by Rachel Hanna
"I wouldn't know."
"Neither would I."
They both laughed. "I'll pack a few things and we’ll be on our way. Meet me on the porch in about half an hour?
"It's a date," he said.
Jill turned to go up the stairs, hoping he didn't see the smile on her face. She hadn't heard the word “date” in a very long time. And this definitely wasn't a date, but something inside of her almost wanted it to be.
As they trekked through the woods and up some challenging hills, Patrick felt the need to find out more about how Jill's life had been since he last saw her on the bridge.
"So, did you go to school around here?"
"No. We actually lived a little closer to Atlanta in a northern suburb."
“Did you like it? I mean school?"
"No, it wasn't my favorite thing. I was bullied pretty relentlessly."
Patrick glanced at her. He had a very hard time believing that anyone would bully her. She was so beautiful and kind and smart and funny. What in the world could they focus on that was a negative?
"Why were you bullied?"
“Why is anyone bullied really? People didn't like who I was."
"But you’re so…"
Jill stopped and turned to him. “I’m so what?"
He smiled. “Well, at the risk of sounding very surface level, you're beautiful. Maybe they were just jealous?"
Jill smiled, and he could've sworn that her face turned a little red. "Well, thank you, Patrick. Believe me, that means a lot coming from you."
"I'm not as bad as you might think."
She smiled slightly. "I don't actually think you're bad. I think you’re misunderstood, even by me sometimes."
He’d been misunderstood most of his life. "So do you think they were jealous?"
She started walking again, so he followed.
"No. I was bullied every year of school because of the color of my eyes."
This time, Patrick stopped in his tracks. "You've got to be kidding me." It was only then that he remembered her saying that on the bridge that day.
"I'm not kidding. I was called all kinds of names from the time I entered school until the time I left." She dropped her backpack and reached into it for bottle of water, taking a long sip.
"But your eyes are so…"
"Spooky? Weird? Ghostly?"
Patrick stared into her eyes for a moment. "Gorgeous. Wise. Deep vessels of blue that I could get lost in for hours."
He heard Jill’s breath catch in her throat. They just stood there, staring at each other for a few moments. It should've been awkward, but it wasn't. For a moment, he worried that she was finally going to recognize him.
"I don't know what to say…"
"You don't have to say anything. But just know that if you ever point out one of those bullies to me when we're in public, take my wallet before they cart me off to jail because I'm going to need bail money."
Jill broke out into laughter. It was the first time he had really seen her without her walls up. Within moments, she was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down her face."
"See? I can be funny occasionally."
"I think you're funny more often than you think," she said. "We better keep moving before I lose my motivation."
They continued walking and talking, with Patrick being very careful to avoid any conversations that talked about his own childhood. Every time she seemed to be ready to ask him some questions, he thought of another one for her.
"We've been walking a long time. Is there a destination you have in mind?"
"Well, actually, I am a wee bit… lost."
Patrick stopped. "Are you serious? Please tell me you're not serious."
Jill gritted her teeth together and shrugged. "I'm sorry, but I've never been up in this area before. It's just that we got to talking and I lost track of where we were… I was actually enjoying your company."
"Well, as shocking as that is, don't you think we should figure out where we are?"
Jill looked around, craning her head from one side to the other. "I have absolutely no idea. I mean we could try to follow the same path back down but I know we made a couple of turns… I don’t know if we’re even on my property anymore.“
Patrick tried not to get upset. He had really enjoyed spending this time with her so the last thing he wanted to do was start an argument.
"Okay, it should be easy to use the GPS on your phone."
Her eyes widened. "I didn't bring my phone."
Now he was really having a hard time not getting frustrated. "You didn't bring your phone? But you always have your phone."
"I know but I figured since I was sort of riding you about not bringing your phone that I shouldn't bring mine…"
Patrick looked around, trying to figure out what to do. All they had was a backpack with some snacks and water. They were at the top of a mountain, yet he couldn't see The Retreat anywhere in his view. It was an hour until nightfall, extremely cold and they were apparently completely lost.
"Okay, then we need to make some decisions. We only have about an hour until the sun goes down, and we definitely don't need to be walking around on this mountain. We could try heading down but if we go the wrong direction, that could be pretty dangerous."
"So what are you suggesting?"
Patrick sucked in a deep breath and then slowly blew it out. "I think we're going to have to make camp for the night."
"You want to camp overnight? Out here? But it's freezing cold and…" As if on cue, snowflakes started falling over head.
"Oh great. Isn't it a little bit early in the season for this?"
Jill caught some snowflakes on her glove. "Apparently not."
Jill was so embarrassed. Here she was trying to help him reduce his stress level and somehow she had managed to get both of them lost on the mountain, just before dark, snow falling. Maybe she should close up her business for the safety of the public.
So far, he had been nice about it, but he didn't have much choice anyway. They had very little time before it was going to get dark, and they somehow needed to get a fire going or they were going to freeze to death. Why hadn't she brought her phone?
