He drove through the suburbs until he reached the fringes of the city, and then he exited the freeway and drove some more. Finally, he turned off the highway onto a narrow asphalt road that not so long ago had been nothing but caliche. Elizabeth stared out the window, not talking. But her body language said a lot. She was clutching the door handle in a white-knuckle grip and glancing at his phone in the cup holder every ten seconds. Pine trees rose on either side of them. The road curved, and his headlights swept over the sign for the trailhead. The landscape looked different from what he remembered, and he nearly missed his turn. He rolled to a stop and looked at Elizabeth across the console. “Where are we?” she asked. “Sugarberry Dam Park.” He pushed his door open and went around back, where he unlocked the toolbox and rummaged around until he found what he was looking for. Elizabeth slid out and glanced around. She climbed the steep incline to the ridge and stopped cold when she reached the top.
