She dropped her film off at the lab for developing and picked up some enlargements she had ordered last week. They turned out beautifully, and she went home to get them ready to send with her dad who was taking a late flight out tonight.
She went to bed early, woke when her alarm sounded at five a.m., and arrived at the church parking lot by six. She grabbed her camera bag and small backpack from her trunk and headed for the huddled group. Allison and most of the gals were there along with one van that Doug Mason had volunteered to drive for them.
“We’re waiting for Ted and Corrinne and the other van,” Allison said. “Jen and Laurie too. I think they’re picking them up on their way.”
“How many are on our team?”
“Twelve,” she said, handing her a t-shirt out of her bag. “This is our team shirt. Do you like it?”
Natalie held it up and looked at the front. Purple, red, and yellow flowers were printed on the fabric above the wavy black script that read: Wildflowers.
“That’s our team name,” Allison said.
Someone called Allison for help with loading something into the van and she skipped away. Natalie turned the shirt around and saw more writing on the back. If God cares so wonderfully for flowers...won’t he more surely care for you? Matthew 6:30
“Am I supposed to wear this?” she asked, walking to the van where Allison had gone.
“You can if you want, but you don’t have to. Here’s another one,” she said, handing her one that looked like the official Portland to Coast Walk t-shirt everyone got for participating. She put both of them into her bag and began to get into the van.
“We’re not in this one,” Allison said. “We’re going in the one Ted is driving.”
She stepped back and set her things beside her feet instead, searching a side pocket for her pack of gum and some lip balm. Allison seemed to get more anxious by the minute waiting for the others to arrive. When the blue van finally pulled up, Allison clapped and cheered and ran to meet it. Natalie wondered how she could be so chipper at six in the morning.
Isn’t she ever in a bad mood?
Natalie picked up her bags and began walking toward the van. She saw Corrinne get out of the front passenger door, and she came to welcome her with her usual cheery smile. Jen and Laurie hopped out of the side door and ran toward her.
“Natalie! We’ve missed seeing you,” Jen squealed. “We’re so glad you’re here!”
She realized that she had missed them too. She didn’t know how much they knew about what had happened between her and Michael or why she hadn’t been at church. Neither of them asked or said anything on the matter, and she didn’t either.
They began heading toward the van once again when Allison came around from the driver’s side and walked deliberately toward her. Natalie stopped when she saw Allison’s large green eyes bulging.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“I need to talk to you,” she said, grabbing her arm and turning her in the opposite direction. Natalie had no idea what Allison was up to now but walked by her side away from the others and came to a halt when Allison stopped.
“What?” she asked, feeling confused at Allison’s bizarre behavior. She was acting even stranger than usual.
“Ted is sick,” she said.
“Okay,” she replied, not understanding why Allison had dragged her halfway across the parking lot to tell her.
Allison tossed her long braid over her shoulder. “He got sick last night and asked someone else to drive the van for us. Someone that did it last year and knows the route.”
“So?”
“It’s Michael.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Michael is here?”
Allison nodded. “Is that going to be a problem for you?”
Natalie felt her heart thumping strong and fast. “Michael is here?” she repeated, wondering if he was watching her right now.
“If you’re not comfortable riding in the same van with him, he and Doug can switch places,” Allison said. “We won’t be seeing the other van once the race starts except for when we meet up with them at the transfer points.”
“Does he know I’m here?”
“Yes. He saw you when he pulled up. The first words out of his mouth were ‘Am I seeing things, or is that Natalie over there?’”
Natalie bit her lip. She didn’t want to cause any upheaval of plans, and she honestly had no problem with seeing him.
“If it doesn’t bother him then it doesn’t bother me,” she replied. Her only fear being that it wasn’t fine with him.
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure,” she said. “Now let’s get back before everyone gets suspicious and starts asking questions. Or does everyone already know what happened?”
“I don’t think so,” Allison said, walking beside her toward the van. “Neither you or Michael have been around since the retreat. They know he moved to Eugene, but they might not know the two of you aren’t together anymore. I never told them anything.”
Natalie felt grateful for Allison’s silence on the subject--to know she hadn’t been gossiping about her to everyone else, but if others thought that she and Michael were still together, this could get interesting--as if it wasn’t already complicated enough.
Michael was helping load coolers and gear into the back when she and Allison reached the vehicle. Natalie decided to find a seat. Stepping in the side door, she slid across the middle bench and set her camera bag and a small backpack at her feet.
Allison followed and took the vacant seat in front of her. Jen and Laurie bounded in soon after, sitting next to her and Allison. Another gal named Tracy, who she learned had recently gotten married, took the back.
Natalie saw Michael walk beside the window on her side and he glanced up, meeting her gaze for a brief moment. A slight smile formed on his face, but she couldn’t tell if it was a ‘Nice to see you’ smile or an ‘Oh, boy. Here we go’ smile.
