"I think it depends on where you're at. The country can be pretty fucking boring sometimes. But woods? Mountains? Valleys? Those are probably my favorites. The farm was a little flat space in all of that, in the Tetons."

Ellie considers him thoughtfully; she wouldn't have thought of him as a country boy, but she can see it. Him growing up longing for something different, something great. Strange doesn't strike her as someone content with simple peace. Maybe someday.

"... about a year and a half." She measures time by JJ's age back then, and briefly, something darker, sadder, passes through her eyes. He'll be walking, now. Running. Speaking in full sentences. Maybe even starting to ride the horses on his own.

"Then we uh, separated. She moved back to town. I ended up in another reality."

You know how it goes.