The Reckless Oath We Made - Bryn Greenwood Page 0,142
really don’t have a cellphone?”
“It’s money we don’t have. Besides, I’m always at home,” she said. “I didn’t finish college, so I can’t get a regular job. The weaving and some babysitting are the only jobs I’ve ever had.”
“I didn’t go to college.” I didn’t know why she was telling me that stuff, but I thought we could try to have a conversation. “You could always wait tables.”
“I don’t think my dad would like that.”
I was going to ask how old she was, but I didn’t want it to sound like a smart-ass remark. Still, I figured she was old enough to get a job her father didn’t approve of.
We didn’t talk after that, until I saw a red-tailed hawk perched up in the top branches of a pine tree.
“There’s a hawk,” I said to make her look up from her weaving.
“Oh.” That was all she said, but a few miles further, there was one on a road sign past Udall. She pointed and said, “There’s another one.”
That fast we saw another, up on an electrical line, twisting his head around, looking in the grass for something to eat.
“That’s three,” I said.
She folded her weaving up in her lap, and from there on, that was all we said to each other. Four, five, six, seven. To keep track of how many hawks. By the time we reached the pull off for Bryn Carreg, we were up to thirteen, plus three turkey buzzards and a bald eagle fighting over a deer carcass.
In six months, the weeds had grown up around the carport, so the only place to park was the shoulder. We were far enough out in the country I didn’t bother with Leon’s leash. I just opened the back door and let him out. I put my purse in the trunk, and I offered to put Rosalinda’s in, too, but she clutched it to her chest and shook her head.
As I came around the other side of the car, I saw a metal sign half hidden by the weeds. It had a real estate company name and phone number on it. FOR SALE in big red letters. 84 Acres, Pond was painted underneath that.
It made everything worse. Five years Gentry had worked on his castle, and I destroyed it all in a week. Following Rosalinda up the path to Mud Manor, I thought about Gentry carrying the tent ahead of me, inviting me into his life. Look what he got for it.
I’d worried I wouldn’t be able to keep up with Rosalinda, but she had to stop a few times to catch her breath. Leon ran ahead of us, chasing things.
“I don’t miss this hill,” Rosalinda said, panting as we came up the last stretch. The weeds hadn’t taken over Mud Manor, because there was too much shade, but a bunch of vines were climbing up the side of the house. “I still don’t know how Gentry hauled all the construction materials up here.”
“Did he build this, too?”
“Oh, he built this first, so I wouldn’t have to camp out. I mean, Edrard helped, but Gentry did most of the work.”
“That’s nice.”
“It really was. I’m sure it doesn’t look like much to you, but this is my real home,” she said. I thought about Rhys telling me she had a crush on Gentry. I wondered if that was true, or if it was homesickness. Either way, I felt bad for her.
I assumed she’d come to get her things from the house, but she walked around the fire ring and started up the path to the hill of good cell reception. I whistled for Leon and we followed her.
It had been so beautiful in the spring, all green and shimmery. Now the valley was hazy from range burning, and the trees were starting to look bare, but a few still had bright orange leaves. For maybe ten minutes, Rosalinda and I stood on the hill looking down on all those long stretches of brown grass. Then she reached into her purse and pulled out a plastic bag full of gray powder.
“He always said he wanted his heart buried on this hill. His parents acted like I made that up, but his father finally agreed to give me some of his ashes. Maybe part of his heart is in here. Or for all I know, his father gave me a handful of ashes out of their fireplace.”
“How come they decide whether you get his ashes?” I said.