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“Directness is always the fastest way to a solution.” He reclined back on his elbows. “Now, if this was a truly honest bucket list, not a scaled down budget friendly version, what would be on it?”
She tapped her chin for a moment. “I’d like to see places like Paris, London, Sydney, but I also want to see Alaska, like the ocean view that they show in those cruise line commercials. And…” Her hand clasped her necklace as she ran her thumb over the coin of Isis. “I really want to go to Egypt.”
Adam leaned forward, motioning to her necklace. “May I?” She moved closer and lifted her head up, so he could get a better look at it. “This is old. Really old.”
“I’ve had it ever since I was dropped off as a baby.”
“You were orphaned?” His brow drew together. “And you were left with this?”
She nodded. “Yep, I was the literal baby in a basket left on a doorstep. I used to think that the goddess Isis was watching after me, you know, since she’s a motherly figure.”
“I’m sure she is.” He commented absentmindedly.
Ella laughed. “Oh, don’t tell me you believe in gods and goddesses.”
He looked up and met her gaze and smiled. “Of course I do.”
It seemed to catch her off guard, and intrigue colored her expression. “Really?”
“Yeah, I mean, what’s the harm in believing?” He looked up and then shook his head. “I think if just one person believes in them and they are real to them, then they must be real somewhere. Belief equals faith and if people feel the old gods are real for them than I think yeah, why can’t they be real.”
She blinked and waited a second before smiling. “I like that, I guess I never thought of it that way, but it makes sense that if people believe in them than that would make them real.” She paused and finished her glass of Heart Blossom Water. “So I guess you’re a really religious guy, huh?”
Adam laughed. “Nah, in the beginning I was, I followed my father’s teaching, but as I grew older and saw the world for what it really was,” He took a deep breath. “I am more spiritual, I guess you’d say, like my mother. But enough about all of that, how about tonight we try to knock something else off your bucket list?”
“Don’t you think it’s a little late to travel to Paris?” She said with a laugh.
“Probably, but do you have anything smaller?”
“Um… I’d love to watch the sunset over the ocean and just have a peaceful night to forget everything.”
He hopped to his feet and held out his hand to her. “I know the perfect place, you ready to pack up?”
* * *
After packingup their picnic lunch, Adam draped the blanket over one arm and offered Ella the other.
She smiled. “You don’t always have to be a gentleman, you know.”
“Is there something wrong with being a gentleman?” He teased.
She paused, thinking it over, he was so different from any man she’d ever known. Polite, caring, thoughtful. She popped her arm through his and shook her head. “Nope, nothing wrong with it at all.”
They made their way down the gently sloping hillside when all of a sudden Ella’s leg made a loud cracking noise. She froze.
Adam turned to look at her. “Was that your bones?”
“I… I don’t know. I think so. I can’t move my leg.”
He was already bracing her and lowering her to the ground. “Sit, let’s keep pressure off of it. He looked up, meeting her gaze, and fear seemed to cloud his eyes. “May I take a look?”
She nodded and as he slipped her boot off and rolled up her pant leg, she stared down at her right leg in horror.
Before she could find her voice, Adam’s brow creased, as he studied the blackened skin covering her leg from knee to toes. “Is this… I mean… Has this happened before?”
She shook her head, finally able to speak. “Not when I’m awake.” He gave her a curious look, and she explained. “When I pass out I’ll wake up to these black, hard spots on my body, eventually they fade, but it’s never happened like this.”
He touched her calve gently and a tingle shot though her, causing her back to arch as if she wanted to jump out of her skin.
