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I walked into the living rooer?" I called, wondering if I’d been ditched again I looked out the frontHis SUV was still there

"Back here" I followed the sound of his voice totable holding a photograph, studying it with a frown on his face

It was the picture of me in my "prom dress" I’d torn up and throay the one with both of us before I’d decided to forgive hie of anger And huht turned out I wish things would have worked out differently," he said, studyingthe picture back onto the dresser "Things worked out just how they should have"

"Why do you say that?" he asked, standing

"I got to see the real you You savedyou as more than a friend" At least, it should have But I liked Bridger more every day

One black eyebroly lifted He stepped up to me and leaned in so close I could feel his exhaled breath oninto , and strode out of the house Bridger followed

"So, where should we go to eat?" he asked as we got into his SUV

"I haven’t thought ahead that far," I ader

"I’ll choose then, since you’re providing the food" Bridger started the engine We drove through town and ended up on a sparsely populated road The houses we passed, while few and far between, were growing nicer and bigger by the est house I have ever seen came into view on the left side of the road, surrounded by a tall stone fence I stared at it as we drove past, trying to take in all the details

"That house is huge!" I craned er peered at me out of the corner of his eye "You know, you should never judge a person by his house"

"Yeah I know"

The paved road turned to dirt, and we entered uninhabited wilderness About two miles up the dirt ere surrounded by dry, dusty e feel to the area, as if it should be tee with life, yet it was silent and still

"What is this place?" I asked

"It’s the old er replied "I know a perfect spot for a picnic"

We circled around to the back side of a mountain and he stopped the car I stepped out, looked around, and a smile washed over ht The dry land was dotted with patches of green and shadowed in places by scraggly junipers and ponderosa pines The trill of birds filled the air and wind rustled the trees And that was it Absolutely no human noise

"How did you ever find this place?" I asked

"I go biking up here all the tier explained "And that"--he , faded and threadbare, flapped in the wind--"that is Evening Hill"

With the grocery bag picnic in one hand, Bridger grabbedHill?" I asked, trying my best not to let the loose dirt spill into my shoes

"Because if you sit here at sunset, you can actually see the evening descend over the world See, look" He pulled me to a stop at the top of the hill

"Oh" I could see for hter and bluer than I had ever seen it A juniper-filled valley expanded out before us, ringed by distant purple ns of humanity in that valley, no roads, no houses, no power lines

"When a stor on the horizon before you see a single cloud," he added He dropped my hand and casually draped his arood there, like I fit perfectly beneath it, like I should wrap ainst his chest The view forgotten, I searched his face, trying to see what he was thinking His face was turned to the horizon, alive with memories

"I’ve been all over the world, but nowhere is as beautiful as the New Mexico desert," Bridger said quietly Finally, he looked down at ry?"