Page 28 of Melody

Because she noticed a lack of guard rails, she was glad she couldn’t see much on the side of the road—or, rather, the side of the hill—as they went higher and higher. The road in front of them was illuminated by the car’s headlamps and, as she looked out the passenger side window, she could see the college campus not far off.

It wasn’t long before they reached the top and the road curved so that the car began driving north instead of south, but the way was now almost flat—and everything all around, all the lights, were visible.

And breathtaking.

“Oh, wow!”

“I told ya.”

Kyle slowed his speed even more, and she thought it might be so she could appreciate the view for longer. After a short distance, a streetlamp appeared as if out of nowhere, and she was able to see just how sheer the drop off was.

Don’t look.

Forcing her eyes to look at the lights below, she also took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Ahead, they passed between two walls of rock that disappeared shortly after, again leaving an unimpeded view.

It wasn’t long before Kyle slowed the car more, and Scarlett took her eyes from the city lights to the road. He was pulling into a small parking area with another streetlight above, something that seemed extremely out of place. There was another car there, but Kyle seemed to park as far away as he could without having his car hang in the road—or off the edge.

Then he shut off the car.

“Pretty cool, huh?”

Scarlett noticed right away that the heater in the carhadbeen doingsomething. With it shut off, the cool air seemed to descend immediately, but the quiet was worth it. “Yeah.”

“C’mon,” he said, opening his door and getting out before she could even respond. But she followed suit, stepping out by the time he got to her side, and he led her to the front of the car. “Check it out.” Kyle leaned against the hood of the car, inviting her to do the same. If her coat had been light colored, she wouldn’t have done it for fear of getting it dirty, but the dark fabric could handle it. She rested against the hood next to Kyle, again aware of how tall he was. Even without standing, his height was obvious.

But she turned her attention back to the view and drank it in. Silver City was not so large that the lights seemed to disappear beyond the horizon. There was a definite fringe to the east where the buildings thinned out before stopping altogether,the direction she’d entered from months earlier. Straight ahead, there were paths of light, lined up like soldiers in formation, definite patterns that outlined streets. As her eyes took it all in, she realized something and she pointed. “That’s Main Street, isn’t it?”

“Yep.”

There she could actually make out buildings, and she suspected that, in the daytime, she would be able to see much more detail. Kyle said, “And if you look just a little to the right, that’s the highway.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“For a long time, I didn’t come up here as much as I used to, but I’ve started doing it again over the past year. It’s a great place to kind of clear your mind.”

“It’s even better than the painting.”

“That’s why I had to bring you here.” Kyle’s voice grew softer, but she had no problem hearing it in the still evening. “My therapist tells me I need to find a way to connect with nature at least once a week. I don’t know if this counts, ‘cause we’re looking at the city, but it kind of feels like the best of both worlds.”

Therapist?Of all the people she knew—and there weren’t many in this neck of the woods—Scarlett would not have pegged Kyle for the kind of guy to seek counseling.

But, of course, she was assuming. For all she knew, he was talking about aphysicaltherapist or something else she hadn’t thought of. If it was for mental health, she had to give him credit. Tommy could have used a lot of that but the one time she suggested it, he’d gone into a rage…confirming, of course, that she’d been right.

“This definitely feels like we’re in nature but observing the city.”

“Yeah—that’s how I see it. So I was up here last week before work after I went to the music store on Main. Do you know the place I’m talking about?”

Scarlett had seen it on the other end of Main during her walks. “Franklin Music?”

“Yep. They have this sweet Les Paul—it’s a standard 60s design. I go by there every now and then to admire it. But they’re selling it to the tune of three thousand bucks. I like to look at it for inspiration, but it’s a little out of my price range.”

“I get that. Kind of like that painting I was drooling over.”

“At least you got a miniature version to look at. There’s no such thing as a miniature version of a guitar.”

Scarlett laughed. “Yes, there is. It’s called a ukelele.”

Kye joined in the laughter. “Let’s see how a ukelele goes over at our next concert at Tequilaville.”

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