Chapter Ten
“Six thirty is an early start, so I really appreciate the ride.”
“Anything for my second-favorite lady,” Salvador responded kindly, his smile wide underneath his thick mustache. “Do you know the address?”
Aspen climbed into the passenger seat of Salvador’s old truck, closing the door with fervor. As she pulled the seat belt over herself and locked it into place, she said, “No need, I can tell you how to get there. Just drive like you’re going to the bar.”
Aspen groaned, leaning her head back on the head rest and closing her eyes in one swift motion.
“I ain’t trying to nag ya or nothing. Just a suggestion.”
“I know. I think I just put off the cabin’s issues so easily,” Aspen confessed, knowing full well Salvador was right about the roof. “Because it was so cheap, you know? It’s not a mover or a shaker, but it stands.”
“You could buy our house in town…” Salvador said an octave higher, his voice lilting to incur favor from her.
“And what? Rent out the cabin? That’s a lot of money, work, and time that I don’t have, Sal.”
“Ginny and I will help. Or you could sell that beaten-up pile of redwood to Odessa—”
“Or to Candy,” Aspen corrected, her bias obvious. “The Pearsons aren’t too fond of me.”
“Yeah, Mr. Pearson has some sort of grudge against you.” Salvador laughed, his tone more amused than upset.
“Just the other day he was talking about you at the store and this tall woman put him in his place. She walked right up to the counter and saw through all his bullshit, like she had been there watching him since the day he was born. I thought I was watching one of Ginny’s soaps. ”
“Pretty Little Liars isn’t a soap opera.” Aspen giggled. “And the tall woman, was she a local?”
“Naw, she was about your age, and you are the only young local I know of. Short hair, thin as all get out, grumpy disposition. Plus, it looked like she bats for your team, if you know what I mean.” Salvador looked over at her quickly, waggling his eyebrows. “Bar is coming up.”
“Turn left after the bridge,” Aspen instructed, feeling tingly warmth spreading down her neck and arms at the idea that maybe Mo was the woman who had stood up for her. “I think that was Mo. She’s also the woman you are dropping me off with for this backpacking trip.”
“Mo?”
“Yeah, short for Imogen.”
“Imogen got a last name?” Salvador’s tone deepened as the truck rolled by the bar. “Social security number?”
Aspen laughed deeply. “She’s harmless, I promise.”
“I gotta protect my baby,” Salvador replied, turning left after the bridge. “I didn’t do a goddamn thing about Kyle, and look how that turned out.”
Aspen’s stomach dropped a tad, and she turned to see a rather serious expression on Salvador’s face. She reached out and touched his shoulder lightly before reminding him, “I think my lesbianism killed that more than—”
“Don’t,” Salvador cut her off, slowing the truck significantly. “Kyle was a sorry excuse for a human. It doesn’t matter if your wife is a lesbian, you don’t treat her like the mud under your boot.”
As they reached the sign for the horse trail, Salvador pulled the truck over to the side of the road, throwing it into park before turning to meet Aspen’s concerned gaze.
He studied her for a few moments, rubbing his mustache with his thumb and forefinger as his lip trembled.
After loudly swallowing what could have been his pride, he said, “I’m so damn proud of you. ”
Aspen was rendered speechless. Her left hand instinctively went to her chest as bittersweet emotion puddled behind her eyes, one compliment away from cascading out as tears.
“I’ve seen your life, most of it, at least, and seeing you come into your own after everything your parents and Kyle put you through…
” Salvador’s voice tapered off, his lips turned down as he struggled to complete his thoughts.
“Janice would be proud. Virginia is proud. I’m proud.
They have nothing on you, and I just…I wanna make sure that anyone you hang around is worth your time. ”
“Thank you.” Aspen reached out and took Salvador’s hands, only barely keeping the tears at bay. She watched a few fall down his tan cheeks, making their way into his mustache. She broke the air with a choked laugh, leaning forward to wipe away the newly created tear lines. “I love you, Sal.”
“I love you too, sweetheart,” he said, grinning again. “I went and made it weird, ya?”
“Never.” Aspen turned to look back at the road. “Her cabin is there, to the left.”
He resituated himself, getting the truck back onto the road. “But for real, if she tries anything unsavory, you let me know.”
“You’ll be the first one to know. Well, after Betty, of course,” Aspen assured him, her body abuzz with emotion now.
“Betty is on her case?” He turned into Mo’s driveway, slowly moving to park behind her Subaru, which had its rear hatch open. “Well, no need for me, then.”
“Thanks for the ride and…” Aspen grinned. “You know.”