"Okay, I think I've gathered enough wood. Thank goodness we found this outcropping of rocks. I think it will protect us from a lot of the wind."
"For a city boy, you seem to know a lot about camping."
"I think pretty much anyone knows to gather wood and find a place to sleep. Don't be so impressed."
She couldn't tell if he was mad at her or just a little bit terrified. Either way, his tone was growing short with her.
Jill propped her backpack up on one of the rocks and reached inside in an effort to see what snacks she had packed. She had done everything in such a rush that she honestly couldn't remember what they had.
This backpack had been with her for so many years. She used to take it out when she would go hiking with early visitors to The Retreat.
"I think I have a first aid kit in here," she said to no one in particular.
"Well let's hope that we don't need it," Patrick said with a laugh.
She opened the various zippers, shoving her hand down in all the crevices of the bag . When her hand touched upon something she forgot she had, she giggled with delight.
"Oh my gosh!"
"What?" Patrick asked, walking a step closer to her. She pulled her hand out of the bag to reveal a flint. "Now we can start a fire!"
Patrick let out a relieved breath. "Thank God. Why didn't you tell me you had that?"
"Because I didn't know."
"Go figure. I don't know why I should be surprised. I've never known a woman who didn't have a plethora of strange items in her purse."
Jill rolled her eyes. "This isn't my purse."
She handed him the flint, and he went to work on starting the fire. Within a few minutes, they had a large enough flame to create smoke signals if they wanted to.
Patrick walked around, gathering pine straw that he dug up from
under the surface of the forest floor. The top section was wet, so he had to find whatever dry straw he could for them to sleep on. Jill didn't think they would be getting much sleep anyway. It was freezing cold, incredibly dark and the fire would need to be stoked throughout the long night they had ahead of them.
As they sat down on the bed of pine straw, Jill sighed.
"Patrick, I am so sorry for all of this. It was my responsibility to keep you safe out here, and I let you down."
He knocked his shoulder into hers. "Don't beat yourself up. I should've been paying attention too. I was just so mesmerized by our conversation."
She pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them for warmth. "I have to say that I didn't see this coming."
"Getting lost in the woods?"
"No. This unlikely… friendship?"
Patrick chuckled. "So we're friends?"
"Maybe. Tonight. But when you own this property and I don't, I can't promise that I'm going to feel exactly like you're my friend."
"At least if we’re friends, you can come visit anytime you want."
"Yeah. I guess there's that."
Jill reached her hand into the bag and pulled out a couple of bags of chips and an extra water bottle. She opened it up, taking a sip and then handing it to him. They sat and ate the chips, staring into the flickering flames as they rose and disappeared into the darkness.
"I really wish I had worn my thicker coat," Jill said. Although the fire was large, it wasn't doing a whole lot to keep her from feeling the freezing cold temperatures. She could only get so close to the fire without incinerating herself.
Patrick scooted over closer and wrapped one arm around her shoulder. "Is this okay?”
She immediately felt the warmth of his body against hers. It was nice and something she hadn't experienced in a very long time. "Yes, it's fine."
They sat that way for a very long time, no words spoken between them. As the night crept on, Jill started to get sleepy. Her head fell, and landed on his shoulder, waking her up.
"Try to stay awake. I think you're getting tired from the cold."
"Probably so. I just wish there was a way we could get warmer."
"Wait here." Patrick stood up, and walked into the darkness. For a moment, she was frightened but then figured there probably weren't many wild animals out roaming around in the cold. Thankfully, it only flurried for a while and then let up.
A few minutes later, she heard noises. Patrick appeared from the darkness, dragging large pieces of wood and logs with him.
"What are you doing?"
He dropped one of the trunks and grinned. "I'm building you a house."
She watched him work for several minutes, dragging big trunks, pieces of wood and limbs from the dark forest. She offered to help, but he would have none of it.
He built up the side of the shelter where the wind was coming in until it was taller than Jill’s head. Suddenly, the wind couldn't touch her anymore. The warmth of the fire penetrated the small area and she could feel her feet again.
When he finally sat back down, he was out of breath and shivering. This time, she wrapped her arms around him, rubbing her hands up and down his arms in an effort to warm him up.
"You're quite the builder, Patrick."
“Surprising, huh?”
Who knew that spending hours on the side of a freezing cold mountain could be so enjoyable? But here he sat, next to a woman he’d known since he was fifteen years old, enjoying every second of conversation with her.
And being pressed up against her didn't hurt. Fire or not, they needed the extra heat, and he wasn't complaining. Having her cuddled up by his side felt more right than he wanted to admit.
"I was going to jump."
"What?"
"I was going to jump," Jill repeated.
"I don't understand…"
"When I was at the bridge… as a kid… I went there to jump. That's why it's such an important place to me."
Patrick stilled. He didn't know what to say. Of course, he already knew this information, but he didn’t want her to think that he did. He didn't want to under react. He didn't want to overreact. This was one of the first times in his life where he had absolutely no idea what to say.
