Chapter One
“And what would you say is the best thing about living in a small town?” Luna pushed her glasses up her nose. They were always sliding down, and it was annoying to keep pushing them back. She made a mental note to order a new pair online when she got back to campus. If she finished her interviews here today, she’d be able to get back on the road and make it halfway back to Denver before she’d have to stay in a motel.
You know, if she was lucky.
“Hmm,” the older woman thought for a moment. She, like many of the other people Luna had interviewed over the past few days, was more than happy to talk about their experiences living in the mountains. That was what Luna’s graduate thesis was all about: life off the grid.
She was trying to create a project that showcased exactly what went into living off of the grid. Her goal was to discuss different reasons that people decided to go live off in the wilderness and to offer up suggestions for the government and other communities to offer better and stronger support systems for such people.
“Well, I don’t exactly live in town,” the woman said carefully.
“Right. You live up in the actual mountains, is that right?” Luna tapped her pencil on her notebook. She was recording the interview, as well, but she liked taking notes. There was just something about writing with a pencil and a piece of paper that made her feel a little more legitimate, like she deserved to be here.
Like she knew what she was doing.
“That’s right.”
“What do you like about that?”
“Well,” the woman looked around the coffee shop the two of them were sitting in. Luna had chosen this place to conduct the interviews because it was a safe, neutral location. She could buy the people she was interviewing a cup of coffee or tea, and they could take their time chatting. Caroline Reynolds was a kindhearted woman who was obviously nervous about being interviewed, especially by someone she didn’t know very well.
Or at all.
Caroline had responded to Luna’s request for interviews. She’d posted her request online last week, and Caroline was one of the last people to respond. Luna had spent the last week traveling to different mountain towns in Colorado to ask questions about what it was like to live, well, away from everything.
“Hey,” Luna reached for Caroline’s hand and touched her gently. “It’s okay. You can take your time, okay?”
Caroline smiled.
“I know, dear. I’m just trying to find the best way to explain my way of thinking. It’s like this,” she said carefully. “When my husband died, I didn’t want to be in the house we had shared. I wanted someplace new. My grandson is a lumberjack and he built me a cabin on my land. He comes up every week and brings me food and supplies. Oh, I can still drive to the store and take care of myself, but he spoils me.”