You don’t notice the elevation change as you drive through the mountains. The only thing that tips you off is that your ears start popping. Blue mountains majesty, my ass. What was worse? My girlfriend kicking me out, or the awkward one-sided conversation with someone I hadn’t seen since I was ten? “Plenty of fish in the sea,” my brother said. My side-eye wasn’t enough to stop his attempts at playing dad. I leaned back in the seat and pretended I was asleep. “Plenty of fish…” A virgin’s sage wisdom passed down by our father, no doubt. Not like dad was any better with relationships. The sun burned through my closed eyelids. I wasn’t fooling anyone. I sat up, and as we passed under the shadow of the mountain, I thought of her. “Hey, do you remember—” “The woman in the shack? Grandpa shit a brick when we told him someone was living there.” It wasn’t something a person could forget. Never speak to strangers, adults always say. She was the stranger they were trying to warn us