My heart felt overfull. “Okay. I’ll use it but I’ll bring it back.”

He shook his head vehemently. “I don’t need it. I’m an old man with nowhere to go. I get groceries delivered twice a month. I figure that man at the truck stop saw that I needed the car more than he did, and that’s why I’m giving it to you. Just get where you need to go. That’s all that matters.”

Chapter Fourteen

Rainbows appear almost every day as sunlight reflects off the mist from the falls.

As I pulled the old blue Toyota next to a parking meter a mile away from the Niagara Falls State Park entrance, it occurred to me that there may be nothing here for me.

Groups of people bustled by laden with strollers and diaper bags. Concessions were sold from street vendors. Signs announced that the Maiden of the Mist—this being the name of the ship—gave tours. Even the skyline was populated erratically with tall business buildings. It was all far more modern and commercial than any of the pictures in my book had been.

But the falls fulfilled their prophecy and took my breath away on sight. Or rather, on sighting one of them, because the expanse of the three falls together was far more than I could have visualized before. It felt enormous—and considering it divided two large countries, I supposed that made sense. There were multiple rainbows arching over the falls, closer than I’d ever seen one but also see-through…rather ghostly, really.

I went to an exhibit where I heard some of the same facts from the book, about the daredevils who went down the falls in barrels, about the tightrope walker. There was even a short segment on the Hermit of Niagara Falls, which I found gratifying in the extreme. After all, if Jeremiah hadn’t been stretching the truth about that, maybe all the other stories were true too. I hoped so. It was a full life. Some good, some bad, but the man knew how to have adventures.

I did go on the large boat to get up close and personal with the falls, getting drenched despite the poncho they gave us. There was an option to go into the tunnels behind the falls, though I found cave-dwelling far less interesting without Hunter there to float with me.

By the time I had seen all there was to see, the day was waning. I counted the money Jeremiah had loaned me, feeling guilty all the while. Get where you need to go, he’d said. But I was here, and I still hadn’t found what I was looking for. It was becoming less clear what that really was.

I fed the parking meter and walked over to the hostel that I’d found online before coming here. Thirty bucks got me a clean bed, even if I did have to share a room. The girl barely looked up from her book when I came in. I glanced at the cover and did a double take.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Niagara Falls.

“I read that,” I exclaimed.

I knew I sounded like a moron, but I couldn’t help it. Alone in the world, it was nice to find common ground in even the smallest ways.

“You going to work on the Maiden too?” At my puzzled look, she continued. “The Maiden of the Mist. I’m studying to pass the test so I can be one of their tour guides.” She rolled her eyes. “Sorry. Adventure guides.”

“No. At least, I hadn’t planned to.”

But there was a thought. I had most of the information memorized already. At least then I could earn back the money I’d borrowed from Jeremiah while I formulated a new plan. Still, I felt ambivalent about the falls. It wasn’t their fault I’d pinned so much on them. They couldn’t deliver me what I wanted, I knew that now. I’d probably always known.

The girl shut the book and groaned. “The first person to map the Niagara Falls was a French priest in 1678.” She considered. “Well, except for the Native Americans. So I guess the book is wrong.”

“Yeah,” I said wryly. “I’ve heard that.”

She tossed it onto the bed. “Sometimes I think history isn’t really what happened. It’s how you look at it.”

I grinned. “You and me are going to get along fine.”

“You got a name?”

“Evie. And you?”

“Sarah. I moved here with my dumbass boyfriend. Well, I didn’t think he was a dumbass at the time. But we broke up because he is, in fact, a dumbass. And a cheater. Figure I might as well make some money while I sort this shit out.”

“That sucks, and I understand completely.”

“Wanna grab some dinner?”

“Let’s.”

We left the hostel room and returned to the darkened streets. The crowd seemed to have swelled as night hovered over the earth. It appeared the locals came here for the concessions and games along the strand.

A tall Ferris wheel blinked bright in the sky. On the ground, everything felt mildly damp and chilly. It would only be worse at the top, and that decided me.

“Have you been on that?”

Sarah looked up, blinking against the mist. “Not yet, but I’m game.”

We purchased our tickets and waited in line for thirty minutes before climbing in. It took another ten minutes before everyone else was loaded inside and the wheel began to turn in earnest.

“So what’s your story?” she asked.

I thought about that while we circled back down to the ground.

“Kind of the same thing. Hooked up with a guy for a while. Left him. Now I’m trying to figure out what to do next.”

“Asshole.”

“Yeah. Except…I mean, yeah he really is. By anyone’s standards, he’s an asshole.”

“But…”

“But nothing.”

“You’re in love.”

“He’s a jerk. If I told you everything he’s done, you would totally agree.”

“You haven’t even told me what he’s done and I already agree with you. But you love him.”

“He’s a priest.”

That gave her pause. Then she shook her head. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Oh, I think that matters. Plus other stuff. It’s just so frustrating. I want to go back to the way things were before I found him.”

I frowned, thinking how terrified I’d been that first night. Now here I was making friends in a hostel, exploring a new place on my own. I didn’t have much of a plan or much money, but neither did I have any fear.

My heart skipped a beat. No fear. That’s what I’d been looking for, and I’d found it.

“Well, it doesn’t matter now. I don’t know where he is, so even if I wanted to find him…”

“Which you do.”

“I can’t.”

She sighed, looking out over the purple-and-blue-hued falls. “Well, I know exactly where my boyfriend is. At our apartment with my friend. Who I only let stay with us because she needed a place.”

“That sucks. Big time.”

“So screw them, right?”

“Yeah.”

The word sounded hollow, and judging by the look on her face, she knew it too. But she let me off the hook, and we chatted pleasantly as we grabbed a greasy hamburger from the strip and made fun of the wax statues in the window of the museum.

“I’d better head back,” she said. “I’ve got that interview first thing in the morning.”

“Sure thing. Let me just stop at my car to grab my bag.”

We headed through the thinning crowds toward the hostel. I pulled the small bag of toiletries I’d packed out of the backpack. Something caught my eye. Standing in the open back door of the car, I looked up in the sky and saw an orange-ish light streaking across the sky, like a rainbow but brighter somehow.

“Look at that.” I pointed.

“Oh yeah, I saw that last night. I think it’s a lunar bow.”

The book had mentioned those alongside rainbows but it didn’t have a picture. It was beautiful, more striking than all the colors, I thought. Just one. I felt a smile spread across my face. As silly as it was, I felt like this was what I’d come here to see. After all the official sites, the gorgeous views, just a swash of orange across the sky. Bold, brash. Everything that I wasn’t only a few weeks ago, but not anymore.