his friend. “He really was. That split-second decision changed everything.”
Avery regarded him silently for a moment. “I’m sorry for your loss, Wes. I can’t imagine being on the receiving end of a gift like that. How it must make you feel.”
“It’s very humbling.” That didn’t begin to cover it. It was a debt he’d never be able to fully repay.
“And you’re finishing the AT in his honor. That’s a wonderful gesture.”
“Not an hour goes by that I don’t think of him. All these weeks of hiking has given me a lot of time to process everything. Do a little healing.” He gave her a little smile. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to get so heavy.”
“Well, I did ask. And sometimes life is pretty heavy.” One glance in her eyes told him she knew that better than most. What secrets did those green depths hold? He regretted he wouldn’t be here long enough to unearth them.
***
Though Wes had lightened the moment with that easy grin of his, a heaviness still hung in the evening air. His revelation about his friend had moved her. She always enjoyed hearing what prompted people to hike the AT—it was such a rigorousand time-consuming undertaking. But his answer had struck something deep in her core. Maybe it was the guilt she sensed he carried.
She knew about guilt.
They ate the pizza mostly in comfortable silence, just interjecting a comment here and there. Avery was full after two slices, but Wes only wound down after finishing five.
Finally, he set his plate on the table between them and settled back in the chair. “That was amazing. I’m stuffed.”
