Page 59 of Big & Lily

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Hikers in ones and twos, some in multipocket, utilitarian hiking pants, broad-brimmed sunhats, and with rubber-tipped walking poles, some so grungy they might have been out here for weeks, stride by us and disappear up into the hills.

“What was that?” asks Lily, gesturing at the phone I’m slipping back in my pocket. “Did I hear you tell Cam you didn’t know where something is? You’re like the Criss Angel of household shit. You can conjure up a misplaced scissor, or soup ladle, or someone’s kitchen clogs out of thin air.”

I turn my face up to the sun and watch a soaring bird off in the distance—or is it an Alaskan air taxi—and say, “You know, I think it’s time that people in my house tried a little harder to figure things out on their own.”

Lily steps closer and puts the back of her hand on my forehead. “You feeling okay?”

“Never better.”

We end up back on the flat rock, our hands to our brows, surveying the valley, scanning for moose that might be wading into the slow-moving river, whispering to each about this vantage point being better than the one when their whiskers were practically tickling our noses. Brick joins us, and I scoot over to make room on our rock.

“Saved the best for last, did you?” I ask him.

“Tomorrow will be special too. We’ll do this again, from another spot. End up at a lake where you can see the mountain range reflected in the water. World-class photo opportunity.”

“Can’t wait,” I say, meaning it.

“Well, Bridget. I never thought I’d hear you say that.”

“I’m saying a lot of things that are surprising me these days.”

“Good for you,” says Brick Malone, Earth Walker, Soul Searcher, and Owner of Grizzly Tracks Adventures.

Our guide stands and starts gathering the troops. No one is in a rush to go back down the trail. I bump my sister with my shoulder. “Hey, Lil. Now it’s my turn to ask, areyouokay? What was that with Ian before? I thought you guys were friends.”

“Friends? Hardly.”

“You’ve been palling around with him all week.”

“I was trying to distract myself. Blocks out the tapes playing in my head. But I couldn’t take him bullying that poor kid anymore. He said he brought him out here so they could bond. The whole father/son Outward Bound thing is bullshit. He’s been riding him the whole time. Zave told me his mother used to run interference for him, be the go-between, but with the divorce it’s harder. The weekends he’s with Ian are more intense. Like he’s gotta cram his parenting in over two days every other week.”

“Well, Xavier is lucky he ended up on this trip with you. You’re amazing with kids, you always have been.”

“If you are referring to my two angels, everything is always better coming from the aunt instead of the mom.”

“Thefunaunt.”

“Yeah.” She sighs. “It’s probably better that it worked out like this, that I’ll always be just the aunt, never the mom. Eric would have eventually done what he did, and then I’d be a single mother, trying to run interference for my kid—and losing.”

I want to tell her not to think like that, but part of letting go islearning to really listen. Like Brick did the night at the bar for me. Just listen. If I add my two cents right now, I would be jumping in again. “Thank you for dragging me here,” I say instead.

Lily turns to me with a twisted smile. “Thank Eric.”

“Not on your life.”

“Hey, remember that wizard I met in Talkeetna?”

“You mean the guy from just last night? Yes, I remember. Ven Tarion the Inquisitor. How could I forget him?”

“Well, he told me that I should come up here at sunrise, that the glow on Denali emits the spiritual power to face life’s challenges with strength and clarity. Something about the summer solstice and dawning solar forces. I didn’t even tell him I had life’s challenges to face. I didn’t tell him we were coming up here. It gave me a chill when I heard him say that.”

I want to tell her that sounds like the kind of meshuggaas you’d hear from someone who thinks he’s a wizard, but I can see Lily is being earnest and hopeful, so instead I ask, “How can there be a sunrise in a place where the sun never sets?”

“According to Wizard Ven, it does actually set at midnight this time of year and rises at three thirty.”

“Oof, I take it there are only few who’ve received the spiritual power of the Denali sunrise.”