Searching for Tomorrow (Tomorrows) (13 page)

Highlands is smack dab in the middle of nowhere, so if you planned to do anything other than just hang out, you had to drive somewhere else to do it. In traveling
on all of our different adventures, we had shared some great times, lots of laughs, and plenty of moving conversations in the front seat of this truck. One of the great things about my relationship with Tripp was that he and I could talk openly and honestly about anything. We didn’t keep secrets between us. Something had been bothering me about Liam, and now was the perfect time to ask questions. I hadn’t broached the subject with him, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he had said anything to Tripp about it. Since Liam didn’t come with us, I decided to ask if my brother had confided in him.

“Has
Liam said anything to you about the new girl?” A couple of weeks ago, we got a new classmate in school. Her name was Lara Feldstein, and she was a knock out. She stood somewhere around six feet tall, and I swear I felt like a midget when I was around her. Something about her drew me in though. She was very reserved, and although the dark circles around her eyes made her appear to be exhausted, her sweet spirit and friendly nature made me want to know her better.

A couple of days ago, the guys and I were walking down the hall at school, and we overheard one of the jocks teasing her about being an Amazon woman.
Liam’s reaction was almost comical. With fire flashing in his eyes, he cornered that dude so fast that it made me feel dizzy. It seemed that someone had finally captured my brother’s attention. Of course, that only made me want to know more about her.

“Well, he hasn’t said much other than he thinks that she’s beautiful. There’s something going on there, but he can’t quite figure it out. I’m sure that
Liam will open up about it as soon as he does. I will say that I think it’s great that he’s found someone who interests him.”

I agreed, of course. I would love for
Liam to find someone to love. If he decided to pursue this Lara, you’d better believe that I would quickly be learning more about her. No chick was going to jerk my brother around, and I wanted to make sure she was good enough for him.

While I sat lost in my thoughts, we had made steady progress towards home. When Tripp pulled into the parking lot at Bryson’s, I couldn’t help but be a little confused. Bryson’s was the locally owned and operated grocery store. While the selection was nowhere close to what you would find at a larger store, the warm friendly atmosphere, immaculately clean and orderly aisles, and excellent customer service more than made up for anything it could have lacked. “Uhm, why are we stopping here? Did my mom need us to pick up something for her?”

“Well, kinda. She’s ordered something for us from the deli, and we just need to make a quick stop to pick it up. Then we’re going to do a little hiking. You can change your shoes while I’m in the store. Everything you need is in the green bag. I’ll be right back.” With that, he closed the truck door and headed into the store.

I turned around and leaned over into the backseat to grab my bag, and what I saw confused me. Not only was my green one back there, but also my blue sack, Tripp’s black duffel and two garment bags. No
w my curiosity was really piqued. My love of surprises was the only thing that kept me from looking to see what was in them. I knew that Tripp would let me know when he was ready. I grabbed the green one and turned back around, in a hurry to see just what his plans were.

When I opened it, the first thing I noticed was the smell of Tri
pp’s cologne. Lying there on top was his favorite Highlanders sweatshirt. Yeah, I had my own sweatshirts, but there was just something warm and comforting about wearing one of Tripp’s. He was always sending Liam or my mom into my room to nab back my latest acquisitions. Seriously, though, I thought it gave him a little thrill to see me wearing his tees and sweats. I was pretty sure he enjoyed smelling my fragrance on his clothes as much as I enjoyed his scent on them. With a huge grin on my face, I slipped the sweatshirt on over my head. As I was hugging it to my body, Tripp startled me when he opened his door to get back in the truck.

“I see that grin. I figured you might want to wear a piece of me today.” That smug look of satisfaction on his face, man, that was hot.

I crooked my finger and gave him a little ‘come hither’ look, and before I could blink, he had pulled me across the seat, into his arms, and his lips were on mine in record time. Now, don’t get me wrong. I always felt a thrill, no, more like a stampede of wild buffalo going through me, when he kissed me, but there was something different this time. I swear I could almost taste his excitement. He had this hyper energy going on and I was starting to feed off it.

