7. Picnic at the Mountain PAss
2039 Words
After a night tossing and turning around, I had decided to trust in Alexander as much as I could. The old Nadine, the one before Thomas, would jump at the opportunity to make a picnic in a beautiful place like the Mountain Pass. The Nadine that Thomas had molded would not dare to speak or even lift her eyes from the ground. But the new Nadine had not only lifted herself from the ground, as she had forged a new identity and was trying to came to a new life as Elisabeth. I just had to be cautious and not let it slide anything from my past life.
Alexander had Mary’s trust, so I decided to trust him as much as could trust anyone. Which wasn’t much, truth be told…
So, the sun was just an orange risk in the sky when Alexander picked me up at the inn’s entrance. He was driving a jeep and was dressed in such a casual way that my heart threatened to leap from my chest. Him wearing cargo pants reinforced my certainty that he had belonged to the army somewhere along the way, but it was the muscles that stretched his t-shirt that gave me sure. Who else had a six pack around there? A beer belly, yes. A six pack? Not that I had seen any.
He had dark sunglasses, which made me nervous. Him hiding his eyes from me would prevent me to read his soul. I could always tell when Thomas was in one of his moods just by looking at him.
But Alexander was not Thomas, and I had some sightseeing to do. I put my fears behind my back as resolutely as I had put my bag on my shoulders.
"What did you bring there, sweetie?"
"An apple pie that someone begged me to do…"
"I didn’t beg… just thought it would be awfully nice of you to bake me a pie…"
He was laughing behind his shades and I smile a bit, which made him punch the steering wheel in delight.
"At last a smile! I was beginning to think I would have to tickle you in order to see one."
"You did? That’s insane…"
"No, insane is almost cause two heart attacks without knowing why. Seeing you smile? Just made my day."
I gasped at the realization of how perceptive he was. He had seen through my bluffs and Mary’s cover ups but had choose to remain quiet. But for how long? We were just reaching the edge of town, I could easily ask him to turn back, but wouldn’t that raise even more suspicions? Besides I had heard so much about the mountain pass that I was really curious.
I choose to stay. The new Nadine would be staying, I thought firmly. No more running. Just going with the flow.
The jeep stopped in the outskirts of the town. We had barely entered the forest when a trail presented itself to us. Alexander took our bag packs from the backseats and gave me a bottle full of water.
"You have to give me my bag pack. Why would you carry both of them?"
"I’m not carrying both of them, I’m carrying mine. I just passed your things from your bag pack to mine."
"I can perfectly carry my own bag pack…"
"Wouldn’t dream to offend such a pretty lady by telling her she isn’t capable of doing something so simple as to carry her own things, however, my gramps taught me how to be a gentleman."
"Oh, so this is you being a gentleman?"
"You have no idea…"
He brushed off my irony with a smile and a wink, but as soon as we entered the trail, he turned serious:
"Look, I’m used to do this by myself. So, if you are feeling tired or want to stop or anything, just tell me okay? We don’t have to go all the way."
"But you wanted to go to the Mountain Pass,,,"
"No, I wanted to show you the Mountain Pass Valley. But I have no idea if you can do it, so we can stop midway if you want to, okay?" I nodded and he seemed satisfied with what he saw in my face because he smiled. Walking behind him, I couldn’t help but make some comparisons between him and the only man I had truly known. Thomas would never dreamed of walking in a trail, let alone taking me with him. Alexander had the patience to show me things, he was speaking with me in a quiet way that I was beginning to learn it was his own, and he even took some photos with his phone. He was and he wasn’t what I had expect of him. He was friendly, cheerful and all in all a good company. His smile would reach his eyes and make his blue pupils dance with life. He would show me a new kind of plant, or shush me until a deer would pass, and it was all so beautiful and breathtaking that I soon forgot all my fears, and felt completely at ease with him.
"Bess, we're nearly there."
I tried to ignore the jump in my stomach when I heard him call out my name. He was the only one who would call me Bess, but I found out that I like the nickname. I wasn’t sure if I could trust him enough, but he had a way of making me feel so comfortable that I forgot why I was in Paradise Mountains for a while.
The scenery was beautiful. A small lake seemed to came from within the Mountain. We were on the very entrance of a Mountain whose passageway was slithering through it, and it seemed to go and on and on.
"Does it cross the whole Mountain?"
"One side to the other. But it shrinks at some given point and so it’s not passable by foot."
I was startled when he spoke so near me and I jumped to the side. He offered me a small grin.
