The Wedding Date

Chapter Seventeen

Amelia

After one hour on the hiking trail we finally made it half way to the summit where they had set up the zip line. I paused at the midway point that looked down over the valley below. For miles and miles I could see the beautiful dense green forest. Just beyond that, I could see where the green gave way to blue, the ocean fading into the horizon. It was breathtaking.

I stood there contemplating my life's decisions with my hand over my heart. The last few months had changed my life so drastically sometimes it was hard for even me to believe I am the same person. But, I had been that girl. I had been careless, rude, and most of all I had been selfish. If I was being truthful with myself I knew that what happened with Skyler was partially my fault. If I had done what my mother had told me and had s*x with him when he started pushing me, he would have never attacked me. If I had just minded my own bussiness and stayed the hell out of my father's, everything would be different now. I'd be two months away from graduation and none the wiser that I was living my life for all the wrong reasons. It was such a contradictory feeling, hating Skyler for hurting me and traumatizing me. But, also being grateful something scary enough had happened that it had made me look at my whole world with analytical eyes.

"What are you thinking about?" Jack asked striding up quietly behind me. I turned flashing him a small smile.

"How different this place seems since the last time I came here." I replied reaching up to tighten my hair.

"Different how?" he asked whiping the sweat that had beaded up on his brow. We had climbed up half a mountain in the humid jungle and the man had barely broke a sweat.

"It seems brighter. Is that possible? More colorful." I told him as we circled the area. Apparently the hike on average took three hours and we had done it in two. So we were forced to wait at the top for the rest of the groups to arrive. Lizzie and Colton waited a few feet away in the small building attached to the tower used for the zip line.

We walked around chatting about the jungle around us. We seemed to fall into a routine taking turns pointing something out for the other to look at. An animal we had never seen, a patch of wild orchids, a small clearing with a bubbling little river that ran through it. With hills on both sides it made a little oasis. We spent sometime there exploring and talking as we did.

"Would you have dinner with me tonight?" he asked suddenly as we came back onto the path, taking me by suprise. I stopped in my tracks turning back to look at him. I was expecting to see him smiling as if he were joking but, his statuesque features showed he was completely serious. Before I could formulate a reply his phone rang, filling the area around us with an out of place electronic sound. He pulled it from his pocket and looked at the screen sighing heavily.

"I have to take this." he told me. "It's bussiness."

"Of course, go ahead. I'll meet you up at the tower." I told him. He knodded walking a few feet down the path before answering. I stood watching for a few moments as he climbed down from the path and walked a few feet down into the forest. He reentered the small clearing we had been exploring a few moments before.

"Huh." I said to myself. Must be important. Trade secrets or something.

Turning I walked back up the path the rest of the way to the tower. Sitting inside the small building meant to store harnesses and equipment, I found Lizzie. Leaning back as far as she could in the chair she hung her head over the back with a clothe over her eyes.

"I told you this was a bad idea for you." I said entering the small space taking her by suprise. She jumped up in the white plastic lawn chair nearly tumbing out, she caught herself with her feet.

"Jesus Christ, make some noise when you walk up on somebody." she groaned running her hands through her damp messy hair.

"You've been sitting here for over an hour? I'm suprised you've lasted this long." I laughed crouching down near the door I used the wall behind me to support myself.

"I don't care if I literally vomit while I am flying through the air and it hits someone directly in the face.I am doing this." She flexed her arms like she did sometimes when we worked out together at the gym. Like she was trying to hype herself up.

"Why so determined?" I asked tossing her my cold water.

"My mom used to never let us do anything like this. Twice I watched my brothers go zip lining while my sister and I were just forced to watch. Zip lining in Greece, river rafting in Solvenia, mountain climbing in France. That woman made me miss out on so much." She said putting her head into her hands, feet up on the lawn chair. Another woman, I thought to myself, who did a number on her daughter. And a close friend of my mother's. What a suprise.

I was trying to think of a way to respond to her when something caught my eye out in the jungle. Through the open door crouched as I was, I had a clear view through the trees. I could see Jack pacing as he spoke animatedly to whoever had called him. That was not what had caught my eye though, just behind him I saw something moving in the brush behind him. I stood immediately walked out of the building and began moving down the path to get a closer look.

I picked my way down and just into the treeline. From here I could clearly see someone moving in the forest behind Jack. I had caught a super brief glimpse of a figure before it disappeared behind a tree. The way that it had looked down at Jack and then darted behind the tree made my hair stand on end.

I crouched suddenly afraid to be seen. The figure poked their head out again and this time I got a good enough look to see who it was. Anne. She was red faced and looked completely out of place. I could see the tiny white miniskirt she had chosen this morning knowing she was going to be flying through the air. She picked her way down the hill closer to Jack. I could see her straining to hear. She's trying to listen in to his call!?!

Silently I started making my way down the hill careful not to draw her attention as I neared Jack. Just as I had popped of the trees, I had my arm out about to tap him on the shoulder when I heard a tidbit of his conversation that made me stop dead.

"Anderson," was all he was able to get out. I felt incredibly awkward like I was listening to something I was not supposed to be. My arm already extended I gave him a quick tap on the shoulder. He spun as if I had slapped the back of his head. He looked down on me with big shocked brown eyes. I put my index finger up to my lips gesturing for him to be quiet.

"Up the hill behind you, 6 o'clock." I whispered to him. His head snapped to look behind him. I saw his face changed as he caught a glimpse of her trying to casually run back up the hill.

"Thought that you should know." I told him clapping him on the shoulder before walking away without another word. Whatever bad blood he had with my father it was not any of my bussiness. The last thing I wanted was to get tangled back in their poisonous world where the only thing that mattered was money.