He pulled back from that kiss and his eyes were glowing. “Mmm, a man could really get used to that. That was better than meatloaf, chocolate cake, and Co’ Cola all in one. Lip. Smacking. Good.” Then he leaned in for one more.

When he pulled away this time, nervous energy had him all but bouncing off the seat. He kind of reminded me of a little boy who had just unwrapped the Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun that he’d been begging Santa for, for years. His grin all but split his face wide open and, I had to admit, his excitement was contagious.

“Well
, big boy, let’s get this show on the road. I do believe you have a surprise to deliver.”

“You have no idea, babe. No idea. Hold on tight, and prepare yourself for an afternoon of surprises. Best day ever, promise.”

He cranked the truck and headed back down Highway 64 towards Franklin. Our first stop was Bridal Veil Falls, one of our favorite places to visit. What made this waterfall unique was the fact that you could drive your car right under it. When building Highway 64, instead of blasting away at the waterfall, the Department of Transportation built the westbound lane underneath it. After driving slowly under the falls, Tripp pulled over into the small grassy area, and we got out of the truck to walk back and explore.

Tripp grabbed my hand, and even though we’d been here hundreds of times, he decided to play tour guide. “According to Cherokee legend, if a maiden walked under these falls in the spring, she would be married before the turning of the year or the first snowfall. Basically, that’s just a
nine-month period. I wonder what happened if she walked under them in the fall?”

“Seriously Tripp, do you really think a waterfall has anything to do with when a girl gets married? That’s why they’re called legends and folklore.”

At just that moment, I felt the cool spray from the falling water mist upon my face. The rare and simple beauty of the sun shining through the falls made the surrounding air look as if diamonds were floating around us. While I knew that it was simply the light reflecting off the water, those moments still had the ability to take my breath away. I closed my eyes, and let the peace and beauty of the location wash away all the despair that I had been feeling. These small moments were the ones that would help me get through the coming days. Because Tripp understood how I was, and he knew me to the depths of my soul, he had planned this specifically with my needs in mind.

As I opened my eyes again, I felt the bands around my chest loosen and the act of drawing in air became easier. Tripp had left my side, and was exploring the rock wall that ran underneath the falls. When he turned back, he motioned for me to come over to him. As I walked closer, I caught sight of vibrant colors that were definitely out of place this time of year, especially in this location. When I reached Tripp’s side, I realized the jeweled hues were actually a large bundle of flowers. Curiosity got the best of me. “What in the world are those doing here?”

Tripp shushed me, and with a laugh, said, “Patience.” As he presented the flowers to me, I realized the delicate stems were woven together to form a necklace. As I leaned my head forward, he gently placed the blossoms around my neck. “Wrynn, I promised you that today was the beginning of our tomorrows together. I brought you here today because we shared our first true kiss here behind this waterfall. That alone makes this one of my most favorite places to be.”

He remembers.
I knew that I would never forget our first kiss, but for him, a big tough guy, to remember it, too? I couldn’t help myself; I lifted up on to my tiptoes, wrapped my arms around his neck, and placed a tender kiss on his lips. “There’s another for your memories,” I whispered as I fought the tears that were trying to choke me.

He cupped my cheeks and pressed his lips to the tip of my nose. “I’ll take all your kisses that I can get, but right now, let me finish.” He took a half step back, and nervously wiped his hands on his jeans.

“Each flower in this necklace has a specific message from me to you. As this day goes on, I want you to understand what each means, but even more, what you mean to me.” He stopped, cleared his throat, and then took my hands in his. “The first three flowers are the lilies, wild blue violets, and carnations. The lilies represent your beauty, not only on the outside, but also the beauty inside you that radiates and shines on everyone whose lives you touch. The wild blue violets represent my adoration for you. There is no one on this earth that I adore more than you. The carnations represent my fascination for you. From the moment we met on the playground, you have fascinated me, and you do more so every single day.”

