What We Find

“Don’t do it, Sully,” Frank said. “He’s brutal.”

“That makes it irresistible, now, don’t it?”

That’s when Maggie wandered off to the house.

* * *

Sully’s house was over a hundred years old. It had been built when Maggie’s great-grandfather was a young man, before he and his wife had their first child. The improvements and changes since it was originally built were haphazard at best. When old refrigerators died, new ones appeared and they never matched the original kitchen color or design. The washer and dryer started in the basement but eventually made it up to the back porch; the porch was finally closed in so a person wouldn’t freeze doing laundry in winter. Furniture was replaced as it wore out but never was a whole room remodeled. It was long overdue.

But the design was surprisingly modern for a house built in 1906 and Sully himself had reroofed it. There was a living room, dining room and a kitchen with nook on the main floor. There had been three bedrooms and a bath but Sully had installed a master bath attached to the largest bedroom. He had burrowed into the third bedroom for the space, which left a smaller than usual room, so it became his office. Over time he’d finished off the attic into a cozy loft bedroom but Maggie had no idea why. He didn’t marry again. It wasn’t like there were offspring wrestling for space. He’d recently remodeled the basement into what he called a rumpus room. “For the grandchildren I guess I’ll never get,” he said. “No pressure.”

“It’s not really too late,” Maggie said. “If I ever find the time.” And the right man...

“There wasn’t that much to do in winter so I worked on the house a little bit,” was all he said.

She loved the house, though it was in serious need of a face-lift.

She spent the afternoon settling their belongings into their rooms. Sully didn’t make an appearance. It crossed her mind to check on him, to make sure he wasn’t doing too much, but she trusted Enid to keep an eye on him.

She came back across the yard to the store a little after four and found Sully sitting by the stove with only Beau for company.

“Tired?” she asked him.

“I never been the nap kind of man but I’m starting to see the merits,” he said.

“Did you send Enid and Frank home?”

“Nothing going on around here, no need for them to stay. We can close up early. After we have a little nip.” He lifted his bushy salt-and-pepper brows in her direction. “Your friend the doctor, he said that’s all right.”

“Did he, now? You wouldn’t lie about that, would you?”

“I would if need be but he did indeed say that.” Sully got up, a bit slower than he used to, and walked through the store to the little bar. He went behind while she grabbed a stool. “What’s your pleasure?” he asked.

“Is there a cold white wine back there with the cork out?” she asked.

“No, but it would be my pleasure to uncork this really nice La Crema and let you steal it. You can take it back to the house with you.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

“Now, I’d like you to do something for me, Maggie.”

“What’s that, Dad?”

“I’d like you to go out to the porch where that nice Cal Jones just sat down, and invite him to join us. Right after you apologize for being such an ass.”

“Dad...”

“You think I’m kidding around? Really, I didn’t raise you like that and maybe Phoebe did but I doubt it. She’s snooty but not nasty. I’ve never seen the like.”

She took a breath. “After your behavior in the hospital...”

“After you get your chest sawed open, we’ll compare notes. For now, the man was decent enough to help Enid and we’re grateful. Aren’t we, Maggie?”

She sighed. “You know what this is like? This is like getting in trouble at school and being marched back to the classroom to humbly take your medicine. How do you know he’s not a serial killer?”

“I’m not,” said an amused voice.

“Don’t you just have the worst habit of sneaking up on people!” she said. “This old man is a heart patient!”

“That’s no way to worm back into my good graces, calling me old,” Sully said. “Besides, I saw him coming. Say what I told you, Maggie.”

“I might’ve been a little impatient today,” she said. “And perhaps I didn’t show my gratitude very well...”

“She was an ass,” Sully said. “Not like her, neither. You want a little pop, son?”

“You’re on,” he said, sitting on one of the stools. “How about a Chivas, neat, water back.”

While Sully pulled the cork out of the wine, he talked. “So, Maggie here is very tough but tenderhearted and usually very good with her manners. Much better than I am. But I think putting up with me for three weeks since this operation just plain ruined her.” He pushed a glass of wine toward Maggie. “She isn’t going to do that again. Unless you give her trouble. Don’t give her trouble, son. She’s very strong.”

Maggie the bold and strong, she thought.

“I don’t have any trouble in me, Sully,” Cal said with a chuckle. “I’m just checking out Colorado.”

“And what are you doing here?” she asked. When both men looked at her, she held up a hand. “Hey, no offense, but people usually have a reason for finding themselves at Sullivan’s Crossing.”

“No offense taken,” he said. “I’ve been doing some hiking here and there. Hiking and camping. There’s a lot of stuff online about hiking the Divide, but you don’t want to hit the Rockies before May, and that might even be too soon...”

“Not this year,” Sully said. “It’s an early thaw. We damn near washed into the lake one year with an early thaw. The snowpack flows to the west but we’re not without our wash. I gotta figure out how to get that garden in without lifting a finger.”

Maggie laughed. “Once again, he talks about me like I’m not even here. Of course I’ll help with the garden. So, you think you might hike the whole CDT?”

Cal shook his head. “I don’t think so, just a little piece of it, but I’d like to get up there and see what I see. I’ll hike and camp for a few weeks, then I’ll decide what’s next. Montana, maybe. Or Idaho. Canada. But not in winter.”

Over the years, Maggie had learned that you don’t ask a hiker why they take on something like the Appalachian Trail or the CDT. They’re driven. They want to be stronger than the trail, to break it or maybe just survive it. “The CDT is the longest one,” Maggie pointed out. “It can get lonely out there.”

“I know. I like the solitude. I also like the people I run into. People who want to do that are... I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like they have things to understand about themselves and every single one of them has different things to figure out.”

“And what do you have to figure out, Mr. Jones?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Nothing too deep. How about what to do next? Where to settle?”

That sounded like true freedom to Maggie—choosing something new. She’d eventually have to go back to work in Denver. Right now she was using Sully’s rehabilitation as an excuse. She was needed here.

“If you like solitude, then that must be why you chose this campground in March,” Sully said, sipping from his glass and letting go a giant ahhhh as he appreciated it. Maggie and Cal laughed. “Doc says this is all right but you can bet your sweet ass that bitch of a nurse didn’t bring me no nightcap!”

“Dad!”

“You expect me to apologize for saying that? That was a simple, true statement!” He shook his head. “That one nurse, the one at night with the black, black hair and silver roots, she was mean as a snake. If I die and go to hell, I’ll meet her there.”