He scribbled across the pad and handed it back. “Thank you.”
She set it back in the tray. “Thank you,” she said to the pharmacist, then pulled forward and stopped in the parking lot. “Is there anything else I can take you to get today?”
“No. This is it.”
“I’ll get you back home then.”
The ride back went fine. Paul didn’t say much until she pulled into his driveway and parked next to his scooter. “You know I don’t mind meeting you at your house so you don’t have to ride that down the driveway, especially as we start getting into winter.”
“I prefer it this way.” He opened the door and pushed himself to his feet with a grunt.
“Have a good afternoon,” she said.
He nodded and slid his cane into its slot as if it were a holster on the side of the scooter, then sat astride the seat and motored up to the window she’d rolled down.
“I have you down for tomorrow for your doctor’s appointment. I’ll see you here for that.”
He nodded, then pressed a button, and those beautiful gates slowly opened in front of him.
She sat there until he revved that bright red scooter and went zipping up the drive and disappeared around the corner.
“Okay, so he’s a little different, but sweet. Can’t blame a guy for wanting his privacy.”
She wondered how on earth FriendsGiving calculated pay for trips like that. It couldn’t amount to much. Hopefully, after her three-week probation, Jesse would load her up. She had plenty of time, and this wasn’t even like work.
She wasn’t really ready to go back home, though. The whole process hadn’t taken an hour. Returning the vehicle back to where she had picked it up, she got in her truck and decided to take another ride around town. She took the same route up to Paul’s address and on past it about three miles. There was a lookout at the top of the mountain. She pulled to a stop and got out to take a look.
The view seemed to go on forever. The panorama across the Blue Ridge Mountains from this vantage point was spectacular. For the first time, she understood why they were called the Blue Ridge Mountains. The shades of blue and green were gemlike, more beautiful than she could’ve ever imagined.
To see this in autumn when the leaves are in full color will be magical!
Her heart pounded. Inspired, she ran back to the car and got her sketch pad.
She grabbed the pad from the back seat, and although she’d planned to work on the bird drawings, the view of the mountains was too pretty to waste.
Natalie walked over to the stone wall and perched right on top of it to sketch. For over an hour, she let her eyes transfer the scene to her fingertips, not even thinking about it.
The intricate curves of each ridge were as unique as the clouds above. Using pressure and hash lines, the scene finally came together.
She’d been so blessed to see many different things this year. The Atlantic Ocean in its shades of green, the crystal-blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the lush green mountains, and the hand-built cabin where she now lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Natalie mindlessly sketched, letting her mind’s eye take hold of the whole picture and transfer the details to the page. She flipped over to a new page to sketch an old barn on the top of a hill across the way that looked like it might fall in if a heavy wind kicked up. It had probably been there longer than she’d been alive, though, and would most likely hold strong a few more generations too. They didn’t build things like that anymore.
The sun warmed her skin, reminding her of those beautiful sunny days in Cancún with Marc. Magical memories that were just a means to a bad ending.
Being with Marc hadn’t been a total loss. He’d changed her in a good way. Her priorities were straight now. In the past, she struggled with compartmentalizing work and play, letting themblur into something that never felt like time off. She’d never make that mistake again either.
Marc had been a mistake. A regret, but it wasn’t all bad.
Is it okay to keep the good parts in mind? It seems so unfair to lose everything. The material things are one thing, but memories? Experiences? Do I have to lose those too?
Natalie had met Marc Swindell in first class on her trip out to Texas.
She’d never flown first class in her life, and the only reason she was doing it at that time was because after Jeremy died she’d found he still had over 400,000 airline miles. Straight out of college he’d been a consultant and racked up so many air miles he’d never had a chance to use.
When they first met he had the craziest schedule, gone weeks at a time and working fifty and sixty hours a week. He left that job when they got serious, trading it for a steady nine-to-five position that wouldn’t monopolize his life. He never wanted to fly anywhere after that. Any vacation was always a car trip, and Natalie had never really minded that.
It seemed frivolous, but she also hated to let the free air miles go to waste, so she’d used them on every trip she took that year. First class definitely had its perks.
