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The first time I found it, I couldn’t believe my eyes. How something like this could be hidden was beyond me. But every single time I’ve come back, there hasn’t been one other person here. The path isn’t cleared, the trees hiding nature’s beauty.
Just before the small break in the trees, I tighten my hand on her waist and turn her around. Her head tilts back to bring her gaze to mine and I stare into her chocolate depths, getting lost in them for a second.
“What I’m about to show you, I’m not sure if anybody else knows about. But…” I trail off as I step closer, bringing my hand around to rest on the bottom of her back. “But you’re special and you deserve to know every single part of me. The surfing, my work, my house, all of it. But this, this is the place where I come when I need a break from the rush that is my life.”
Her eyes glaze over, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip as she whispers her hands up my arms, leaving them on my shoulders. “I want to know every part of you.”
I wait for her to say she wants me to know every part of her, but when she doesn’t, she distracts me with a soft closed mouth kiss.
I’m aware she’s still closed off and likes to be private, but I thought if I opened up every part of myself and let her read me like an open book it would allow her to undo the locks she has in place. Even if the keys are rusty and the locks are broken, I at least want to see her attempt to show me the parts of herself that no one else knows.
When she pulls away, I rest my forehead against hers, realizing she has opened up a little. I didn’t know she used to go hiking as a kid, but she told me that little tidbit of information and I’ll hold onto it like a life raft.
Breathing her in, I try to bottle up the rose scent always surrounding her before pulling back and taking her hand, stepping in front of her and pushing through the trees. She dodges a branch before glancing around and gasping, her hand hovering over her mouth.
“Wow… I…” Her head swings back and forth between me and the waterfall cascading over the rock face, down into the natural pool it’s created. “This is…”
I unclip the backpack and place it on the ground. “Perfect.” Pulling her into my chest gently, I place a kiss on her forehead. “It’s perfect.”
I can’t move my eyes off the waterfall in front of me, not quite believing it’s in the middle of a wooded area, hidden away. We’re standing at the top of it but as I move my gaze across the first smaller waterfall, gently flowing into a pool, I see another larger one. This one runs faster, effortlessly coursing off the edge of the small rock face.
So many questions flash through my mind. How did Nate find this place? How did a waterfall get here?
His arms stay wrapped around me, his chest to my back as we both stare at nature’s beauty. For years—as a kid and as an adult—I’ve loved to go hiking, finding new trails and picturesqueness in what surrounds us.
People are so busy with day-to-day life that sometimes they forget things like this are all around us. I’ve become one of those people. I’ve let Tristan’s problems consume me and allowed the mysterious packages to get to me. But even they’ve stopped now.
It’s been three weeks since I received a package and even though a little voice in the back of my head says it’s not over, I can’t help but hope I don’t get another one.
“Let’s go for a swim,” Nate announces, pulling away and picking his backpack up off the ground.
I stay silent as he takes my hand and leads me down an incline to the small pool the waterfall is falling into. Steam flows off the top of it and I can almost feel the warmth of the water from here.
Now it all makes sense why he said to bring my swimsuit.
He comes to a stop at the edge, placing his backpack down and ridding himself of his clothes so all he’s standing in are his board shorts. Normally my eyes would be focused on his tensed muscles and the happy trail I know is there. But not this time. This time I can’t take my eyes off the water and the rainbow it’s reflecting when the sunlight hits it.
I’m enthralled, entranced by its magnificence.
Toeing off my boots, I pull my socks off and shuck off my tank top and shorts before following Nate into the water. Neither of us speak, but I can see his green eyes watching me, taking in all of my reactions.
The warm water soothes the muscles I just used walking, and as I get deeper, I close my eyes, basking in everything: the sounds of the birds in the trees, the rushing water, but most off all, the closeness of Nate as he comes up behind me.
He stays far enough away I can’t feel his skin on mine, but close enough I can feel his breath as it skims over my neck.
“Come with me,” he whispers.
I don’t think twice, allowing his large hand to encase mine as we slowly wade through the water that comes to my waist toward the waterfall.
Butterflies take flight in my stomach kicking up a storm and when I turn to face him, our gazes lock. So many things are said between us but not one word is spoken.
I want to tell him so many
things. How I want him to know every part of me too; how I want to open myself for him and allow him to see all of me. But I can’t: I can’t let him see it all.
Eight weeks ago when he taught me how to surf, I never thought I’d be here now—not with him anyway. There was always some kind of connection with him from the first time we met and I knew—I knew—if I allowed it to flourish, I wouldn’t be able to look back. I kept trying to tell myself it hasn’t gone too far, that if I wanted to pull back now it wouldn’t hurt either of us.
But as he pulls me through the waterfall, the water batting down on us briefly until we push through to the other side, I know it would. I’m conflicted: I want to allow there to be an us but at the same time I want to run away so he doesn’t get hurt, because ultimately that’s what will happen.