Thankfully, she continued. "I was going through a really rough time in my life. My mother married a man who was not a good person. He was pretty abusive, at least verbally, to me. But at least I still had some of my mother’s attention until she got pregnant with my sister a few months after they married. Things went downhill really fast. I was the black sheep of the family. My mom didn't spend any time with me and they both were so engrossed with my sister that I was getting lost in the mix. On top of that, he made me feel terrible about myself any chance he got. My mother always sided with him. Anyway, we ended up out here on a family camping trip. And then there was the bullying at school. My mother said I was being a baby about it, to get a thicker skin, and so on. Things came to a head, and I just couldn't deal with it anymore. So I ended up on the bridge."
Instinctively, Patrick reached over and took her hand. She smiled gratefully.
"I never talk about it. I don't think I've ever told anyone what happened that day. But there was this kid, about my age. He just showed up on the bridge like some kind of adolescent angel. He was kind of a jerk at first," she said. Patrick couldn't help but chuckle. Jill looked at him, confused.
"Sorry. I just thought it was funny that he was a jerk. I think most boys are when they’re that age."
"Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, I don't even know what he was doing there or where his family was, but he spoke to me. He talked me out of making a stupid decision that I couldn’t take back. And the reality was that I had never planned to jump before. It was a spur of the moment thing when I saw the bridge in the distance, and I'm so glad that he stopped me. I never forgot him. I wish I could go back and say thank you."
"So you never saw him again?"
"No. Honestly, he kissed me and then ran off into the woods. I guess it doesn't say much for my kissing skills," she said laughing.
Patrick shook his head. "I'm sure it had nothing to do with that."
"Well, whatever the case, I never saw him again. I wanted to. I wish I had asked his last name or something. To be honest, I've tried even searching his first name on social media, which was a fool’s errand, but it was something. I often scan the faces of men that I see walking through Whiskey Ridge, hoping that maybe he has visited the area again as an adult. I would love to see him and be able to say thank you."
For a moment, Patrick considered telling her. He thought about the look on her face when he would tell her who he really was. But then he stopped himself. He had gotten so far into this whole thing that telling her now would only make her hate him. And the thought of her hating him was too much to bear.
“That’s why the bridge is so important to me. Not only did my life change that day, but I met an amazing person there. I guess in the back of my mind, I think as long as the bridge is there, I might see him again one day. Probably sounds silly to you,” she said, looking at him.
“Not silly at all.”
“I sometimes wonder if he ever thought about me after that day.”
Patrick smiled. “I’m absolutely sure he did.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Oh yeah? And why is that?”
“Because you’re an impossible woman to forget, Jill.” Without thinking, he pressed his lips to the top of her head.
She looked up at him, her eyes soft and sleepy. Patrick found himself unable to think clearly when she looked at him. He wanted to kiss her worse than he wanted to take his next breath, but instead he settled for her forehead, pressing his lips there next. His hand cradled the side of her face as she stared at him, probably wondering what in the world he was doing. Or maybe she was remembering him.
“I’m sorry,” he said, dropping his hand away from her face.
“Don’t be,” she said softly. “I’m not.”
<
br /> She snuggled up close to him again, laying her head on his shoulder, and Patrick felt like his world had just turned upside down.
Chapter 9
As soon as the sun rose, Patrick and Jill started trying to make their way down the mountain. There was no talk about what had happened the night before. No mention of the kiss on her forehead or the obvious attraction they’d both felt. Instead, Patrick seemed to be back to business as usual, and she’d managed to get her feelings back in check enough to get them to safety.
It took a lot longer than she expected, but eventually The Retreat came into view after a couple of hours of walking in every direction.
As big as the area was, Jill was surprised they found their way back at all. It would be easy to get lost for days or weeks in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
"Well, I guess we can call it an adventure," she said with a laugh as they made their way onto the screen porch.
Before Patrick could respond, Winston came flying through the doorway. Well, he was walking as fast as an eighty-something-year-old with a limp could walk.
"Where in the world have you two been? I was up all night, worried sick. I was just about to call the rescue squad."
"I'm so sorry, Winston. We decided to go for a hike yesterday. Somehow, I got us turned around and we couldn't find our way back down the mountain before the sun went down."
"You mean to tell me that the two of you camped in the woods last night, in the freezing cold, without any supplies?"
Patrick nodded. "Thankfully, Jill had a flint in her backpack. So we built a fire and just made it through the night as best we could."
Winston looked irritated and relieved. "I'm glad y'all made it. Next time don't go out without your cell phone," he said before turning around and slowly heading back up the stairs.
"I feel so guilty. Poor Winston," she said.
"I would apologize to him but I don't think it would mean very much coming from me,” Patrick said with a laugh.
Before Jill could respond, they both heard the front door open. She wasn't expecting any guests to check in, so she walked into the foyer to see who was coming into her house.
