Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Trail Mail
    Trail Mail
    Trail Mail
    Ebook73 pages1 hour

    Trail Mail

    By Ada Stone

    3/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Not only is Lia backpacking the sixty-mile Timber Loop trail for the first time, but she’s also hiking it alone. Lia has backpacked solo plenty of times, so she starts the hike much more excited than nervous — that is, until she discovers an eerie note in the first trail shelter she passes. The following day she discovers another. Though the notes are clearly meant not for her but for someone named Andi, Lia fears what might happen if she runs into the author all alone in the woods. But beyond her own trepidation, she worries about what might become of Andi. Determined to warn this woman she has never met, Lia formulates a plan that risks putting herself in danger’s path. When she finally locates Andi, an unexpected friendship begins to form, even under their disturbing circumstances. But Lia feels herself wanting more. Does Andi desire the same? And will Lia get up the nerve to find out?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBryant Street Shorts
    Release dateJun 24, 2020
    ISBN9781094410982
    Author

    Ada Stone

    Ada Stone is a queer and trans book-obsessed human from the Pacific Northwest, where they live now. They love spending quiet time among trees and mountains, listening to their favorite albums on repeat, and receiving “your holds are ready for pickup” alerts from the library.

    Read more from Ada Stone

    Related to Trail Mail

    Related ebooks

    Contemporary Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A Love Letter To My Queer Female Friends

      Apr 25, 2021

      I’m a sociable person. I have huge amounts of love for the people in my life; the ones I’ve known forever, the ones I’ve met this year, the ones I turn to for advice, the ones who lead me astray. The list goes on. Before corona (BC), it wasn’t unusua

      4 min read

    • Article

      Screen Queens

      Apr 6, 2021

      Screen Queens
      3 min read

    • Article

      Out On The Court

      Sep 11, 2018

      Out On The Court
      3 min read

    • Article

      Anna

      Feb 5, 2018

      Anna
      7 min read

    • Article

      Summer Beach Reads

      Jan 10, 2021

      Summer Beach Reads
      7 min read

    • Article

      The People Behind This Issue Reveal Their Hit Lists

      Nov 17, 2019

      The Polish model was only discovered two years ago, but is already proving to be one to watch. She shows us how to wear Louis Vuitton’s futuristic new collection in “Come Fly With Me” on p122. On my playlist: I like Polish podcasts. My favourite is K

      2 min read

    • Article

      Lucy Barnard

      Mar 29, 2021

      Lucy Barnard
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Bridle

      Oct 10, 2021

      Saliva pooled on her tongue beneath the rusty depressor. She endured a constant urge to swallow, afraid of choking on her own fluids. The taste of metal and blood are so akin, it is easy to mistake one for the other. This early in the day, blood was

      11 min read

    • Article

      Craters

      Oct 1, 2021

      Craters
      6 min read

    • Article

      Heatstroke

      Jun 8, 2020

      Languid. The word that formed in Rachel’s mind was languid. The figure on the lawn was languid. Its limbs were loose, its joints fluid. Its hands and feet seemed too heavy for the bones that held them. It was draped over the sun lounger, dripping fro

      5 min read

    • Article

      Anatomy Of A Search

      Mar 17, 2023

      Anatomy Of A Search
      13 min read

    • Article

      Shula And The Sun

      Oct 13, 2017

      Shula And The Sun
      8 min read

    • Article

      Come With Me

      Nov 22, 2018

      Come With Me
      23 min read

    • Article

      Intelligent Creatures

      Jul 6, 2023

      Intelligent Creatures
      19 min read

    • Article

      Seven by Nine

      Aug 6, 2020

      Seven by Nine
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Gentle STIRRING

      Mar 13, 2024

      A Gentle STIRRING
      6 min read

    • Article

      Any Given Day

      Mar 29, 2021

      Any Given Day
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Plague Legends

      Dec 1, 2021

      The Plague Legends
      12 min read

    • Article

      Better

      Aug 12, 2019

      Better
      18 min read

    • Article

      Today Will Be A Good Day

      Aug 5, 2021

      Today Will Be A Good Day
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Mirror Test

      Dec 1, 2020

      always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh; butwhat if the baker won’t let me feel the bread?;you mean to say that after all you are really goingto be the kind of woman who the baker won’t letnear the bread? —Jamaica Kincaid, “Girl” In the eighteen

      19 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Jul 1, 2019

      She grazes in a meadow, sulphur blossoms spillingfrom her jaw.At this moment she seems so calm, she could be holyif what that means is something like beingwholly unaware of the good she gives,how even her rooting tills the soiland even her shitting f

      2 min read

    • Article

      Off The Shelf

      Aug 4, 2021

      What if we could speak to the dead? It would be a rare person processing the loss of a loved one who hadn’t wished they could pick up the phone and have one last conversation. The Emporium of the Imagination is inspired by the true story of the wind

      5 min read

    • Article

      A RAIN OF Small Kindness

      Aug 31, 2020

      A RAIN OF Small Kindness
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Trail Mail

    3/5

    9 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Trail Mail - Ada Stone

      Prologue

      If she were in Andi’s place, would she show up? This thought loops through Lia’s mind over and over as she waits. It’s her fifth day camped out at the proposed meeting spot, though day is quickly turning into night. It’s the twenty-fifth of August, and probability says Andi should have arrived by now. Only five more days and Lia will be hiking out, whether she wants to or not. Of the mountain of food Robert delivered, only a small hill remains.

