“What?” Josie and Erin said, almost exactly at the same time. Josie glanced at Erin, who gave Josie a little smile that almost seemed genuine. Nothing like the apparent insanity of a third party to bond you.
“What?” the driver said. “You want me to drop you here? You’ll have trouble getting a ride from here, lad, you want to be careful, aye?”
Max shook his head. “Just for a few minutes, then on to Edinburgh. You don’t mind waiting for us, do you?”
“Aye all right,” he said slowly, “but I’ll have to keep the meter running.”
“No problem.” Max glanced behind him through the window, checking the road, then opened the car door. “Come on,” he reiterated to Josie and Erin, jumping out without waiting for an answer.
Josie looked back at Erin incredulously. “Is this normal?”
She let out a soft little laugh. “It used to be, actually.” For some reason, that fact seemed to please Erin and she smiled more widely at Josie. “No point in arguing,” she said, gesturing for Josie to follow Max out.
Josie scrambled out of the car, taking care not to stand in a particularly muddy puddle, and followed Max over the stile and into the field. The pumps she’d put on this morning didn’t really seem the ideal footwear for randomly setting off into wet fields, but at least they were better than Erin’s heeled, suede ankle boots. “What are we doing?” Josie called after Max.
He turned to her, spreading his arms to encompass the field. “Making the most of it.”
Josie put her hands on her hips while Erin climbed the stile, seeming to take extra care so as not to slip. “Of what, exactly?”
“Of it.” Max turned in another circle, stretching his arms to indicate the countryside. Josie felt Erin come up next to her and glanced at her, ready to exchange another incredulous look, but Erin was smiling at Max in such a tender way that Josie looked away quickly, feeling like she was somehow intruding on a private moment. She moved a couple of steps away from them both. It was beautiful, she had to give him that. The long grass came up to her knees and merged with the stems of flowers, their colors now muted ahead of autumn. It was still warm enough that there were insects and butterflies floating around and the end of the field gave way to woodland, which, because of the browns and reds, looked secretive and inviting, like you might find magical creatures there if you were lucky. She realized this had been part of what drew her to Max before, the slight unpredictability of him, the fact that he encouraged her to just go with it. She shook her head. Dangerous thoughts to be having right now, considering the circumstances. Especially as she was supposed to be convincing herself of the opposite.
“Let’s take some photos,” Max announced.
She raised her eyebrows, then shrugged, taking out her camera. She started with Erin, who, of course, made an excellent model, then took a few of Max and Erin together, trying not to grimace when Erin tucked her arm around Max, rested her head on his shoulder. Rather than look at them, Josie focused in on the surroundings, facing away from the road to give the impression that there was nothing and no one for as far as you could see. There was a moment when a bird came from the direction of the woods, circling briefly above them—a bird of prey from the size of it, maybe a kestrel. She managed to get a photo of Max looking up at it, the bird in focus against the sky, Max almost in silhouette. She thought it captured both the wildness of the bird, the nature of it, and the awe they, as humans, felt when they got to watch something like it.
She stared at the woods for a moment after that, waiting to see if anything else would appear, which meant that she didn’t notice Max coming over to her until he was practically on top of her. “Amazing, isn’t it?” She jumped, then laughed as she brought a hand to her throat. She nodded, glancing over to where Erin was now watching them both, her head tilted slightly. Before she could stop him, Max grabbed her camera from her, then held it above his head when she immediately swiped to get it back.
“Careful!” she said, her voice a little panicked.
He laughed softly. “I promise I won’t hurt it.” He held it gently, and she stared at him, scrutinizing. “I just want to get some photos of you.” She wrinkled her nose automatically. She hated when people did this, tried to make her the focus. That wasn’t what it was about for her. “You said your mother was never in any of the photos,” he pointed out.
“Yes, but I don’t have kids.”