He climbed into the driver’s side and started the motor. Corrinne took her seat up front, and the van pulled out of the parking lot. Natalie didn’t know where the race began or when she was supposed to walk. She was about to ask Allison when Miss Organization handed her some papers and began explaining everything.
Corrinne would take the first leg, followed by Jen, Tracy, Laurie, herself, and Allison. Each of them would be walking anywhere from four to six miles. Natalie’s first assigned stretch was about four and a half. The route looked relatively flat and straight along a major highway with only a slight increase in elevation.
The other van would meet up with them where Allison’s route ended, and they would take a break for lunch and have several hours to rest at Tracy’s parents’ house located in between the ending and starting points until meeting up with the other van once again.
“Do we walk some more tonight or wait until morning?”
“No we walk all night,” Allison said. “Did you bring a belt light and a reflective vest?”
“Yes,” Natalie replied. “We have to walk in the dark?”
“I know, it’s wild,” Allison said. “Your second leg will be more challenging. Six miles total. Three uphill, three down.”
Natalie looked at the map in her hands, studying the curvy route and the six-hundred-foot increase in elevation. “I have to walk this in the middle of the night?”
“I’d say around three or four in the morning,” she said.
Corrinne turned around from the front and asked Allison something, giving Natalie time to let this unexpected news sink in. I hate the dark. I have to walk six miles in the forest by myself with nothing more than a two inch light around my waist! Whose crazy idea was that?
Images of wild animals, country guard dogs, crazy men waiting in the brush, and cars zooming down the windy road in the middle of the night flashed through her mind.
Okay calm down. They must have safety measures in place. Maybe the van drives alongside me. Get a grip, Natalie. Nothing bad is goin
g to happen.
She tried not to dwell on the matter further, convincing herself it wouldn’t be as scary as it seemed. For now she had her first leg to get through, not to mention having to spend the whole day with Michael less than ten feet away from her. She wondered if he would make the effort to speak with her or if she should be the one to break the ice. She decided to wait and see how the first couple of hours went.
Their entire team watched Corrinne set off from the starting line with a group scheduled to begin at the same time. Others had started two hours earlier and more were waiting to begin later in the morning, Allison explained. “It’s not based on who crosses the finish line first, but on overall time.”
“Are we in this to win?” Natalie asked, not knowing how fast she could walk the long distance. Her specialty had always been running sprints.
“No,” she replied. “We’re here to have fun. I think we’d like to beat our time from last year, but it’s no big deal if we don’t. About half of our team is new.”
They waved good-bye to the gals in the other van who were going out to breakfast and would meet up with them later. Natalie began to see how the day would progress during Corrinne’s leg of the race. Michael would drive to a designated parking area along the route and wait for Corrinne to catch up. They would all pile out of the van to stretch their legs, cheer Corrinne on, and offer her some water as she walked past. Then they’d climb into the vehicle and do it all over again.
Jen took her turn next, and they followed her progress along the route in much the same way. Natalie caught Michael looking at her more than once during the first two hours. He never said anything, only smiled.
When they reached the Saint Johns Bridge on the north end of the city, they parked the van and got out to wait for Jen to reach them. Natalie grabbed her standard camera and walked along the high riverbank to get a good angle of the historic gothic-style bridge she had never photographed before, then headed south to photograph it from the other side.
From her position she could see walkers approaching and decided to wait there until she saw Jen coming. She took a few more shots and heard footsteps come up behind her as she held the camera in front of her face and peered through the lens.
“Beautiful morning,” Michael commented.
His voice didn’t startle her or make her feel anxious. She was glad he had made the first move and felt relaxed with him by her side, arguably the most relaxed she had felt since first learning of his presence back at the church.
She lowered her camera and advanced the film. “Beautiful lighting,” she added, turning to look at him.
He took another step closer. “How are you, Natalie?”
“Good.”
“Have you had a nice summer?”
“Yes,” she replied. “I went to Europe with my dad and then backpacking with him earlier this week. And I’ve been extremely busy with work. How’s your new job?”
“A lot of hard work but lots of fun too.”
Natalie spotted Jen’s purple hat and pointed her out to Michael. They headed back to the van.
“Am I making you uncomfortable, Natalie? Would you prefer it if I left you alone?”
“No.” She smiled and gently touched his arm. “Of course not. I’m glad you’re here. I may want to do some of that talking about God that you mentioned, if the invitation is still open.”
“Always,” he said, returning her gentle smile.
From then on whenever the van stopped and they waited for their team member to catch up, Natalie didn’t go out of her way to avoid Michael. Sometimes they talked, sometimes they didn’t, but Natalie didn’t try to manipulate the situation. She lived in the moment and enjoyed being with all her friends that she had missed.
When her turn to walk came she felt nervous, as she always had before a race, but once she took the Wrist Wrap from Laurie and let her legs fly--as fast as she could without running--she turned her nervous energy into speed.
Her calves felt sore from hiking earlier in the week but otherwise she felt good and didn’t begin to tire until the three-mile mark. Her legs began to burn during the final mile, but she gave it her all, anxious to be done, and forged ahead until she saw lots of people gathered along the highway and Allison waiting to take her turn.