· "A bit jumpy, aren’t we?"
"You startled me, you i***t. I thought you were down there."
· "I was and now I’m here."
How could someone so big move so silently? I accepted his offered hand, comforted by his broad smile, and allowed him to take me to the edge of the lake. We were a bit far from the shore, but close enough so we could feel the bliss and the solitude the scenery provided. It was truly beautiful and I was truly happy I had accepted his invitation.
"I used to come here with my gramps when I was a kid."
I looked up to him. He was preparing the things for our picnic, while declining my help. I sat down and pushed my knees up.
"You used to camp out here?"
"Yeah, and sometimes fishing dinner on the lake."
"And your parents?"
"They died when I was a kid. My grandparents took me in. My gran thought these little fielding trips were good to her mental health, so she encouraged them a lot."
"Why, where you a complicated child?"
"No, but problems seemed to followed me everywhere I’d go. I remember one time I was grounded because the owner of the inn, Mrs Grey – you never met her, she was a nasty old hag – thought I had broken a window in one of her rooms."
"And did you?"
"No, and I spend a month grounded for something that I didn’t do. I had to walk home right after school, help my gramps in his chores and nothing more. So, when my gran allowed me to go outside and play, I went straight to the inn and smashed every window in every room. Not one was spared."
I gasped in chock.
"Not even one?"
"Nope. And then I went to the old hag and told her: “Now you can go and accuse me to my gran, because now I did it”.
"What did she do?"
"I thought I was going to be grounded for life but she took such a shock that she forgot to. My gramps put me to work the entire summer to pay him back for the windows he had to replace, though."
He had a warm smile and made me smile too. He gave a sandwich and start eating his.
"How about you?"
"How about me?"
I echoed, trying very hard to maintain the smile in my face. He was very perceptive, and it was easy for me to relax in his company, but I had to be careful or I would end up revealing more than I wanted to.
"Yeah, were you a trouble child?"
"Heavens, no. My father would tear me a new one if I even tried. In fact, I was all in all a perfect daughter. All I cared about was reading."
"So, you spent your entire childhood reading?"
"So what? I’m a bookworm and very proud of it, if I may had."
He laughed and took a sip of his soda.
"Where are you from, bookworm?"
"From Planet Earth, if that’s what you’re thinking."
My joke didn’t even c***k a smile in his lips. He eyed me for a bit, then put his can down and unwrapped another sandwich.
"Having you been travelling a lot?"
"Not really."
"For how long?"
He was really getting on my nerves. I put down my half-eaten sandwich and glared at him.
"Am I being questioned, officer?"
He put down his own sandwich and eyed me seriously. He had taken his glasses off and I could see his bright eyes studying me attentively.
"No, Ma’am, you are not. But you do leave me curious."
"Why is that?"
"Because I’m feeling drawn to you. And I have the feeling you’ll elope if I blink my eyes."
Unrest started to crawl up my arms and I forced myself to stare at him right in the eyes.
"You barely know me."
"That’s something I’m trying to remedy, but you’re making this really difficult for me."
I gazed back into his eyes. Up until know I had seen nothing but honesty in his blue irises. But know they were darkening with something else. Desire… lust…
No! I would get hurt if he unwinds his passion. He was a big man, at least a head taller than me, what he would do to me would make Thomas’s acts seem a child’s play.
He approached me and I opened up my eyes, fear keeping me grounded to the ground. He stopped midway and left out a sigh.
"Who was he, Bess?"
"Who…? What?"
"The man that put so much fear in your eyes? The son of a b***h who made you afraid to smile, to touch and be touched? The one that is keeping you away from me? The bastard I want to kill?"
I tried to find my voice through the maze of my brain.
"I don’t know…"
"Don’t lie to me, Bess… Don’t answer at all, just don’t lie…"
His voice was calm. Deadly calm. His tone was low and send shivers down my spine. But somehow, I felt that brute strength wasn’t directed to me. He wasn’t Thomas, who would kick me senseless, who would throw me out of a balcony just because he could… this man, however big, was gentle and caring and had an open smile that made me smile as well.
I wanted to trust him… but I couldn’t. Not yet. I wish I could, but…
"Tell you what… I want you to trust me. You’ll get to know me, get used to me… and one day I’ll want to hear everything about my Bess."
His eyes were saying a lot more and that “one day” of his felt more like a promise. A sweet promise that brought butterflies to my belly and made me think that maybe, just maybe, I too deserved a bit of happiness.
- Writer
