Page 6 of Someone I Chose

“Is that okay with you?”

Shrugging, he washed his empty cup, toweled it, and put it into the overhead cabinet. “You can stay as long as you need to. Today I’m off but will need to meet with someone. Are you okay to be alone tonight?”

“Sure, I’m fine,” Neha was quick to answer. “I don’t want to put you out. Besides, I’ve got thinking to do.”

Minutes later, Neha was settled in an austere guest room. Jay went back to his room to catch some more sleep. Neha lay down for a few minutes, too. As soon as her head hit the pillow, exhaustion came over her. She hadn’t even realized what a strain these last days had been. Just moments later, she was

CHAPTER FIVE

TWO DAYS LATER

Neha wrapped herself in a warm blanket and huddled up on the bench on the front porch. The late morning sun did not warm the air enough to be comfortable without the added layers of wool. She turned her face directly into the sun and soaked in the light.

The garden was bare, not just as it was springtime and the leaves had not fully developed, but as in nobody cared to do something about it. The grass was reasonably short but did not quite make a lawn. There were no other plants in the front, just in the backyard, where there were a few untidy shrubs in the far corner.

The house showed the same lack of loving care. It was clean and tidy—and boring. Someone had made a half-assed attempt at making it look nice: There was a big Swiss cheese plant in the living room that was more dead than alive. All in all, the house and garden showed their owner to be practical-minded, someone who spent little time at home.

Squinting into the sun, she gingerly took a sip of the hot coffee.

“Hey.” Jay bent down to her. She hadn’t even heard him coming. “Everything alright?”

Neha nodded and put on a cheery smile. “Morning. Back from work?”

Jay sat next to her. “Yeah,” he said. He let his head drop back against the brick wall.

“You must be tired,” Neha commiserated.

“Not really. It’s been a very quiet shift. I even could sleep for half the night.”

“Does that happen often?”

“No. It’s almost unheard of.” Jay grinned. Turning to her, he asked, “What have you been up to?”

“Nothing much,” she admitted. “I guess I’ve just been sitting around.”

“Done with thinking?”

Neha shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Have you come to a decision?”

She shook her head.

Jay stood. “Sitting around is not going to help you find out what path you want to take. Let’s go on a hike. I always do that when I need to clear my mind.”

“Do you need to clear yours?”

He scoffed, “You’ve got no idea.” He walked past the cars, up the road. Neha tossed the blanket onto the bench and stumbled to follow him. Family homes lined one side of the road, and on the other was a steep decline.

The houses all looked similar. As if they had the same blueprint, but somehow evolved differently. Neha wondered how old they were. A hundred years? She never had been good at guessing styles of architecture.

The sight was phenomenal. Where they were, spring was in full bloom. The aspens showed delicate leaves and colorful little flowers dotted the gardens. A little higher up, the forest changed to firs, and even higher, the summits were still covered in snow.

After about two hundred yards, there was a dirt road branching off that opened into a parking area. From here, several trails forked off into the forest. Jay picked one that wound itself around the mountain with little change in altitude. Bird cries sounded through the woods that Neha could not identify.

As much as she enjoyed the surrounding beauty, the silence between Jay and herself got heavier by the minute. When she couldn’t bear it any longer, she asked about his hobbies. Instantly, she wanted to take it back. That was all too mundane to ask.

“Huh, hobbies?” Jay did not seem to be perplexed. “I hike a lot. Together with Drake and some other friends, we go kayaking a few times a year. Tried some climbing, but I’m not good at it.”