Page 16 of After the End
“Did you ever hear back from that awful guy who accused George and Ellie of stealing Lemon?” she asked. Carefully, so as not to disturb the puppies, she turned in her seat to face him. Chris was pretty sure that it was to avoid looking out the window at the way the high plains stretched, empty and open, until they butted up against the encircling mountains. He didn’t mind being her distraction. So far, she’d been doing surprisingly well. It was hard to believe that this was the same woman who’d been terrified to leave a lock undone a year and a half ago.
Daisy gave him an inquiring look, reminding Chris that she’d asked a question.
“He called a couple of times,” he said with a shrug. It had almost been fun to mess with the man who’d tried to sell Lemon and her puppies to a puppy mill. “I told him that there were no new leads.”
She grinned at him, and he had to tear his gaze away so he could concentrate on the road. Daisy’s beauty still had the power to take his breath away. “Nice lie avoidance. There weren’t anynewleads, since you knew George and Ellie had taken the dogs. At least Martin Leek didn’t kick up a fuss.”
“Not after I arrested him for animal neglect, got his puppy mill closed down, and all his dogs went to the rescue.” The memory always brought a smile. That had been a satisfying day.
“I’m so excited to take our puppy home. Lou and Rory are, too. Even though Ellie’s going to miss having the babies around, I think she’ll be relieved to have just Lemon. It sounds like housebreaking three puppies at one time was a bit of a nightmare.” Daisy looked down at her lap, stroking a gentle finger over one of the puppies’ heads. The tiny dog grunted and wiggled without opening her eyes before settling back into sleep. “What should we name ours?”
“We could go with a fruit theme, like her mom.”
Wrinkling her nose, Daisy said skeptically, “Like Banana? Or Tangerine?”
“Raspberry?”
“Guava.”
“Pineapple.”
“Grapefruit.”
“Musk Melon.”
Laughing, Daisy clutched her head in mock dismay. “Stop! This is only getting worse!”
The road twisted and dipped through the mountains, and Chris was forced to concentrate on his driving, although he did manage to sneak a glance or two her way. Daisy was always beautiful, but she was magnificent when she laughed. He appreciated every smile so much more after the nightmare that had almost killed them both. Gradually, as Daisy had healed, her laughter became more frequent. That was yet one more thing Chris had to be grateful for.
He followed the pavement into a tight turn. The shoulder was almost nonexistent, putting the truck just feet from the towering wall of rock. As he rounded the last curve, a bighorn sheep stood right in the middle of the lane.
“Shit!” he muttered, slamming on the brakes. His arm went out automatically, as if to hold Daisy back, but her seat belt kept her in place. The puppies, on the other hand, rolled toward her knees until Daisy grabbed them. In the back, Lemon gave a grumbling groan of protest before resettling herself and resuming her nap.
“Sorry about that,” he said. Once he was sure that all the passengers were safe, he looked back at the sheep still standing right in front of their truck. The ram gave them a disapproving look before climbing up the rock face that bordered the road.
“Whoa,” Daisy breathed, leaning forward. “That was incredible. I’ve never seen one so close before. I love how they can just scale a cliff, as if it’s as easy as trotting down the sidewalk.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty amazing.” He let the truck roll forward, keeping an eye out for any other sheep. Daisy’s breath caught audibly, and Chris gave her a sharp glance. “What?”
“It’s so beautiful.” She turned her head, taking in the panorama of the jagged mountains lined with aspen trees, fall turning their leaves gold, and dark-green evergreens. The highway wasn’t much more than a paved ledge, with a towering wall of rock to their right and a dramatic drop to their left. “It’s been so long since I’ve experienced this. I mean, I know I see the scenery in Simpson, but this is different. This takes my breath away.”
“Mine too.” He reached over and squeezed her hand, grateful for her reminder. It was too easy to forget to appreciate their surroundings. Having Daisy next to him for her first road trip in almost a decade reminded him how lucky they were to live in such an incredible place. “This doesn’t bother you, then? All this space?”
“Not at all,” she replied without taking her eyes off the scenery. “I thought I would be terrified, but I’m not. Maybe it’s because I was scared about all the bad things that could possibly happen. My house was safe. After my mom was killed, it became theonlysafe place. Looking down at that”—she gestured to the plunging drop from the road to the valley below—“makes me a little dizzy, but in a good way, if that makes any sense?”
“It makes a lot of sense.” He brought their linked hands to his lips for a quick kiss, and then he dropped them to his thigh. “You’ve come so far. I’m proud of you, Dais.”
She gave him a sassy smile. “I’m proud of me, too. Except for that one time when I freaked out at the grocery store and threw up. Oh, and when I first went to Rory’s and Ian’s house, and I couldn’t come out of the pantry until she’d lowered those awesome robot shutters.”
“Pbbbt. Who hasn’t thrown up at the grocery store? Soup’s done it three times. It’s like a Simpson tradition. Plus, Rory herself said she slept in Ian’s closet until he had those robot shutters installed.”
Although she tried to frown at him, Chris could tell his pep talk had worked. She was so much more relaxed than when they’d left Simpson, and they were over halfway to their destination. He gave her hand a final squeeze before relinquishing it so he could concentrate. Raven Pass was approaching, and it was tricky, with a steep grade and several hairpin turns.
As he made the last turn, staying close to the rock wall bordering his lane so he could swing as wide as possible—which wasn’t very wide—he heard a pinging noise on the roof. The sound came again and again, and Chris looked around, frowning. It almost sounded like light hail, but the weather was cloudless and sunny, a perfect Colorado fall day. It wasn’t until he saw a small rock bounce off the pickup’s hood that realization struck.
It was a rockslide.
His brain spun in fast-forward as the occasional pebble striking the truck built to a steady patter. Everything he knew about landslides—the causes, the warning signs, the destruction they left behind—crowded his mind. The painful, brutal truth was that, if they were caught in the path of a rockslide, there was nothing they could do. In just a few seconds, they’d be buried.
