I glanced at her bare legs. There was a lot of skin showing with those sexy little shorts of hers. “Hang on. You’re going to want bug spray.”
“Ew. Good call, thanks.”
I gave her the bug spray and we got out. Max was eager to explore but to his credit, he stayed close. She sprayed her arms and legs and I went ahead and sprayed my arms. I was dressed in long pants but my arms were bare and being attacked by biting insects had a tendency to ruin an otherwise enjoyable evening.
“Ready?” I asked, slipping the backpack on.
“Yep. Where are we going?”
I pointed toward the trail. “That way. It’s an out and back, only about a mile.”
“What’s at the end?”
“You’ll see.”
She smiled again. Damn, I liked making her do that. Her whole face shined.
“Okay, then lead the way.”
We started off down the trail. It was wide enough to walk side by side and I was glad for the work my brothers and I had done to keep it open. Of course, given that we were still a bunch of single guys, I had a feeling I wasn’t the only one who’d use it for a date. Especially with the spectacular scenery at the end.
“How did you know about this trail?” she asked. “I didn’t see any signs.”
“There aren’t any. It’s private property.”
“Are we allowed to be here?”
“Yeah, it’s my family’s property.”
“Wow. This is amazing.”
“It’s nice. Actually if you went up the hill behind your house and kept going, you’d come out over there somewhere.” I gestured vaguely in the direction of the hiking trail that ran along the river.
“Does anyone live out here?”
“No. We kind of inherited a bunch of land about six years ago. We sold a lot of it but kept this parcel. That’s how Dad and I got started with our business.”
“It’s so neat that you work with your dad. You must have a good relationship with him.”
“He’s a good guy.”
“What about your mom? What’s she like?”
“She’s great. Technically, Marlene is my stepmom, but I think of her as my mom.”
“Has she been with your dad for a long time?”
“Yeah, I was pretty young when they got together.”
“Is it okay if I ask what happened to your biological mom?”
I was quiet for a moment, as our feet crunched on dry debris, wondering how to answer. Or whether I wanted to answer.
“She pretty much just left.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you have any contact with her?”
“No.”
“That must be hard.”
I shifted the backpack strap. “She made her choice and it wasn’t us. Not much I can do about that. And my mom, Marlene, she always treated us like her own kids. So I didn’t miss out on having a mom.”
“Your mom, Marlene I mean, sounds awesome.”
“Yeah, she is. What about you? What are your parents like?”
“My mom is, I don’t know. She’s kind of high strung. My dad was really active in local politics, so she was always in the spotlight with him. I can’t figure out if she loves the attention or just got so used to it, she doesn’t know how else to live. And my dad died a couple of years ago. He had some ongoing health problems and didn’t take care of himself at all, so it wasn’t a huge shock.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Thanks. I hate to admit it, but I wasn’t devastated or anything. I was sad, but more for my mom than for me. My dad wasn’t easy to live with. I wanted a better relationship with him, but it was like I barely knew him. There was the guy he was in public, the guy everybody loved. And then there was the guy he was at home, and he was so different. He didn’t seem very interested in me in private, you know? I was good for his reputation, so in front of other people he pretended to be this really involved father. But in private, he mostly wanted me to leave him alone.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to her. Making people feel better wasn’t really my area. “That sucks. I’m sorry.”
She stopped and looked up at me. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For saying that it sucks and not trying to fix it or make excuses for him or tell me I should have tried harder. I swear, every time I open up to someone about my issues with my father, I get the weirdest responses. It’s like people can’t handle hearing something uncomfortable and they want to fix it. But he’s gone, there’s no fixing it. I didn’t have a great relationship with him and I never will and yeah, that sucks.”