Exiting the exchange area, she felt hot, tired, and a bit disoriented. Someone held out a water bottle to her, and she drank the cool liquid and kept moving. Her legs were all tingly and when she stopped walking, she could feel herself losing her equilibrium.
“That was amazing, Natalie!” Jen exclaimed. “You were doing ten-minute miles! I thought you said you’ve never done this before!”
“I haven’t,” she laughed, surprised she had done that well. The fastest time she’d heard anyone on their team do thus far was eleven minutes on Tracy’s first two miles. She had slowed down after that.
Natalie began to feel better as the water permeated her body. Michael gave her some time to stretch and walk around before saying they needed to be getting back into the van to catch up with Allison. As had become the routine for the one who had just finished her leg, Natalie took the front passenger seat with some lemon-lime Gatorade in hand that Michael had gotten for her. She felt lightheaded and asked Michael to blast the air conditioning.
“You okay?” he asked, reaching out to touch her clammy cheek.
She nodded and rested her head against the seat. “I got dehydrated in the heat. I’ll be all right.”
They drove ahead and spotted Allison. Michael pulled over, and Jen hopped out to give her some water. Natalie remained in her seat with the air conditioning blowing on her face and arms. Michael stayed in his seat also.
She took a sip of her Gatorade and closed her eyes. Her heart rate had returned to normal and her legs began to feel better. The nauseated and dizzy feeling ceased. She did have a slight twinge in her shoulder, and she reached up to rub it out. Michael replaced her fingers with his own, gently massaging the tight muscle.
“Did I ever tell you how amazing you are?” he said.
She smiled and opened her eyes lazily. “Oui, et tu es gentil,” she replied, wondering if he remembered what that meant. His smile told her that he did.
Natalie felt famished by the time they reached a fast-food place in St. Helens following Allison’s finish. She got a burger and some fries and a large lemonade. She ended up sitting across from Michael at a four person table along with Allison and Tracy.
Any awkwardness that she had felt around him this morning had fled completely. She had a difficult time keeping her eyes off him. Unless she was assuming too much, he appeared to have the same problem.
The drive to Tracy’s parents’ house took them about an hour, and they were greeted warmly and told to make themselves at home. Tracy’s mom had beverages and snacks in the kitchen. There were three bedrooms upstairs where they could take naps as well as on the couches in the living and family rooms and another downstairs guest room.
Corrinne, Laurie, and Tracy went upstairs to lay down. She, Jen, Allison, and Michael went out into the backyard to sit in the shade on plastic lawn chairs. Michael ended up falling asleep in a chaise. Jen and Allison decided to go inside after about an hour. Natalie said she preferred to sleep right there in the shade. And she did.
When she awoke she felt achy all over and reached her arms over her head to stretch, then rounded her back and touched her toes with her fingertips. The lounge chair where Michael had been sleeping when she closed her eyes was empty, and she was alone in the yard.
Her watch told them they would likely be leaving soon, and she decided to get up and walk off the kinks, going back into the house and finding Tracy and Corrinne at the table drinking iced tea and chatting. They invited her to join them, but she needed to keep moving and wandered into the living room where she saw Michael talking on the phone.
“That was Doug,” he said after clicking it off. “They’re on their fourth person.”
“How soon until we need t
o leave?” she asked.
“Two hours if we eat here. Sooner if everyone wants to go to a restaurant,” he shrugged. “Last I heard they were still debating.”
“Debating about what?” Allison asked, coming from upstairs. Jen and Laurie were on her heels.
Michael repeated everything he had told her. They all decided to make sandwiches and eat here so they wouldn’t have to feel rushed. They brought in some food from the coolers and everyone made their own. Natalie didn’t feel all that hungry and decided to save half of hers for later.
Natalie’s nerves about walking in the dark began to creep in as they drove to the meeting point and darkness began to fall. Walkers they passed along the way were wearing their reflective gear and lights around their waist or on a hat. Most of the time several walkers were grouped together, but occasionally they passed someone who was more isolated. Natalie tried not to think about it. Several more hours of waiting for her turn remained. She pulled out her iPod and listened to classical music to help her relax.
She ended up falling asleep while Jen walked, and she woke to find Tracy was on her last mile. Laurie was getting ready to take her place. I’m next after this. They were parked at a hand-off point where lights from vans, people with flashlights, and some flood lights that had been set up kept her fear for what awaited her at bay.
Natalie went to use a nearby port-a-potty and then searched for the others, finding them easily in the well-lit area at the hand-off line. They were cheering for Tracy, whom she spotted approaching the line where Laurie waited. They returned to the van and continued along the road, not going as far ahead of Laurie as they had during the day, but far enough to lose sight of her. The stream of walkers appeared steady, and Natalie tried to tell herself everything would be fine, but her heart began to race when they came to the final stop where she would begin her second leg and set off through the pitch black of night.
She had never felt more like praying than she did now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Wildflowers Page 23
