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“It’s gorgeous up here,” Dean said. He then glanced at his phone again and removed his hand from the tree trunk. “Ah. Looks like the rain will cut out in forty-five minutes.”
“Oh no!” Anna laughed and dropped her head.
“Too long to be stuck in the woods with me?”
Anna rolled her eyes and stepped into him, allowing him to hold her. For a little while, he sang a song into her ear, one they always played on the radio as they drove through late-night Seattle on their way from one thing to another. The song reminded her of the coziness of their union, how they needed no one but one another.
Dean’s phone pinged, and he dropped his arms to check it. “The rain app added another ten minutes to the rain,” he said with a laugh.
Anna shrugged. “Maybe we’ll just get married up here.”
“We can have the ceremony right here on this cliff,” Dean said. “And I can build us a log cabin over there!” He pointed along the edge of the trail, where the moist ground lifted to support a thick line of trees. “We can raise our children in this very forest. They won’t need schools or communities or anything but the great outdoors.”
“Great,” Anna said with a laugh. “Are you suggesting our children will be illiterate?”
Dean shrugged. “I don’t know how to read. I’m doing all right for myself.”
Anna’s jaw dropped. “What—”
At this, Dean bowed over with laughter. “The look on your face! I can’t believe you believed me for a second!”
Anna blushed and leaned against the thick tree. “Yeah, yeah. I need to get rid of that gullible side of myself, otherwise, I’m going to get eaten alive in the travel writing world.”
Dean placed his hand on her cheek. “You’re going to be incredible, babe.”
A few minutes later, the rain seemed to double. It pounded against the leaves, dug crevices in the soil beneath them, and shattered across the rocks that stuck out from the cliff beneath.
Dean had grown impatient. He paced the edge of the cliffs, eyeing the treetops below them and the thick clouds above.
“Dean? Will you step back a little bit?” Anna’s voice was meek.
Dean glanced her way and smiled. “I’m fine, Anna. These hiking boots are sturdy.” He took several steps to the other side of the tree and then pointed out toward the water, where a lighthouse stood, powerful against the ominous winds and rain. “If you could have told little old me back in Ohio that I’d eventually end up here, I would have called you a liar.”
Anna laughed. “Me too, back when I was in Illinois.”
Dean took a small step forward, his eyes gleaming with the soft light that beamed out from the rainclouds. Anna was captivated by him. She grabbed her cell from her pocket and quickly took several photographs, which made Dean laugh.
“You know I hate getting my picture taken,” Dean said.
Anna blushed. “That means I have to be sneaky.”
It happened all at once, after that— during this impossible moment when Anna thought for sure that their love was strong enough to last forever. The ground beneath Dean’s feet began to crumble, as though it was brownie batter. It tumbled off the edge of the cliff, knocking Dean off balance.
“DEAN!” Anna cried as she lurched toward him.
Dean’s eyes looked panicked. His arms laced through the air in front of him as he fell, disappearing quickly through the air and going down with the rain.
Anna gasped and fell to her knees. Everything in her told her this couldn’t be happening, that this was a nightmare and not real. But the ground beneath her knees was soft and wet, and the rain continued to plant itself on her head, and she was suddenly sickly aware that something horrible had just happened.
“Dean!” Anna hurried to the edge of the cliff and peered down, searching for some sign of him. There was no way she could get down there to find him herself— the cliff was way too slippery to climb down.
Still, a part of her wanted to do it. A part of her almost demanded her to do it.
Instead, Anna dialed the local emergency services. A panicked voice that she soon recognized as her own explained which trail she was on and what had happened. A man on the line told her to stay where she was and that a helicopter would be sent shortly. Anna begged the man to stay on the line with her, and the man agreed.
“He was right here,” Anna said into the phone.
“I know. And we’re sending someone to come find him,” the man assured her.