“I know.” Salvador winked before nodding toward the truck bed. “Now grab your gear and have a safe trip. I’ll keep Virginia in line while you’re gone.”
Aspen popped open the door and slid to the ground, turning to pull her pack and hiking poles from the bed.
“Hey?”
“Yeah,” Aspen replied as she carefully placed her pack on the ground.
“I just want you to be happy. Wherever, whenever, whoever. All right?”
“All right.”
“Love ya, Aspen.”
“I love you too,” she replied earnestly, closing the door before lifting her pack by the handle and backing away, allowing Salvador to reverse up the driveway. Mo came ambling out with her own pack on her back as Salvador honked, almost sending the taller woman off the porch in surprise.
“Sal dropped me off,” Aspen explained with a newfound lightness, moving to put her stuff into the rear of the Subaru. “Are you ready for an adventure?”
“I’d rather a cappuccino from Blue Bottle, but beggars can’t be choosers, huh?” Mo said, walking awkwardly toward Aspen.
Aspen immediately picked up that Mo’s mood was farther south than its usual grouchiness, instantly dimming some of the confidence Sal had raised up.
Aspen tried to press past it, putting on her largest smile before trotting over to help pull Mo’s pack off her back to place in the Subaru. “Got everything?”
Mo only responded with an affirming groan, leaving Aspen with the pack and returning to the door to fling her flip-flops back inside before grabbing a pair of ankle-high hiking boots, blaze-orange laces catching Aspen’s eyes.
Mo dropped to sit on the uppermost step, slugging them on like a child made to wear rain boots on the day after a huge storm.
Aspen ignored the obvious question, instead asking something a little safer. “Do you have any Crocs, by chance?”
Mo, in the middle of lacing, dramatically rolled her head up to catch Aspen’s eyes. “Yeah.”
“Are they in your pack?”
“No,” Mo said curtly, going back to lacing, her fingers pulling in tight, rough movements.
“Can you grab them?”
Mo looked up and stared for a few seconds before nodding, returning to finish her task.
Once she was done, Mo stood and trundled back into the cabin.
Aspen awkwardly rolled back and forth on the balls of her feet, playing absentmindedly with the edge of her dark-blue puffer.
After a few more empty moments, Mo returned with orange Crocs in hand, slamming her cabin door closed.
She watched Mo quickly lock it and smiled her best smile as Mo made her way to the Subaru.
“Awesome!”
“Why?” Mo asked as they both climbed inside, a chill running down Aspen’s spine due to the cool morning air caught in the vehicle.
“For hiking the creek,” Aspen explained. “I had an extra pair at the bar if you didn’t have any. Don’t wanna get our boots wet when we need to make crossings and stuff.”
“Oh.”
“Yep.”
Aspen watched Mo stare at the steering wheel, her hand hovering over the start button.
Just as the moment stretched on long enough for Aspen to feel brave and ask why they weren’t moving, Mo hit the button, starting the Outback.
Once on the road, Aspen decided to fill the air with an easy, “The new clothes look great on you.”
Mo gave her another positive grunt, feeding Aspen’s anxiety.
“Take a right and follow 101 north. Then take a right on Bald Hills road.”
Mo drove faster than Aspen remembered her doing on their ride to Eureka, reaching the turn quickly.
She pointed it out, and Mo took the right at the last possible moment, causing Aspen to grasp the handle above the door.
The Subaru skidded, tires squealing on the last bit of asphalt as it barely made it onto the dirt road safely.
Looking worriedly between Mo and the road, Aspen decided it was best to just keep silent and hopeful instead of facing the regret that was creeping up in her.
“Next right is the trailhead parking, unless you wanted—” Aspen instructed as Mo took the turn, pulling into a tree-covered parking lot that consisted of twelve or so paved spots. “To walk the Lady Bird Johnson Trail.”
“Not really.”
The white park ranger truck was tucked in the back by the access road, and Aspen was happy to see Caroline leaning against the front, drinking timidly from her Nalgene.
“You can park next to the ranger truck.”
But as they pulled closer, Caroline waved them toward the gated entrance of the access road, and Mo obliged. Aspen rolled down her window as they slowed to a stop, greeting Caroline enthusiastically. “Morning!”
“Good morning,” Caroline replied, obviously not fully awake yet. “Betty wants you two to park down by the maintenance shed.”
“Oh?” Aspen replied, confused.
“Yeah, this trailhead has more smash-and-grabs than Tall Tall Trees,” Caroline said with a yawn. “I’ll open it up and you can drive on through. Betty is down at the shed. You can’t miss it.”
“Okay, thanks, Caroline.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Mo added, her voice still low and terse.