Until Lilly(69)

“Are you okay?” His hand rubs the top of my head; it feels tender from being banged into the door of the truck.

“Yeah.” I smile then start to laugh, shoving my face into his throat.

“What’s so funny?” He chuckles, kissing the top of my head.

“Nothing.” I smile, feeling happy.

“You ready to take me to the glacier now that you’ve had your way with me?” he asks.

“No, I think we should stay here for the rest of the day,” I tell him, pulling my face out of his neck and my hand out from under his shirt so that I can run my fingers down his jaw.

“This is a good place to be.” He smirks, rotating his hips and making me bite the inside of my cheek. “But we only have two more days in Alaska, and I really want to see this place that you have been telling me about since I met you.” He gently touches his mouth to mine, and his hips pull away so he can slide out of me. He bends forward, kissing my belly, then helps me sit up. I watch, fascinated as his hips lift off the seat and he tucks himself back into his jeans. “Babe, seriously, get dressed.” I nod and look away, picking my jeans up off the truck floor. I pull them on, then my socks and boots. Once I have straightened out my clothes and hair, I put my seatbelt back on and he puts the truck in drive. It takes twenty minutes to get out to the glacier. Once we reach the Million-Dollar Bridge, better known as ‘The Bridge to Nowhere’, I know we’re close. “So you’re telling me that that bridge goes to absolutely nowhere, and that the state of Alaska paid a million dollars to have it built just so they could get rid of the money so it wouldn’t go back to the government?”

‘That’s what I’m telling you.” I smile. “Well, that’s what I have always been told about the bridge, anyway.” I shrug. We pull off the road and get out of the truck so we can walk across the bridge. It is in much better shape than it used to be in. About fifteen years ago, you would have to walk or drive across wooden planks; now that it’s refinished, you don’t have to worry about plummeting to your death. We stand in the middle of the bridge. Cash’s arms wrap around me from behind, and we look down at the water below and at the glacier off in the distance. I feel him kiss the back of my head. I always wanted to share this place with someone. It really is beautiful. I snuggle into his embrace, just enjoying the feeling of having him here with me. I miss the simple life of Alaska; everything is so different here. In the winter, you know every person in town since there are no tourists. And if something ever happens to one of the residents, everyone comes together to offer any support needed. I guess the town where I now live in Tennessee is similar. You just have to multiply the number of residents by a few thousand.

“You ready to show me the glacier?”

“Yeah.” I smile, looking over my shoulder. He leans in and places a kiss on my forehead before taking my hand and leading me back to the truck. Once we’re both buckled in, he drives the next few minutes to the bridge leading to the perfect spot to see the giant body of dense ice. We both get out and meet at the front of the truck. Cash takes my hand again, and I pull him down the long dirt path to the glacier and the viewing area. You can’t see anything until you climb to the top, then you see nothing but a beach area, a giant river, and Childs Glacier sitting on the other side.

“Holy shit,” Cash says, making me smile. I know it’s one thing to talk about seeing a glacier, but it’s another thing completely to see it for yourself. The air near the glacier is so much colder, but it is also so much cleaner.#p#分页标题#e#

“I told you it was awesome.” I tug on his hand, dragging him behind me to the edge of the river. “You would think just by looking at it that it’s close, but it’s actually miles away,” I tell him, looking across the river at the giant white wall of the glacier in front of us. The colors of turquoise and blue that run through it are so vibrant that the whole thing looks like a painting.

“It really is the perfect place,” he says, standing behind me. One of his arms wraps around my waist, the other around my chest, his chin resting on the top of my head.

“I love coming out here.” I put my hands on his arm at my chest. “This is the one place where you really are apart from all the stresses of normal life. I know, standing here, just how small I am in the giant scheme of things.”

“You may be small in terms of the whole world, but to me and my kids, you make up our world,” he says softly against my ear. My tummy flips over, and I can’t help the tears I feel filling my eyes. I feel his hand leave my waist, and he reaches into his pocket. I think he is going to pull out his cell phone so he can take a picture, so when his hand comes around in front of me, it takes a second to realize what he is holding.