Instead he said, “It’s not easy for any of us. But I’m not going to let Kate or me go down easy.”

“I know you won’t.” He took a sip of coffee and suddenly snapped his fingers. “I just remembered this dream I had about Katy a little while back.”

“Is that the one you called her about?”

“Yeah. But then I got tied up with all these conferences. Spring is my busy season for some reason. I never got to talk to her about it.”

Andrew hated dream interpretations, but he asked just the same. “What was it about?”

Now Ryker tilted his head, thinking. “I can’t recall all of it, but I remember shadows. A lot of shadows around her. Well, not around her, but coming out of her.”

“Shadows coming out of her?”

Ryker clucked his tongue and said, “I know, it’s weird. The thing is, it felt very real, like one of those lucid dreams. I don’t have them very often, so it stuck with me. I looked up a few books on dreams, and shadows can mean a whole lot of stuff. Basically, it’s like negative feelings, aspects, or emotions that you’ve bottled up or things about yourself you’re afraid to look at.”

Andrew desperately wanted to run, but he also wanted to hear more. “But wouldn’t that then mean the dream was really about you and your feelings?”

“I think if they were coming out of me, sure. But I dreamed about them coming out of Katy. Look, I have no idea what it’s about, but I did wake up concerned and wanted to just talk to her. With everything she’s gone through, it’s no surprise that she’d have an endless bundle of dark emotions.”

“There’s a lot going on inside that head of hers, but she doesn’t talk about it much. She does meditate from time to time, though. I always hope it helps.”

Ryker nodded. “Well, I’ll see what I can drag out of her. Unlike you, I’m a bull in a china shop when it comes to her.”

Andrew smiled. “And I’m grateful for that. You can get away with so much more than me. You’ve got that sibling thing working for you.”

As Andrew was turning to go back in the house, Ryker snagged his arm. “Hey, what kind of wildlife do you have up in these parts?”

“Most of what you’d think would be roaming around. Nothing too wild and exotic.”

“I guess there’s a lot of moose up here.”

Stretching, Andrew said, “That’s what they say, though I’ve yet to see one. I thought I heard one once. Word is, you don’t want to come across them. They’re huge and cranky and dangerous. Why do you ask?”