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An hour of moody silence. Great. “You could make that time go quicker by telling me why Colin wants us to visit it.” Today’s advent window had said simply: Luke, take Anna to the park.

He darted her a quick side-glance. “Go quicker for you or for me?”

“Both of us.” She gave him a saccharine sweet smile. “I know how you love to talk.”

He grunted, but his mouth twitched. He hadn’t shaved again today, the stubble on his chin that little bit darker. Maybe it was to match his mood. “We used to hike in the park.”

She waited for him to continue. He didn’t. “Hike, really? That’s amazing. I never would have thought you’d be able to hike in a park. Thank you for elaborating.”

Another grunting noise. “What else do you want me to say? We went to a lot of parks, but this was our go to. We’d spend a weekend there, hike, fish, camp.”

“How often did you go?”

“Whenever my weekend off aligned with him not feeling like he needed to be contactable.” There was a dry tone to his voice, like it hadn’t happened nearly as much as he’d wanted it to.

“He earned a lot of money, but he worked damn hard for it.” After he’d sold his first company she’d stupidly thought he’d sit back, take it easy, but that wasn’t Colin. He’d given himself a month off, then founded another start up. When she used to ask him if he’d had a good weekend, he’d often replied with what weekend? The times he’d gone camping though, he’d sounded refreshed, invigorated. “It did him a world of good, camping with you.” Luke’s hands flexed on the steering wheel, but he didn’t say anything. “Have you planned a hike for when we get there?” She asked to keep the conversation moving.

“Depends. How far do you want to go? Trails are anything from half a mile to twenty miles.”

Half a mile sounded fine to her. “I suppose you guys always did the long ones.”

“I suppose you’re right.” He flashed a brief smile her way. “But we did have all day.”

“Tell me about the trails, about what there is to see. Tell me why you and Colin came here so much.” It was another side to her brother she was keen to see through Luke’s eyes.

Luke was silent for a moment. “I thought we’d do Reeves Brook Loop Trail, maybe add on Raccoon Brook Hills if we have time,” he said finally. “It will give you a flavor of what the park has to offer; streams, waterfalls, views of Chipmunk mountain. Summer is the best time to go, but January and February can bring snow which gives a different perspective. Today we’re lucky it’s dry and sunny so we should get some good views.” He paused. “The Bear Mountain trail was our favorite. When you get up high there are great views of the Hudson River from the Memorial Tower. Of course you can drive up.” He gave his shoulders a quick shrug. “But where’s the fun in that?”

“Err, you get the great views without the blisters?”

He frowned. “You said you had hiking boots.”

“I do.” She waggled her boots in the footwell.

“If you’ve got good boots, you don’t get blisters.”

“But that would ruin my joke.” His exhale was part resignation, part reluctant amusement. “Is that why you came here so much, the great views?”

He rubbed at his chin, making a scratching noise against his stubble. “There are better places to camp, to climb, to hike, but we first visited this park with school, so I guess it held a lot of memories. Plus, it was easy for us both to get to. We’d had great holidays hiking in Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, The Rockies, farther afield in Europe, up Mont Blanc. Harriman Park was less about what we saw and more about catching up. I think . . .” He trailed off, gave a small shake of his head.

“You think what?” She prompted.

He sighed. “I think the business he was in, founding start-ups, securing finding, scaling them up . . . it was manic and Colin needed to decompress sometimes. Getting away helped him do that.”

She wondered if it wasn’t just as important to her brother that he spent time with his best friend, wherever that was.

“These camping trips. . . .” She snuck a glance at him so she could see his reaction to her question. “Were they boys only, or were women invited?”

He gave her a mild look. “Are you asking me to dish the dirt on your brother’s love life?”

“Nope. I know all about Katrina and Sophia. Harper and Chloe.” Those were the four she could remember. There had been many names she’d forgotten. Her brother was handsome, charming and earned buckets of money. He was never short of female company. “I was asking about your love life.”

The truck swerved a fraction before Luke straightened it up, his fingers tightening around the steering wheel. “I’m not drunk enough for this conversation,” he muttered.

“So there were trips that involved women sharing a tent with you?”

He cursed under his breath. “Not the way you’ve made it sound.”

It was fun to see him rattled. “You mean it wasn’t one big orgy under canvas?”