Page 20 of Crowe
We worked on the puzzle until we took a break to eat a couple of sandwiches for lunch, and then I suggested we take a walk. I’d never been good at being cooped up inside, but I didn’t feel comfortable leaving him here alone, so I was glad he agreed to go.
I brought my camera along just in case I saw something worth taking pictures of. Something besides Noah, because I would love to have some pictures of him.
We set out on one of the trails Wyatt and I had created years ago.
“So where does this trail lead?” Noah asked.
“This one just circles through the property, but there are smaller ones that branch off that actually go somewhere.”
He looked intrigued by that. “Like where?”
“Well, one leads to a decent-sized pond, one leads to the biggest tree ever.” I winked at him. “At least that’s what Wyatt and I thought when we were kids. We used to climb all the way to the top of that tree and pretend we could see to the ends of the earth.”
“That sounds fun.”
“It was. There’s another that leads to our clubhouse.”
“Clubhouse?”
“Yeah, that’s what we called it. Of course, our club consisted of me and Wyatt, and thehouseis a lean-to we managed to put together from scrap wood and old tin my grandfather had piled out behind the woodshed.”
“I bet you really miss having your brother around.”
“I do. Not that we spent that much time together with him being in Dallas and all. Plus, I wasn’t a fan of his ex. I regret that now that he’s so far away.”
“Oh, look.” He grabbed my arm to stop me and pointed at a small patch of little purple flowers. “Those are Spiderwort. I always thought they were so pretty. You can’t put them in bouquets, though, because the flowers only last a day.”
“They’re pretty.” I pulled out my camera and took a picture before starting down the trail. “I know more about mushrooms than flowers, to be honest. See that over there?” I pointed at a cluster of orange mushrooms growing on the base of an oak tree. “They look a lot like chanterelles, but they aren’t. They’re called Jack O’Lantern mushrooms, and they’re toxic.”
His eyes widened, and he stared at the mushrooms. “Toxic, like they’ll kill you?”
“Not really, more like you’ll wish you hadn’t eaten them. They’ll mess your stomach up. My father was big into mushroom foraging, and he taught us which ones to watch out for and which ones we could eat.”
“That’s really cool. I know more about which plants are toxic to dogs and cats than humans since people usually aren’t trying to eat my bouquets.”
“I would hope not. How about you? I know you said you don’t have any siblings, but what about the rest of your family?”
He shrugged. “There really isn’t anyone. My mom was an only child, and my grandmother passed away when I was around twelve. I never met my dad, so he isn’t really a factor. It was just me and my mom until she died from cancer when I was nineteen.”
“That’s rough. We lost our mom when we were young, too. In an accident, not cancer, but still it sucks, and it sounds like you two were really close.”
“We were. She loved flowers, and she passed that on to me. I got a job at our local florist shop in high school. Mostly working holidays and making deliveries, but then when Mom got sick, I put off going to college to stay home and take care of her. I ended up working at the shop full-time then, and just never left.” He paused and took a breath. “Well, not until… you know. It wasn’t safe to go back after that.”
“Well, maybe after this is all over, you can go back.” I meant that. I wanted him to be happy and to live a life that was of his choosing, so if the idea of him leaving Vesper when this was all done felt all kinds of wrong to me, I would keep that shit to myself.
“Nah, there’s nothing for me there. My mom rented her house, so when she died, I put her stuff in storage and got an apartment with my work-mate, Michael. We’ve kept in touch, but we weren’t close friends or anything. And after working with Carina, I don’t think I could go back to the shop I worked at before. Mrs. Smith is nice, but it’s a small town, so she mostly just does holidays and funerals. I want to do more weddings like the one we were doing when you came to get me.”
“But not in Houston?” I asked, remembering that he hadn’t sounded like he liked it there.
“No, not there either. I like the fact that not everyone is in your business like back home, but I can’t say I liked being one of four million either.”
I wanted to suggest he stay in Vesper. He had friends there. He seemed to like it there, and I was there. Not that there was anything between us, but when this mess was all over, I’d like there to be.
I paused and pointed down a trail. “We don’t have to go down there today, but that trail leads to the pond. Maybe we can take a tackle box and a couple of rods and do some fishing tomorrow. Do you fish?”
“I never have, but I’d be willing to give it a try.”
“Sounds like a plan then. We can just stay on this trail for now; it’ll circle right back to the cabin.”