Oh my.
Being struck speechless was not a common thing for me, but with his tender words, Tripp had managed to do just that. I opened my mouth to form a reply, but nothing would come out. Instead of speaking, I wrapped my arms around his waist, and leaning gently against him so we wouldn’t crush the flowers, I laid my head on his chest and just held him. This beautiful man loved me. How had I been so blessed to have him in my life?

He slowly drew back, and taking my cheeks in his hands
again, he placed light kisses all over my face, before resting his forehead against mine. “I love you, and I would stay here all day with you, but we have a couple more stops to make before nightfall.” With those words, he took my hand and led me back to the truck.

I bounced up and down on the seat, and thought about begging Tripp to tell me where we were going next. He must have sensed my nosiness, because he turned, gave me a big grin, and said, “Don’t get too comfortable. Our next stop is just up the road.”

That told me that we were going to Dry Falls, which was just a hop, skip, and a jump away. I had always thought that the name was so funny. There wasn’t one single thing about that place that was dry. The land around it and the surrounding foliage were constantly drenched from the spray, even during times of drought. This waterfall wasn’t quite as easy to get to because we had to hike down into a ravine to walk behind it. One thing that I could say about Tripp, he never once complained about my love of being outdoors. If anything, he encouraged me by arranging hikes and picnics, and by bringing me to the places he knew were special to me.

By the time we made it down into the gorge, the suspense was killing me. I had already noticed that there were ten different kinds of flowers woven amongst the galax and fiddle ferns. That meant there were seven more that he needed to reveal, and I was quite anxious to see how he would pul
l this off. His romantic deeds were keeping me keyed up in anticipation of the things to come.

Now that we had made it to the bottom, Tripp drew me to his side and
, placing his arm around my waist, he carefully guided me over the slippery rocks. As we stepped behind the curtain of water, he placed the picnic box on one of the rock formations. Tripp pulled me over and, removing a plastic tablecloth from the carton, he then covered the ledge, bowed gracefully, and said, “Your seat, Mademoiselle.”

His silly French accent made me giggle, but I gave him a little curtsy and took a seat on the cold rock. Opening the
box further, he proceeded to pull out three sandwiches, chips, a jug of water, and the piece de resistance, a hand full of Hershey’s Kisses. With a sheepish grin and a shrug of his shoulders, Tripp said, “You didn’t really think that small pizza would get me through the day, did you? A body like this, it needs fuel. Besides, I figured you’d be a little hungry, and I wanted to make sure you would have the energy to get to our last stop. Eat up.”

Truth be
told, I was starving. After eating only a bite of breakfast and then choking down that one slice of pizza at lunch, I was more than happy to share a picnic with him. We ate our sandwiches and chips, and shared the jug of water, and then my sweet Tripp unwrapped the Kisses and fed them to me one by one. With the last Kiss gone and the trash put away, I looked over to Tripp and said, “Well, are you going to keep me waiting? You have to know that I’m dying over here.”

Tripp just shook his head and flashed me that grin.
Sigh. There was that dimple again
. He stood, paced for a moment, and then pointed to my necklace. Taking a deep breath, he started to speak. “I chose Dry Falls because this was the first place that you told me that you loved me. Here behind the cascades, you accepted my promise ring, and told me that you’d wait for me forever.”

He walked back over to me, took the necklace in his hands, and pointed out the flowers. “The next three flowers are the iris, lilac, and rose. The iris represents the faith, hope, wisdom, and courage that will see us through the rest of our days together. I want you to know that
, even during the times that we aren’t physically together, you will always be present in my heart.” He stopped for a second, and with a tender look in his eyes, gently kissed away the tears that I couldn’t hold back any longer. This moment was so bittersweet to me. His beautiful words spoke to the depths of my soul.