      From her improvised rock seat at seven thousand feet, Lia admires the rolling plains of the east side of the state, the land turning a hazy indigo in the low light, the sky shading pink around purple cotton-ball clouds. Without the sun’s direct rays, the air is quickly cooling, but Lia resists putting on a jacket, wanting to feel the prickle of the clear alpine air on her arms just a bit longer.

      On the gravelly ground, Lia’s feet sit bare while her socks dry upon a neighboring rock. Her attention drifts to the skin peeling off her heel, a deep blister that has been healing over the weeks she’s spent lounging around camp. Bringing her awareness further up, she stretches her calves, hamstrings, then her quads. She’s just spent an hour stretching, but the muscles are still stiff with inactivity. Her back and neck are sore from sitting on the hard ground. Her body begs for the release of physical exertion, but she doesn’t want to risk being away from camp when Andi arrives. So she’s made do with stationary exercises: pushups, crunches, squats, and so on. But really it’s not so bad up here, getting to admire this view all day. Plus the possibility of getting to talk with Andi makes the temporary isolation bearable.

      With one last arch of her back, Lia sighs and reaches for her sandals. It’s time to brush her teeth, pee behind a bush, and retire to her tent. Her legs complain anew as she uses them to stand. She takes her first step forward, and then freezes. From down the trail she hears the scrabble of rocks under boots. At first it’s so faint that Lia suspects it’s just her imagination providing the input she wants to hear. But then the sound grows louder, forming the unmistakable rhythm of a weary backpacker completing the day’s final tenth of a mile. Though trees are sparse at this altitude, a small clump of scraggly whitebark pines stands at the perfect spot to block Lia’s view of the incoming hiker — if they’re there, that is. Craning her neck, Lia waits for the figure to emerge.

      Chapter One

      The sun demands Lia’s attention as soon as she steps out of her air-conditioned car. She’d circled the parking lot three times looking for a shady spot, but this late in the morning there are none to be had. Lia contemplates stripping down to her sports bra, then thinks about how much sunscreen she’d have to apply to cover her shoulders, her chest, and her belly, and decides it’s better to keep her lightweight T-shirt on. From the side pocket of her backpack, she pulls out her sunscreen and begins lathering up her forearms, neck, ears, calves, and thighs. With a different, more expensive product, she coats her face, checking in one of her car’s side mirrors to make sure the white lotion is all rubbed in.

      With that first order of business out of the way, Lia moves on to the next task: double-checking her bag. This process has become a crucial part of her pre-departure routine ever since she left half of her food in the car on one occasion last summer, forcing her to end what she had hoped would be a six-day hike after just three. Laying her fifty-liter pack on the hot parking-lot asphalt, she checks for the essentials: her tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, water bottles, water filter, first-aid kit, emergency GPS beacon, toilet paper, toothbrush and toothpaste, five breakfasts, six lunches, and five dinners, two chocolate bars (rapidly melting), a small pot, a plastic spoon, lighter, her tiny stove and fuel canister, a jacket, bandanna, one change of socks, two changes of underwear, a pair of tights, plastic sandals, baseball cap, beanie, and trail map. She checks off each item on her phone’s list as she goes. She shoves her sunscreens back into place and touches the sunglasses on her head, confirming the presence of these final two items.

      Satisfied, Lia opens the back of her car. Sitting on the bumper, she slides off her old running shoes and pushes each foot into her trusty boots, still dusty from her most recent hike. After lacing the boots up nice and tight, Lia grabs her poles and extends them to her preferred length. She checks that her ponytail is still tied tightly in place, hoists the heavy pack onto her back, closes and locks the car, and then is on her way to the trailhead.

      After a quick stop in the bathroom, Lia takes her first step onto the Timber Loop Trail. One down, many thousands to go, she thinks. At least she can spot shade in her immediate future. She can already imagine the relief of cooler air gracing her skin. Lia checks her watch: eleven fifteen. She has eight miles to go to her first camp, and calculates that she should be able to arrive by five, accounting for the steep elevation climb as well as a stop for lunch. Once she sets her expectations, though, Lia quickly zooms her attention into the present moment. If she frets too much over her progress, she’ll miss out on the beauty that inspired her to take up backpacking in the

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1