The trail emerged onto the fire road, which ran along the ridge, and we stopped to catch our breath. There were a couple of huge coast live oak trees up here, with twisting branches and spiny-edged leaves that rattled like tambourines in the wind. It was a clear day, and the view was spectacular—360 degrees of golden-brown hills dotted with dark green trees and brush, the blue sky above, and the shine of water to the southwest. Joan had told me it was Kent Lake, and I pointed it out to Steph.

“You can see how dry everything is,” she said. “The only time it would be green is right after the rainy season, and we’ve been in a drought for years.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah. It’s global warming. Sorry to be a downer.”

“No, I get it. Would you ever leave California? Isn’t it supposed to fall into the ocean?”

Steph shook her head. “This is my home. If it falls into the ocean, I’ll probably fall with it.”

Analemma tugged on the leash, and we continued on, heading for the other fire road that would circle back down to Joan’s house. After a while I said, “I don’t think I’ve seen any TV with queer people in them. There’s Ellen, but that’s just her. I don’t think it counts.”

“Not even Glee?”

“I’ve never been into that.”

“Grey’s Anatomy?”

“Not really my thing either.”

“What is your thing?”

“The Walking Dead? Alien? I guess I like monsters.”

“Horror is very queer.”

“Is it?”

“Hello, vampires.”

“Oh! I remember now I used to watch Buffy reruns when I was a kid. I was probably too young for it. Willow was queer, wasn’t she?”

“Definitely. I used to torrent those, too. I’m surprised my parents never caught me and figured out I was queer.”

“They don’t know?”

“No, they know. I mean I used to watch so much gay TV on the desktop computer in the den in the middle of the night, but they never noticed. I did wipe the history, but still.”

A mountain biker came toward us, his tires kicking up dust, and I pulled Analemma to the side while he passed.

“When did you come out to your parents?” I asked.

“It was kind of an accident. When I was fifteen I started dating this girl at school, and my mom saw us kissing outside the 7-Eleven. She didn’t take it well.”

“I’m sorry.” But all I could think about was Steph kissing a nameless girl outside a convenience store. A Slurpee staining her lips red.

“It was a long time ago.”

I wondered who the girl had been and what had happened to her. “Is your mom okay with it now?”

“Not really.”

I hadn’t expected that answer. “Are you okay with that?”