Shifting. Part 14

I walked to the edge of the property and paused, noticing for the first time a pattern in the trees. A perfect circle of pines had been planted around a central location, like planets...o...b..ting the sun. Only these trees were orbiting Mrs. Carpenter's house. And they were perfectly s.p.a.ced, as if someone had used a tape measure to get them all the exact distance apart.

But it was what lay perfectly s.p.a.ced between the trees that caught my attention. Skulls. Not human-animal. The skull to my right was a horse skull, to my left a cow. The one in front of me, which had caught my attention, came from an animal with tall, branchlike horns. I clasped my hand around the rough, gray horn and lifted. A centipede slithered in the wet indentation the skull had left, and earthworm trails lined the dirt.

I examined the skull's empty eye sockets, then turned and went back to the garden, skull in hand, to resume my weeding.

A few minutes later, Mrs. Carpenter walked out of the house in a white denim dress, tan nylons, and rubber-soled pumps with her white hair pulled back in a bun and turquoise earrings dangling in her ears. I leaned on my shovel.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to church with me? And feed the homeless after?" she asked, pausing to look at the pile of weeds I'd pulled out of the freshly sprouting garden.

I wiped my hand across my gritty forehead. "I'm a mess. I'd make you late."

"I don't mind being late. The Lord forgives such things. I feel bad leaving you alone all day again."

I shook my head. "No thanks."

"The garden's coming along real nice."

I looked at the straight rows of sprouts coming out of the ground and smiled. "Thanks."

"If you want, you can get some of the chicken manure and sprinkle it around the plants. That'll help 'em grow." Her eyes moved over the garden and paused on the animal skull. "Where did that come from?" she asked.

"I hope you don't mind ... I found it on the edge of your property. Thought it might look cool in the garden."

She frowned. "My second husband must have put it there-he's the one who planted the trees. It looks lovely in the garden and will probably scare scavengers away." She smiled and got into the truck. As the door slammed shut, I almost called out to her to wait. A whole day alone with no one for company but my sprouts didn't hold much appeal.

The truck crawled down the driveway as I hacked at the roots of a weed and pulled a fragrant piece of sage from the ground. I tossed it into the growing pile of weeds and felt so lonely my body seemed hollow.

I'd pulled three more weeds when an engine rumbled, growing steadily closer, and a vehicle turned into the long driveway. Mrs. Carpenter must have decided to try again to convince me to go with her. And I'd say yes this time. I dug my shovel into the ground and saw it wasn't Mrs. Carpenter's baby-blue truck that stopped in front of the porch.

I let go of the shovel and smoothed my hair, aware that I was a sweaty mess.

"Gardening on a Sunday?" Bridger asked as he stepped out of his SUV. He walked toward me, slow and leisurely, his hands in his jeans pockets. He wore a simple T-s.h.i.+rt, but the way it fit him, it looked like T-s.h.i.+rts were invented for his body. At my shovel he stopped and peered down into my eyes. "Hi."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, forcing myself to ignore the urge to wipe under my eyes in case I had mascara smeared there.

"I forgot to get your cell number."

"No cell phone. Sorry."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Why'd you want my number?"

He grinned. "Why do you think? So I can call you."

"Call me about what?"

He shrugged. "I knew the Navajo Mexican was closed today and thought you might like some company. I figured you'd be lonely, being new in town and having no family." My eyes grew round. I was so lonely it was driving me mad.

"Do you have lunch plans?" he asked.

"Lunch?" I looked at my watch. It was barely past ten. "No. No plans. I figured I'd finish the garden and then warm up some leftover chili and corn bread," I replied.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked.

"For leftovers or weeding?"

"Both."

"You eat leftovers?"

"If I'm lucky enough to be in a house that has them."

"All right. But just to warn you, I'm going to be dabbling in chicken manure before I eat lunch."

He laughed and pulled the shovel out of the ground. "How about I dig and you pull," he said.

" 'Kay."

He sunk the shovel into the dirt at the base of a weed and paused, frowning. "Where did you find that elk skull?" he asked, nodding toward the side of the garden.

I pointed to the edge of Mrs. Carpenter's property.

Bridger's eyebrows shot up. "You've broken her ring of protection. You should put it back."

"Her ring of what?"

"Protection," he answered, his eyes darkly serious.

"Whatever. It's just one measly animal skull, not an electric fence. And there are at least a hundred more. They make a huge ring around the entire property."

"Yeah. A ring of protection. I think you should put it back."

I rolled my eyes. "And what makes you the ring of protection expert?"

He leaned closer to me, looking right into my eyes as if he could see my soul. "My ancestry. I'm Navajo, remember?"

"Mrs. Carpenter didn't care that I moved it to the garden," I said, acutely aware of how dark his eyes were. "And besides, it's protecting my garden."

Bridger looked between the skull and me. "Just don't take anything else from the ring."

When we finished the garden, we went to the barn for the manure. An ancient wheelbarrow with a flat tire sat just outside the chicken coop, used to clean the coop out on a semiregular basis. I shooed the clucking chickens away from the door and stepped inside, but Bridger didn't follow. He stood just outside the coop, completely preoccupied.

"What's up there?" he asked, pointing to a narrow flight of stairs with a dead-bolted door at the top.

"I've never been up there, but Mrs. Carpenter says it's an old stable-hand room. She says I can move up there if I want."

"Why don't you? It'd be a cool place to live."

I shrugged. There was no way I was going to tell him I was too scared to live up there, away from the safety of Mrs. Carpenter and her guns.

