Page 42 of You, with a View

I adjust my backpack, nodding. “A few times with my family. It’s been years, though. I forgot how beautiful it is.”

“It’s my favorite place in the world,” Theo says from beside me.

I turn to him, surprised at this voluntary share. “Yeah?”

He nods. The sun filters down through the thick canopy of trees, dappling his face and hair with afternoon light, caressing his shoulders. “I don’t know how many times I forced my granddad to camp here—”

“At least twenty.”

Theo gives Paul the smile he reserves for him alone—pure happiness, unabashed affection. “There’s something about it. It’s quiet, but not a heavy kind of quiet. Just peaceful. Feels like you can breathe here.”

I stare at him, trying to work out exactly what he means.A heavy kind of quiet.I’ve felt it in grief, but I’ve also seen it in the low tones in which his dad used to speak to him, a firm hand gripping his shoulder, in the grim silence after Theo got a lit paper returned to him with a 93 written at the top. I have to make assumptions. He’ll never tell me, but it still feels like he’s revealed something.

“What’s your second favorite place?” I ask.

“New Zealand as a whole. Milford Sound especially. I cried a little.”

My mouth drops open. “No, you didn’t.”

He gives me a sly look. “I love that I could not tell you and you’ll wonder forever.”

“Your grandson is a total menace, Paul.”

His laugh is jovial. “Sweetheart, I know.”

I continue my line of questioning, curious now. “How many countries have you been to?”

“I’ve stalled out at forty-two. Haven’t had much of a chance to travel the past couple years,” Theo says, his mouth twisting with obvious displeasure.

I look over my shoulder at Paul. “And you?”

“Ninety-seven.” He nods his chin at Theo. “He’s trying to catch up with me.”

“Forty-two is pretty impressive.”

“Yeah,” Theo agrees, but it’s not smug. He seems in awe of it, and confirms that when he continues, “I realized early on what a privilege it was to be able to travel. Granddad drilled into my head that seeing the world is expensive, and it requires time people may not have. I can’t do anything about the time part of it, but Where To Next was born from the idea that everyone should be able to afford a full-package experience.”

“I love the off-season packages you offer,” I admit. “Gram and I went to Scotland a couple years ago and practically paid pennies.”

His attention turns keen. “Do you use it often?”

I lift a shoulder. “When I have the time and money. Before Gram died, I didn’t have much of either. There’s no way I would’ve gone on the trip without the off-season deal. Gram would’ve wanted to pay for my way, and it would’ve turned into this big argument of me not wanting to be a burden—”

Gah. Major overshare. I bite my lip to prevent further confessions, but Theo seems to have a one-track mind.

“Do you think it’s a necessary feature?” he presses.

“Yeah, everyone I know has used it at least once. It’s the biggest draw of your app, in my opinion.” I eye him. “Why are you asking? Are you using me as some sort of one-woman focus group?”

He runs a hand over his jaw, distracted now. “Yeah, I guess.”

We spend the next few minutes walking in silence before coming up to a portion of the trail where a creek is revealed, water rushing over huge craggy rocks. Behind it, a massive slab of mountain thrusts into the sky. My fingers start tingling, and my heart beats faster at the feeling in response. It’s been so long since I’ve wanted to shoot anything so badly my fingers tingled.

“Can we stop real quick?” I ask, already popping the cover off my lens. “I want to get a few shots here.”

“Go ahead,” Paul says.

I scramble toward the edge, staying a safe distance from the drop, though it’s not significant. It’s just rocky, and the water below looks freezing.

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