AllFreeNovel
Share Us
7
Cass let the pristine blue sky flow over her and around her.She breathed it in, the crispness of the morning long gone.She’d gotten up before the sun, something she didn’t normally do, and she’d been walking fast on the beach when the first rays of light had touched the sand.The air had been cool then.Now it went down heavily, like part of it was water.
The binoculars around her neck weighed on her, and she reached up to take them off.
“I’ll carry them,” Harrison said in his throaty voice.Cass shivered internally, ever-so-glad that she didn’t let the tremors come to the surface.
She handed him the binoculars with a grateful smile, but she said nothing.They’d been in the Everglades for two days, and today was their last one of adventure.She’d gone on a few solo walks.She and Bea had gone to lunch alone together yesterday.She’d spent most of her time with the whole group, and she liked listening to Bea and Grant talk, and Harrison and Grant, and she enjoyed chatting with Bea about her two sons and her daughter.They were all doing well, and Cass had kept Jane’s downward spiral on the down-low.
Lord knew she had enough to talk about of her own to keep Bea happy.She and Harrison had gone on a walk alone last night, but nothing of note had happened.She felt like he was holding something back.After that initial contact in the truck on the drive here, he hadn’t touched her again.
He was a quiet man, but Cass knew how to deal with those.West had been quiet too.His mind was always working, though, and Cass had the distinct impression that Harrison’s did the same.
“Look over there,” Bea said from ahead of Cass.She pointed to the right, where a flock of Roseate spoonbills waded in the water.Maybe “flock” was being a bit generous, but Cass loved the pink and white birds, and she’d been fascinated by them the first time she’d seen one a couple of days ago.
“West would’ve loved those,” she said again.They’d gone on a guided canoe tour yesterday morning and seen flocks and flocks of birds.Cass had never made it that far in her planning for the trip to the Everglades, and while she usually liked being the one in charge of the day’s activities, she’d been fine to sit back and let Bea dictate where they went, what they did, and at what time.
She and West would’ve stayed in a different hotel, and eaten at different restaurants, but what Bea had planned had been wonderful.
“I love those,” Bea said.
“I do too,” Cass said.
“They’re beautiful,” Harrison said as he pressed in beside her on the trail.
“This says they feed near the boardwalk during high tide,” Grant said, as he’d been their trail guide for the past three days.For how often he quoted something from his book, Cass thought he’d been memorizing it for weeks.
“There are some flamingos,” Bea said.The spoonbill had a beak similar to the flamingo, but not as curved.They were whiter on top, with bright patches of pink on the sides, while flamingos were various shades of pink all over.They seemed bigger than flamingos to Cass, but they hadn’t gotten so close enough for her to measure.
“And what’s that one called?”Cass asked, pointing out into the glades.
“That’s a plover,” Harrison said.“The gray and white one?With the black ring around his neck?”
“Yep.”Cass leaned against the railing on the boardwalk and watched the wildlife.She’d never found the same joy in it that West had—until now.She’d appreciated that he loved it.That he’d burst into the house all excited about whatever he’d seen through his lenses.
“West kept a diary of all the birds he’d seen,” she said.A soft smile accompanied her words.“He’d flip through it at night sometimes, just to remind himself of the birds he’d managed to coach close enough to our house.”
“He used to put out feeders, didn’t he?”Bea asked.
Cass knew she tiptoed around the conversation whenever Cass brought up West.She wished people wouldn’t, but she’d probably do the same to them.No one knew how to talk to someone after a loved one died, and Cass had likely been guilty of saying the wrong thing—or nothing at all—herself.
“Yes,” she said.“He’d read about what migrated over the area, and he’d put out food for them.He’d build poles to look like tree branches.”She’d thought the trees grew close together in Texas, but on some of the walking and biking trails, tours, and canoe avenues they’d done the past couple of days, Cass had seen trees growing out of other trees.They leaned over the water, creating a murky shade that apparently wildlife loved.From birds to alligators to both fresh and saltwater fish, Cass felt like she’d been educated on wildlife extensively during this trip.
“He’d look up pictures of the birds,” she said.“So he knew their names when he saw them.”She smiled again as a spoonbill took off, its great wings flapping.She watched it go, her heart soaring with it.“I should make a journal for what we’ve seen here.”She hadn’t been keeping track, though, because writing down minute details was West’s specialty.
Cass was detailed in other ways, but not noticing all the details that made one bird different from another.
Another couple came back down the trail, and everyone in her party shifted and shuffled to let them go by.She stepped backward, right onto Harrison’s foot, and he put his hand on her hip and slid his foot out of the way.“Got you,” he said, his hand there for a moment, burning into her, and then gone.
She twisted to look at him.“Sorry,” she murmured.
He grinned at her.“No problem.”He nodded to the couple as they went by, and then indicated she should get walking again.She turned and found Bea and Grant had gone ahead, and she hesitated for another moment.
She wasn’t sure why she wanted to be alone with Harrison.He comforted her in a way she hadn’t anticipated, and as Bea slipped her hand into Grant’s and they went around a curve in the glades, Cass wondered if she could hold Harrison’s hand.
Her heartbeat thundered in her chest, and the same question that had been haunting her since she’d met Harrison once again paraded to the front of her mind.
Is this okay?
