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Yellow and orange trees flew by, blurring in the corners of Mike's eyes as he kept his focus on the road ahead of him.
He'd been driving for two hours now, picking up a delivery of wood supplies and taking it to his father's construction business, the one he himself worked at. It was a small, local company, mostly taking on projects in their hometown and the neighbouring farms scattered all around the outskirts. He felt happy doing that kind of physical work with his own hands, where he could be out and about until it was evening and his body grew tired. He slept so much better than when he'd been stuck in an office all the time, back when he hadn't been sure yet what to do with his life.
Sure, there wasn't much to do in the town he lived in. He had all the necessities within a twenty minute walk or drive—a small supermarket, a tiny clothing and shoe store. A few diners, a handful of bars. A GP. For anything beyond that, however, he had to take a two-hour car ride into the neighbouring city, a trip he only rarely set out on. At least it had only been an hour to school.
Some people might assume he'd go crazy at such a boring and uneventful place, especially at thirty years of age. But he was happy with his life; he didn't need excitement or nights out getting drunk in a club where the crowd full of strangers around him made him feel like he was suffocating. He'd let himself be talked into such an outing a couple of times, and he'd deeply regretted it the day after.
The landscape turned particularly beautiful in autumn, when colour found its way into the trees, their canopies shimmering yellow and orange in the golden autumn sun. Even though Mike was already used to it, he liked to let his gaze drift across them, a contented hum escaping his lips. It rained a lot too, of course, but today was a good day, with no grey clouds far and wide, and he felt very much at ease.
The radio was playing some cheesy country-pop song when he turned onto the highway that would finally lead him home. He still had several hours of driving ahead of him, though, and he tapped his fingers against the steering wheel in sync with the music.
After a while—the station had just switched to a more bearable song—he spotted a person standing at the edge of the road, their hand outstretched. To his knowledge, there weren't any roadhouses nearby, and visitors rarely ventured into this part of the country, as it was mostly covered with trees and rocky terrain. But he wasn't too familiar with the area, and maybe a camping spot or even an inn had recently opened that he was unaware of.
Mike slowed down either way—the person might be hurt or in need of help, and he might be the first person they had come across in a while.
To his relief, the woman appeared unharmed at first glance, and her face visibly lit up when he pulled over and came to a stop in front of her. She was wearing a backpack over her weatherproof jacket, the zipper pulled up to her chin. It must be windy outside, he realised when he watched her short, blond hair ruffle around her face, and a fresh breeze came towards him when he leaned over to the passenger seat to open the window.
"You alright?" he asked when she stepped up to the truck, just to be sure,
The woman nodded, a smile appearing on her lips. A beautiful smile, he realised rather alarmingly quickly, beautiful and very distracting. "Yes, thank you. I'm all good." With her thumb, she pointed to the trees behind her. "I'm kind of lost, though. Been trying to get to the nearest town around here, but my phone's GPS died on me and I only roughly remembered the direction I was heading."
The forest? What on earth was she doing in the forest in the middle of nowhere—without a map, at that?
"Phone service tends to be terrible out here," Mike said, gesturing to the seat next to him. "Where are you going? I can give you a lift, if you'd like."
"Uh, I'm actually not sure yet," she said, rubbing her fingers together. "I'm backpacking my way through the area, you know? I desperately needed a break from work—the city can be so suffocating. So I decided to just strike out and see where the journey takes me. I don't really have much of a plan."
Ah, she came from the city. The fact that she found that place suffocating immediately made her even more likeable to him than she'd already been.
"I have a map with me. If you'd like, I can show you where we are, and you can tell me in which direction you wanted to go. I might be heading that way anyway." Mike usually wasn't nervous about giving strangers a lift—locals relied on each other to get from A to B, and the few people who did lose their way into this area were usually tourists who were thankful for any insight and local knowledge he could share.
Though they usually weren't that… dazzling. Mike quickly banished the thought, clenching his fist and pressing it against his thigh to keep himself from being distracted.
"You wouldn't mind?" the woman asked, her eyes lighting up again. When he shook his head, she let out a sigh of relief. "Then I'd gladly accept your offer." Mike leaned over to open the door for her, and she swiftly climbed in, pushing her stuffed backpack into the space between her feet.
"You probably think I'm stupid," the woman said, running a hand through her hair. "City girl who thinks she can find her way in Ontario's wilderness and immediately gets lost. But I've been on the go for three weeks now and this is the first issue I've run into. Plus I didn't come entirely unprepared—I did my research and brought all the important stuff. Looked up the places I should avoid. I just… might've forgotten to bring a physical map with me."
"I don't think you're stupid," Mike said, opening the glove box and pulling out the map, which he handed to her. "There's no way you could've known unless you know the area."
"So I cam assume you're a local?" the woman said, unfolding the map and placing it on her lap.
"I'm a local about four hours north," Mike replied, remembering his manners and holding out a hand to his new passenger. "I'm Mike Zacharias, by the way."
The woman introduced herself as Nanaba, taking his hand and shaking it gently, her skin cool from the crisp autumn air. Then she unfolded the map, laying it across her lap. "Alright, now where exactly are we?"
Mike showed her the highway they were currently on, and Nanaba's expression brightened when she recognised the town she had come from. It turned out that she was going in the same direction he was, though the place she had picked was a little further westward than his hometown.
"I could drop you off around here. It's on my way, about half an hour away from where I'm headed," Mike said, pointing at a little dot. "If I remember correctly, there should be a small inn where you could stay for the night."
Nanaba tilted her head, her eyes scanning the names printed on the map, and finally coming to rest on the little town he had shown her he lived in. "What's Mattawa like? Is it worth visiting?"
