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“You know, I can carry that.”

“Yes, I do know, but my mother taught me to be a gentleman.”

She just shakes her head and climbs into the truck.

The drive takes us inland through the redwoods, and Ruby stops asking where we’re going after the first ten minutes. She watches the trees instead, one foot tucked beneath her on the seat while sunlight breaks through the branches in short flashes across the windshield.

When I finally turn onto the narrow road near the trailhead, she looks over.

“This definitely looks like the part where people disappear in horror movies.”

“You watch too many bad movies.”

“I watch exactly enough bad movies to know better.”

“You can stay in the truck if you want.”

She opens the door before I’ve even killed the engine. “Nice try.”

The air is cooler beneath the trees, damp enough that everything smells like earth and redwood bark. I shoulder the backpack with our lunch and towels while Ruby looks up at the canopy.

“So, this is the spot you used to come to with your brothers?”

“Yeah. We used to come out here whenever we got the chance.”

“That sounds like trouble.”

“It usually was.”

We start down the trail, and I point out a section where the roots lift unevenly through the dirt. Ruby steps around them without needing help, but when the trail narrows near a steep drop toward the creek, I hold out my hand.

She takes it, and threads her fingers through mine until the ground levels out again, and even then neither of us lets go right away.

“Lachlin was already acting like everybody’s dad back then,” I tell her as we walk. “He’d tell us not to jump off something, which obviously meant Conlin immediately wanted to jump off it.”

“And you?”

“I usually encouraged him.”

Ruby looks at me. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“I’ve matured since then.”

“Have you really?”

“Some.”

She laughs, and I pull her a little closer around a muddy section of trail.

It takes about half an hour before the trees begin to open and I hear the water more clearly. Ruby notices it too.

When we reach the last bend, the trail drops toward a wide pool fed by the river, clear enough near the edge that I can see stone beneath the surface. Trees crowd around most of it, but sunlight reaches the middle, turning the water a deeper green where it gets colder and deeper.

Ruby stops beside me.

“Okay.”

I glance over. “Okay, what?”