Trip nodded then said, “Hop in, let’s get out of here.”

Will got into the passenger seat and Trip swung the truck around and headed back down the dirt road, past the U-pick blueberry bushes, and out onto the road.

Will looked at his brother’s dress shirt and slacks. “Why are you wearing that?” he asked. But Trip ignored him and turned up the music, Tom Petty playing on the classic rock station. They drove for a few minutes without speaking, winding down toward River Road. When they reached the river, Trip made a left and started heading north, away from town. “Let’s go to the Rock,” Trip said, and Will nodded.

They parked the truck in a pull-off on the side of the road. There were no other cars there, a good sign. Trip grabbed a can of beer from under the front seat and slipped it into his back pocket. A break in the trees marked the entrance to an unofficial trail. The brothers started up the trail, gaining ground quickly through the woods. It was humid, and between the heavy air and the elevation, both boys were breathing hard by the time they reached the clearing.

Will heard it before he saw it: the roar of water rushing through the rocks before it tumbled over the edge, forming a waterfall that poured into a deep pool below. A large, flat rock ran alongside the creek and jutted out over the falls. The boys stepped carefully out onto it. From here they had a clear view of the river valley below them stretching south, past the whitewater section of the falls near town.

Trip inched out to the edge of the rock and looked over at the pool.

“Deep enough?” Will asked.

“Looks good,” Trip answered. “There’s been plenty of rain this spring.” He pulled the can of beer from his pocket and stuck it into a shallow section of the stream to get cold.

They’d been coming to this spot for years. Will remembered the first time Trip brought him here, when Will was twelve and always trying to tag along with Trip’s older friends, eager to impress them. Don’t think, Trip had told him. If you wait too long, you’ll get scared and you won’t be able to jump. Trip had gone first, to show him where to leap. Will followed, closing his eyes at the last second. With the sound of the kids cheering behind him, his left foot touched rock and then his right foot found nothing but air. He let out an involuntary whoop, and then there was silence as he plunged into the cold water. The next second he was bobbing back to the surface, the sound of the falls behind him and Trip’s smiling face close to his own, his strong arms pulling Will toward the edge of the pool.