"The nature around it is nice, though not nicer than what you're currently seeing," Mike replied truthfully, a strange sense of excitement stirring in his chest. Did she want to come with him all the way? "There's a river that runs directly through town that might be the highlight, so to speak. But Mattawa itself is… quiet. Boring, depending on where you come from."
"Sounds just like the place I'm looking for," Nanaba replied, folding the map and stowing it away in the glove box again. "Though I wouldn't want to impose. If you'd rather drop me off at—"
"No," Mike interrupted her quickly, surprised by his own forwardness. "It's fine. Half an hour either way doesn't make much difference."
Nanaba smiled, her shoulders visibly relaxing. "Then I'd be more than happy to accept your offer."
Mike waited until she had fastened her seat belt, like the responsible driver he always claimed he was. Only then did he start the engine, the radio blaring an upbeat country song that made the two of them wince, and he quickly turned down.
Nanaba started talking about how much she was enjoying her current travels—how she had really needed to escape from her job that had started to weigh so heavily on her that it had made her miserable. How this trip was bringing ease to her mind, and how quickly she had fallen in love with the landscape, unable to tear her gaze away from it for more than a few minutes.
"The trees look absolutely gorgeous," she said, letting her eyes drift over the forest stretching out on both sides. "I've never seen the leaves turn such a pretty shade of yellow and red. It's absolutely amazing! And I really wish I could have lunch by the river for the rest of my life. People are so kind, giving me lifts and offering me a place to stay—I've spent several days at an elderly couple's farm, and it's been one of the best weekends I've had. I think I don't ever want to go home again."
Mike couldn't help but smile to himself. It was refreshing to experience what he regarded as normal from a different point of view. He was so used to it that he simply shrugged it off as ordinary. Suddenly, he wanted to see his own world through Nanaba's eyes. Her enthusiasm was contagious.
"Aren't you worried you might be getting into a weird guy's car, though?" he said, wincing at his rather ineloquent wording. He'd only wanted to express his concern, he hadn't wanted to sound like a creep.
"So far, I've been lucky," Nanaba said with a chuckle, then gave him a quick side-eye. "Unless you're the one who's going to break my winning streak."
"Hm, I don't know. Define weird," Mike said, his skin prickling when she chuckled again. Was this normal?
"Nah, I don't think you're weird." She paused, relaxing further into the seat. "You seem nice."
For some reason, Mike felt the blood rush to his head at a frightening speed, and he quickly shifted his gaze back to the road, trying to calm the sudden stir of his nerves. "If I ever open up a hitchhiking company," he continued, a little wobbly, but he did not want the conversation to die out under any circumstances. "I'll be quoting you on that."
"'Hitchhike with Hitch-Mike'," Nanaba burst out, her laughter ringing out like the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard. "You've got the perfect name for a catchy slogan already. You should definitely make use of it."
Mike wasn't sure whether the banter that was currently going on was something special or if people spoke like that on a day-to-day basis. He wasn't exactly a great talker, especially not with strangers, but this felt different. Special. Somehow, he was already feeling a little sad about the journey eventually coming to an end, and he was very glad they still had about three hours ahead of them.
"Hey, you want some of these?" Nanaba's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "Those are the best carrot cookies I've ever tasted. I got them at a farm shop. Homemade stuff is just the best." She opened a paper bag, the package rustling softly, and held it out to him.
"Thanks," Mike replied, carefully reaching into the bag she was offering. The paper was stretching taut around his hand—it wouldn't be the first time he'd ruined something with his huge paws. Thankfully, everything went well, and he bit into the cookie, his face lighting up ever so slightly at the pleasant taste that reached his taste buds.
"They're great, right?" Nanaba smiled, picking up on the shift in his expression. She took a bite of her own cookie as well, a blissful expression sneaking onto her own face. "I'm going to miss this kind of food once my trip is over. I feel like you only get to eat this well outside of the city."
Mike knew he should do more than just nod and stare, but his quiet nature became particularly quiet when he was both fascinated and a little intimidated by something. Nanaba had that effect on him, and maybe it was a little creepy and definitely very concerning to already be so infatuated with her—at least from her point of view—but he couldn't help it. She had put him under her spell the moment she had climbed into his truck, and he was more than happy to yield to that strange feeling that was stirring in his chest.
"Tell me something about your hometown," Nanaba broke the silence, her hand comfortably resting on the armrest, seemingly unbothered by his lack of words. "I might be staying around for a little while, and I'd like to see everything you reckon I definitely should check out."
"Sure. Uh, let me see…"
With that followed an unusually long explanation of the town and its surroundings from Mike, a place he knew like the back of his hand. He told her about the hiking trails that let to the prettiest clearings, from which she'd have the perfect view of the sunset. He described the way the river ran right through the town and led straight into the forest, and mentioned one of his favourite spots, where the water cascaded gently down the stones. He even promised to get her one of the hiking maps that were sold at the post office and drop it off at the local inn, where she had decided she would be staying.
Mike wasn't used to talking for so long, and soon his mouth had become noticeably dry, which was absolutely ridiculous, for a grown man should be able to talk for more than just a few minutes. But he wanted, no, he needed to make sure she understood him.
Every now and then, under the pretext of focusing on the nonexistent traffic (though he was actually just trying to catch his breath), he glanced at Nanaba from the corner of his eyes. He was surprised to find her attention fully on him instead of the landscape around them, which she had described as absolutely breathtaking. In his mind, it didn't make sense, and his skin buzzed as he quickly continued talking, needing a distraction from how strongly his confused body was reacting.
Oh, he was so down for her already.
