Page 68 of The Ripple Effect

Usually Lyle gets the curriculum questions. I might’ve been wrong about people being scared of him when he’s angry.

I try to rebalance the heavy dishes while giving Trevor my best twinkle, the one I used when I told pediatric patients I wanted to look for giraffes in their ears. “The mystery’s kind of the point, Trevor.”

“Valid, but it would help Petra’s anxiety if she knew what to expect.”

“Oh. Right.” She didn’t put that on her intake form, but I can roll with it. “Tell her to meet me at the van a few minutes early? I’ll brief her as much as I can.”

“McHuge always briefs us beforehisroad trips, though. Location, level of difficulty, hazards, learning goals.”

“Thisisone of McHuge’s road trips.” I try not to clench my teeth at the implication that an inferior road trip must be my idea. “Tell Petra to come see me. We can talk through any specific areas of anxiety.”

“Sure. Thanks,” Trevor says, mouth tight with dissatisfaction. He spins on his heel, leaving me with an unsettled feeling.

The parking lot for the Pendleton Farm trail system is jammed with cars and people. A rainbow-lettered banner readingNATIONAL GEOCACHING FESTIVALdrapes between two poles planted on either side of the trail map.

“Circle up, my forest friends,” Lyle calls. “Today we’rechallenging the beginner courses our friends at the geocaching society have opened to the public. If you’ve never geocached before, it’s like an outdoor scavenger hunt to find hidden treasure using your phone and your observational skills. The ‘treasure’ can be anything from a fun object to a secret message. Tag the location and leave the treasure for the next geocachers.

“During the We’ve Got This stage, you can expect fun and excitement, plenty of personal development, and flexible problem-solving within your team. Today we’re doing one last exercise in self-awareness and relationship awareness by geocaching with people other than our partners. In what ways do you miss your partner’s input when you’re with someone else? What are you doing—good and bad—that you’ve stopped noticing, and what are they doing that you’ve stopped noticing?”

We pair off the clients and reinforce the emergency instructions: if anyone gets lost, use the emergency heading—due east—to find the main road, then turn north to get back to the parking lot.

First to go are Lori and Trevor. Lori grins when McHuge says, “May the forest be with you,” although Mitch looks none too thrilled to be separated from her wife. She pulled Lori aside when we assigned the partners, but whatever she was concerned about, Lori seemed to dismiss it. I wonder if keen-eyed Mitch knows something about Trevor I don’t.

“It’s weird to hold a phone again,” Sloane says, turning hers over in her hand as she and Willow wait a few minutes before following the first group—we didn’t want everyone to clump up like peewee soccer players. The two of them pause at the trailhead to talk strategy, the occasional word filtering back to us over the hum of the crowd.

Willow points at her phone, then looks up at Sloane, lips moving. “Yeah, good idea,” Sloane says, nodding. Willow’s eyeswiden; she shakes her head like she’s changed her mind. “No, it’s good,” Sloane says. “If it’s wrong, we’ll backtrack and try again.” Willow looks at Sloane like she’s having an epiphany that’s equal parts wonderful and horrible.

“This exercise would be better with our own partners,” Brent says, watching Willow walk away without looking back. He sounds uncharacteristically pensive, and even a bit worried.

Wife, his confused expression seems to say, echoing what I told him on the first day.That’s mywife, and she looks happy for the first time in days, and it might be because she’s not with me.

Mitch and Brent set off, Brent clearly trying to catch up to Willow, Mitch equally obviously trying to slow him down. Five minutes later, Petra and I hit the trail. Lyle will drift between groups, helping where he’s needed.

The forest is mostly cool and dim, but occasional light breaks through where larger trees have fallen, opening up space for scrubby saplings to reach for the sun. Some of the trails are wide and well maintained, rocks stacked on their downhill sides to prevent erosion; others are narrow and braided with secondary tracks that show where hikers have avoided muddy ground. Some hardy passersby have repositioned fallen trees into makeshift footbridges across puddles large enough for a protected wetland designation.

A young family crosses our path, twin preschoolers running ahead, bleary-eyed parents bringing up the rear, each with an identically dressed infant in a backpack.

I stop to wait for Petra, who’s examining some days-old bear scat at the side of the trail, her shiny dark braid falling over one shoulder.

Now’s my chance to get to know her, maybe. “Hey, Petra.” She doesn’t respond—distracted, maybe, by the shouts echoing through the trees. “Petra! You okay?”

Her head comes up, a strange look on her face. Almost… guilty? “Oh, yes, that’s me! Sorry, I zoned out for a second.”

“How are you feeling? Am I walking too fast?”

“I’m good, thanks. Whatever pace you want is fine.”

“Great. Let me know if you need a break.”

“Will do.” She sends me a sideways glance like she doesn’t know what the hell I’m talking about. She didn’t come for a briefing before we set out, like I offered. Did Trevor not tell her about his chat with me?

“You and I haven’t had a chance to really talk. I’d love to hear how it’s going with Trevor. Everyone’s rooting for your friends-to-lovers story.”

That gets a small secret smile out of her. “Me and Trevor are… good, actually.” She ducks her head shyly, tucking a stray lock of dark hair under her red bucket hat. “We have some stuff to figure out, like our work situation. But it’s so much more than what I expected with him. It’s kind of wild, actually.”

“I’m so happy for you. I hope the Love Boat’s giving you what you came for.”

Petra’s smile flattens for a second, then curves up with determined brightness. “Yes. It is.”

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