Chapter 34We walked slowly down the beach, carrying our shoes. Neither of us said a word. I didn’t know how to start the conversation and she was leaving it up to me. I think she was still stunned by how I’d left her before the exam. To tell you the truth, I was, too. But I guess I had to start something.
“It’s a long way down from up there,” I said.
“I imagine.”
“The first thing that hit me was that I’d never been that far from home before. Then I realized, I never really had a home. I own land, and a house…or two, and I have a herd of bovine creatures. My friends are four-legged or have wings, except for you and Sandy. I like to think of Andy and Cloud as friends but they’re really employees. I have no family. I’ve been alone since I was in college. I never had anyone to account to, n
