Finding Eden (16 page)

“
You’re right,” she pouted, sticking out her lower lip. I looked away.

I had come to terms with my family’s death. I missed my wife, but it would be a lie to say that the details of her face weren’t beginning to fade from my memory. Without a portrait to remind me, it would be hopeless. Time healed, but not always in the ways you wanted. I was afraid that I was beginning to forget the sound of her voice, the way her laugh would always brighten up my mood. It was as if she was a photograph with a delayed exposure. The important parts were still there, but the in-betweens were blurred, smudged. I could remember the smell of her favorite perfume and her homemade spaghetti sauce, but not the curve where her neck met her shoulder or the slope of her lower back.

I felt guilty letting these memories disappear, but if I was being honest with myself, and I was, I wanted them to go away. I was tired of hurting, sick of feeling guilty; it was draining me in every way possible. Being alive was a constant reminder of her death and if I was to move on and
live
, I had to forget. I wouldn’t forget the day we met, the day I proposed, or any of the days I spent with Danielle.

And I could already feel it happening. It was probably wrong of me to find joy in this, but I did, and I basked in it.

I recognized the sweet scent that invaded me. Blondie suddenly stood beside me with a knowing smile on her lips. She always seemed to know when I needed a moment to myself. She looked up at me with her bright, emerald eyes, handed me my pack, and took my wrist in her hand.

“
Let’s go, Tex. I’m way too excited to stand around for even another minute.”

“
Gabriel.”

“
What?” She asked with a tilt to her head. I loved that.

“
My name is Gabriel,” I said as I took my first step as a free man.

[ Elle ]

The weather seemed normal or as normal as it could be. It was still,
dry, and possessed no electric charge. The star lit sky blanketed the expansive desert. I had harbored such hatred for the mundane continuity of it all, but after the electrical sand storm, it seemed possible to take some sort of enjoyment from its normalcy now.

“
Gabriel.” I tested his name on my tongue. He had finally told me and I didn’t know how to react to it. I realized it would probably be difficult for me to change from Tex to Gabriel, even though I loved his birth name a million times more. “Gabriel,” I tried it again.

“
How many times are you going to say my name?” He said as he flicked my ear.

“
I approve,” I said and swatted his hand away.

“
I’m so glad you approve of my name, Blondie.” He added dryly.

“
Why did you decide to give it to me?” I turned towards him and walked backwards so I could see his face.

Gabriel shrugged and scratched the back of his neck.

“
You’re hiding…” I bit down on my bottom lip, grabbed his face in my hands, and pulled him down to me. He was at my eye level for once and I made my gaze so intense that he couldn’t look away even if he wanted. “Stop. Hiding.”

Gabriel pulled my hands from his face and lifted his own to the sky, signaling his defeat. “Jesus, I don’t know, Blondie. I just felt like I could.”

I grinned. “See, now that wasn’t so difficult, was it?” I laced my fingers together behind my back and we continued on our way.

I was in one of my playful moods. It was foreign to me; I hadn’t felt like that in a long, long time. Maybe I was just giddy with excitement over our destination, the fact that we’d be there in just a few hours. Or maybe it was because I could finally call this man Gabriel and not
Texaco.

“
Gabriel,” I said again, but it wasn’t to call for his attention. I just wanted to taste it on my tongue once more. I heard him sigh, overly exasperated by me. I just laughed.

I turned and started walking backwards again, but this time right in front of him. I flattened my hand against his chest and he looked at me questioningly—one eyebrow rose.

“
Try mine now.” I sucked on my bottom lip, eager to hear it.

He grunted and looked past me.

“
Elle.” I said. “Here, look at me and see how I pronounce it.” His gaze fell to my mouth. I parted my lips and flicked my tongue against the roof while saying my name.  “See, it’s not too difficult.”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes and his face hardened. He grabbed my chin so that I had to stand on my tip toes. For a millisecond, I thought he was going to kiss me. His face was so close to mine; our breaths combined into one. My eyelids fluttered and my heart kicked into gear. I was afraid he could hear it.

“
You better watch it, Kid.” He said as he let me go and pushed by me.

I frowned. “Sorry, Old Man.” I handed him a piece of gum and painted a mile-wide grin on my face.

“
Hell no!” He yelled.

I made a knowing smile and laughed, so he laughed too. And everything was forgiven, even though I wasn’t sure why he got irritated in the first place. I should have been the one irritated—teasing me with such close proximity like that. I grumbled and stuffed the gum in my mouth.

“
Tell me something,” I said.

“
Something?” He said after finishing off a water bottle and opening a package of stale chocolate chip cookies.

“
Anything. What kind of student were you?” I stole a cookie from him.

“
Straight A’s and Salutatorian.”

I gasped and almost dropped my cookie.
“No way!”

“
Why is that so hard to believe?” He scowled at me.

“
I always imagined you as the class clown.” I shrugged and then frowned. “Or at least a stern-looking loner. You could pass for both.”

“
You’ve imagined me in a classroom environment?” He raised both of his brows and looked down at me.

“
It’s not like you’ve given me much to go on.” I yanked the entire package of cookies from him.

