“No, it’s nothing like that. It’s been a difficult day. My mother died this morning.”

Something about the way he said it wounded me like the sharpest of arrows. I guess that’s the way we all are about our mothers. Saying goodbye to the woman who brought us into the world is a loss like no other. And yes, I know, with you and me, it’s much more complicated than that.

“I’m very sorry,” I told him.

“Thank you. I guess I had a kind of breakdown after it happened. I just got in my car and started driving. I’ve been driving for hours through the snow, and at some point, I ended up here. Where am I, anyway?”

“This is Sunflower Lake,” I told him. “In Black Wolf County.”

“It reminds me of one of my favorite lakes back home. Shelby Lake.”

“Shelby,” I said, rolling it around on my tongue. “That’s a pretty name.”

“And it’s a pretty lake, too. I don’t know, maybe that’s why I stopped here. Something drew me to this place. Like this was where I was going all along. Do you know what I mean? I guess we all end up where we’re supposed to be.”

“I do know what you mean,” I said.

“Anyway, the snow kept falling. I didn’t really pay attention to it, but a little while ago, I realized I couldn’t get out. Disaster sort of creeps up on you like that. And as you can see, I’m not exactly dressed for the weather.”

He had such an easy way of talking. His voice had a gentleness that seemed unusual for a big man. I enjoyed listening to it the way I’d enjoy someone quietly strumming a guitar. With his beard covering everything but his lips, he seemed to speak with his eyes. They were chocolate-brown eyes, serious but also sweet. I didn’t think I’d ever had a man’s eyes look at me the way his eyes did. He studied me carefully, but with no demands, no expectation, no ownership, just appreciation. With one look, his eyes told me I was pretty, and then they backed away to give me space. Which, suddenly, I didn’t want. I wanted no space from him at all.

We had a kinship, this man and me, both of us arriving here from dark places. That’s the only way I can explain it. And as for breakdowns, I knew what that was like, because I was in the midst of one myself. Weird, though, all my plans for what I was going to do somehow vanished from my mind as soon as I met him.

“What’s your name?” I asked him.

“Tom,” he told me. “Tom Ginn.”

*