It wasn’t until New Year’s Eve that he finally forced himself to go out to his truck and turn on his phone. He knew his brother would be looking for him. Probably Uriah, too. He hadn’t prepared either one of them for the fact that he’d be gone. He’d just packed up and left, and then he’d worked day by day to train his mind, while training his body to climb higher and carry more weight, to believe that Harper was like the drugs his mother took—something toxic and dangerous for him to desire.

“What’s going on?” Maddox asked as soon as Tobias got him on the phone. “Where the hell have you been?”

Tobias winced at the anger in his brother’s voice. Maddox didn’t get mad very often. “I just…took a little hiking trip for the holidays. That’s all.”

“Without telling a soul that you were going?”

He’d been meaning to check in all along. He’d just kept putting it off, hadn’t been able to make himself face anyone he’d left behind, and that included his brother. He’d known the subject of Harper would inevitably come up and he didn’t want to talk about her. “I didn’t think it would be a big deal. I had the time off work, so I decided to make the most of it.”

“Damn it, Tobias! You scared the shit out of me! Uriah’s been trying to reach you. Atticus has been trying to reach you. I’ve been trying to reach you. None of us knew where you were. Even Susan called Jada this morning, wanting to know if there’d been any word.”

Tobias dropped his head and massaged his temple with his free hand. “Yeah, I bet Susan would be real broken up if I were to leave for good.” He laughed, hoping Maddox would join in and let everything else go—but he didn’t.

“Where are you?”

“Yosemite.”

“Shit,” Maddox said. “If you hadn’t taken your hiking gear I would’ve called the police. I hope you know that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I thought… God, when I heard what happened with Harper, I thought…”

“That maybe I’d gone off on a drug binge, like Mom? You know I’d never do that,” Tobias said.

Maddox didn’t respond right away.

“Maddox?”

“When are you coming back?” his brother asked.

Tobias’s breath misted in the cold air as he stared up at the mountains surrounding him. The beauty here was soothing. But hiking could only do so much. He had to go back to his regular life at some point. He figured it might as well be sooner rather than later. Christmas and staying at the lodge had helped his peace of mind but damaged his bank account. “Tomorrow.”

“So you’re okay.”

“I’m fine,” he reiterated.

“You’re not upset about Harper.”