He inhaled deeply. “My name is Gabriel Reed. My birthday is November fifth. I tend to like the color green more than others. My mother was Louisa and my birth father died when I was only an infant; I grew up calling my step-father Daddy. He was a good man, a Navy veteran, which was why I wanted to join. I had a German shepherd named
Shep growing up and he died of old age. I loved watching my mother cook, so now I’m not too bad in the kitchen. I was never a big movie-goer or video game player. I’d rather play sports than watch them. I hate bugs. I’ve read over a five-hundred books in my lifetime, not including school assignments. I’m an adrenaline junkie. I’m attracted to the female sex.” He ticked off a finger after every statement. “I like the pink jellybeans. I used to enjoy the desert and often went camping. I miss sleeping in a bed.” He took one more deep breath. “And I miss my daughter.”

I blinked.

“
Is that good enough?” He crossed his arms, looking a little too happy with himself.

I pressed my fingertip to my lips. “Why pink jellybeans?” I asked with a tone of innocence.

He threw his hands into the air and disappeared into the night, so I ran after him.

[ Gabriel ]

“
So, we have to go over this next mountain, and there should be some sort of entrance on the other side?” Blondie asked as she balanced on top of a meteorite.

I couldn’t help but smile, watching her this way. Her arms were stretched out wide, eyes closed, and head back. She looked carefree. I was happier lately, but I still didn’t think I could ever feel the emotion she was experiencing at that moment.

The moon was low in the sky and behind her. She was outlined in a white glow like some sort of moon goddess. Her pale skin brilliantly reflected the moonlight. Blondie was short, making her look like a child, but when you really looked at her, you could see she was no kid. She had cheekbones that were placed high on her face. Her hips sloped into the curve of her ass—and she had a
great
ass. If it was up to me, she’d wear those tiny shorts every day. Her legs were covered by boots that reached just below her knees, leaving just enough bare skin for my viewing pleasure.

I laughed at myself.
“Yeah. Get down already; we’re almost there.”

She paused for a second before jumping down. “This thing is worth quite a bit of money. Well, it used to be.” She gestured toward the meteorite.

“
Yeah—used to be. It’s stupid to think about now.” I walked in the direction of the mountain, beckoning her to follow me.

“
Humor me, Mr. Reed.” She looped her arm around mine. “What would you do with the money?”

“
It’s irrelevant, Blondie. In order for me to get any money out of it, the end of the world couldn’t have occurred, which means the meteor wouldn’t have fallen from the sky, which means it doesn’t exist, which means I wouldn’t be able to receive any money to buy anything.”

“
I said
humor
me,” she grumbled and took the first step up the mountain. We’d have to make our own path of course, but it wouldn’t be difficult. It wasn’t steep or too rocky and climbing behind her had its perks. I could admire the curves and dips and I didn’t mean those on the mountain tops.

It felt weird being attracted to a woman who wasn’t Sarah. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about it, but I couldn’t help it—it was natural. That continued to be my excuse for keeping my
eyes on her.

“
Hurry up, Old Man. I know your arthritis must be killing you, but I want to make it to our destination before dawn.”

“
Oh, my aching back that is so riddled with arthritis that I can’t bear to walk another inch on my own. I might fall and break my brittle old man bones. If only there was a youngster around here with a good heart to help me make it up this doggone mountain.” I let out an overly dramatic, feeble groan.

Blondie laughed and made her way back down to me. She snaked her arm around my waist. “Come on now. I got you.”

I let out one of those evil, mad scientist, mwah-hah-hah laughs, scooped her into my arms and started back up the mountain.

“
Oh! Put me down, Gabriel. You’ll break your back for real.” She pinched my shoulder.

“
You’re bruising my poor manly ego.” We were about half way up and I decided to put her down. “Your turn?” I grinned.

“
Ha!” Her flashlight flickered and she hit it against her thigh.

“
Humor me?”

“
Come on. Stop stalling. We’re almost there and I don’t think I can be any more anxious than I already am.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me the rest of the way up the mountain. I made it difficult for her just because I could. I really should have taken it more seriously though; the sun was soon going to rise and I didn’t know the exact whereabouts of the entrance.

So I nodded to Blondie and put on a straight face. I made it down the mountain smoothly, but Blondie tripped a few times; I had to save her from a bloody knee or broken wrist. I held onto her upper arm to keep her balanced. We finally made it down, leaving us in a wash between the two mountains.

“
The map said to head south from here.” So I turned left to head south. “Keep your eye out for anything that looks like an entrance. It should be on our right.”

Blondie’s flashlight flickered again and she made an annoyed sound before hitting it against her thigh again. “Don’t die on me yet; we’re almost there.”

“
Excited?” I nudged her.

“
I’m afraid I’ll be disappointed,” she said in a sad tone.

“
We’ll find out soon enough.”

She ran ahead of me, her eyes on the mountainside to the right of us. “Okay,” she admitted, “maybe I’m a little excited.” The beam from her flashlight lit up our surroundings making the world
shadowless. “I think I see something!” She squealed and I shook my head. She stopped fifty yards ahead of me and said, “This must be it. Hurry!”

I jogged over to her and found her at another cave entrance that looked just like every other one. I was expecting something grander, something different—something that screamed
Eden
. There wouldn’t be a neon sign though. “The sun is about to come up, so whether this is it or not, we have to go in.”

I took the initial step and the first thing I noticed was the humidity; humidity meant moisture and moisture meant water.

“
This has to be it.” There was an excitement in my voice I couldn’t hide.

[ Elle ]

As I followed Gabriel into the cave entrance, I clenched the bottom of his shirt. The humidity reminded me of when I would first walk into a hotel’s indoor pool area, minus the chlorine smell. I let my free hand slide against the stony wall and it came back damp. The cave seemed to be perspiring. We were walking through such a narrow tunnel that I was immediately thankful that I wasn’t claustrophobic.