"Did you know Mrs. C. used to do barrel racing?" Bridger asked. "She competed at rodeos when she was younger. This barn used to be a stable before her first husband died."

"What happened? To the horses?"

"She couldn't keep up with the bills on her own, so she sold them."

We filled the wheelbarrow with rancid chicken manure, and then Bridger helped me spread it at the base of my sprouts. When we finished, he shaded his eyes and peered at the sky.

"You know," he said, "it is a gorgeous day. Why don't we pack your leftovers and go on a picnic?"

"That sounds nice."

He followed me to the front door and paused.

"You're invited in," I said, remembering the last time he'd come over and stood in the doorway waiting for a formal invitation. I left him in the living room and went to the kitchen to wash my hands and dig around in the fridge. Instead of getting chili, I got two yogurts, two apples, and two plastic spoons, and put them in a used Wal-Mart bag.

I walked into the living room. "I hope you don't mind-" He wasn't there. "Bridger?" I called, wondering if I'd been ditched again. I looked out the front window. His SUV was still there.

"Back here." I followed the sound of his voice to my bedroom. He was perched on the edge of the sewing table holding a photograph, studying it with a frown on his face.

It was the picture of me in my "prom dress." I'd torn up and thrown away the one with both of us before I'd decided to forgive him. I s.n.a.t.c.hed the photo from his hands and forced down a surge of anger. And humiliation.

"I'm sorry how that night turned out. I wish things would have worked out differently," he said, studying me.

"Not me," I snapped, tossing the picture back onto the dresser. "Things worked out just how they should have."

"Why do you say that?" he asked, standing.

"I got to see the real you. You saved me from liking you as more than a friend." At least, it should have. But I liked Bridger more every day.

One black eyebrow slowly lifted. He stepped up to me and leaned in so close I could feel his exhaled breath on my face. His eyes lingered on my lips before looking into mine. I turned around, my heart hammering and my lips burning, and strode out of the house. Bridger followed.

"So, where should we go to eat?" he asked as we got into his SUV.

"I haven't thought ahead that far," I admitted. Because my brain was too full of Bridger.

"I'll choose then, since you're providing the food." Bridger started the engine. We drove through town and ended up on a spa.r.s.ely populated road. The houses we pa.s.sed, while few and far between, were growing nicer and bigger by the minute. Then the biggest house I have ever seen came into view on the left side of the road, surrounded by a tall stone fence. I stared at it as we drove past, trying to take in all the details.

"That house is huge!" I craned my neck to get one last look at it.

Bridger peered at me out of the corner of his eye. "You know, you should never judge a person by his house."

"Yeah. I know."

The paved road turned to dirt, and we entered uninhabited wilderness. About two miles up the dirt we were surrounded by dry, dusty mountains. There was a strange feel to the area, as if it should be teeming with life, yet it was silent and still.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"It's the old mine. No one ever comes up here anymore," Bridger replied. "I know a perfect spot for a picnic."

We circled around to the back side of a mountain and he stopped the car. I stepped out, looked around, and a smile washed over my face. The air smelled of dust and juniper and sunlight. The dry land was dotted with patches of green and shadowed in places by scraggly junipers and ponderosa pines. The trill of birds filled the air and wind rustled the trees. And that was it. Absolutely no human noise.

"How did you ever find this place?" I asked.

"I go biking up here all the time," Bridger explained. "And that"-he motioned to a tall hill of brown dirt where a red flag, faded and threadbare, flapped in the wind-"that is Evening Hill."

With the grocery bag picnic in one hand, Bridger grabbed my hand with his other and began pulling me up the dirt hill behind him.

"Why do you call it Evening Hill?" I asked, trying my best not to let the loose dirt spill into my shoes.

"Because if you sit here at sunset, you can actually see the evening descend over the world. See, look." He pulled me to a stop at the top of the hill.

"Oh." I could see for miles and miles. The sky stretched overhead brighter and bluer than I had ever seen it. A juniper-filled valley expanded out before us, ringed by distant purple mountains. There were no signs of humanity in that valley, no roads, no houses, no power lines.

"When a storm's coming, you can see lightning on the horizon before you see a single cloud," he added. He dropped my hand and casually draped his arm over my shoulders.

His arm felt good there, like I fit perfectly beneath it, like I should wrap my arms around his waist and lean against his chest. The view forgotten, I searched his face, trying to see what he was thinking. His face was turned to the horizon, alive with memories.

"I've been all over the world, but nowhere is as beautiful as the New Mexico desert," Bridger said quietly. Finally, he looked down at me and dropped his arm to his side. "Hungry?"

"Very."

We sat cross-legged, side by side, atop Evening Hill. I handed him his lunch and opened my yogurt.

"An apple and yogurt? What happened to the homemade chili and corn bread?" Bridger asked.

"I figured this would be easier to eat on a picnic. No dirty dishes."

"You realize this doesn't count as a meal, right?" He bit into his apple.

"Why not?" I replied, wondering if I should be offended.

"Because it's a snack. I'll be hungry five minutes after I eat this. But there's this place I want to take you. The food is awesome. You game?"

"What? Right now?"

"No, not right now. Around dinner time, preferably. Do you have plans?"

I looked away from him, at the beautiful view. My tongue felt tied in a knot and my brain zoomed through excuses I could give to turn him down.

"What? You already have a date tonight?"

"It's not that."

"Well, then, why don't you want to go?"

Because I like being with you too much and that's going to lead to a broken heart. Mine, specifically. "I don't want to date you," I said. "But don't get me wrong, you're pretty cool to hang out with and all. Only, I don't want a boyfriend or anything. Just a friend."