Page 50 of Saltwater Memories
She looked at her watch – it was now or never. There was no point in sitting around in her room all day by herself; she’d recently been feeling like she was missing out on all the fun. She told herself it was because of work, but that was only a partial truth.
Amanda went over to her closet and pulled out a change of clothes. “I’ll be ready in five minutes.”
“Great!”
They made it to the ferry and enjoyed a peaceful ride to Orcas Island. The sky was clear today – clear and blue. Amanda peered out of the wide ferry window and admired the way colors became more vivid through her sunglasses. She wouldn’t admit it to Jade, but the blue skies were cheering her up, even if only a little bit. It was enough to get her to put pants on, which was a win.
Once docked, they drove to Moran State Park and started on the trail. They were twenty minutes into their hike when Amanda started to feel like she was actually enjoying herself.
She suspected it was partially because she’d put her cell phone into her backpack so that she wouldn’t check it every fifteen minutes for a message from Rupert.
It was helping her relax, and true to her promise, Jade didn’t ask anything about Rupert at all.
So naturally, Amanda started babbling.
“I just don’t get what his problem is.”
“Who? Lenny?”
Amanda shook her head. “No, Rupert. He’s been living in Seattle for weeks. At first it seemed like things were going really well, but now…”
“Not as well?”
“No. I mean, things are progressing, I think. We’re texting a lot, and we see each other at the office sometimes. We’ll go to lunch, and we’ve done a couple of dinners. I guess I don’t know what I expected. Maybe I just expect too much; we weren’t even really speaking for months before.”
“I see.”
An eagle flew overhead; they both stopped to look at it as it settled in a faraway tree.
Amanda began again. “When he first moved here, I tried not to get my hopes up. But when we went to dinner, he basically said that he’d come here to reconnect with me.”
“What else did he say? Like did he say that he’d missed you, or that things have been hard without you around?”
Amanda let out a sigh. “No, but he doesn’t say stuff like that. It’s not his style.”
“You could just ask him.”
She shook her head. “I could, but I know he doesn’t like it when I smother him. I’m just trying to be considerate.”
Jade nodded. “But do you think he knows what you want? That you want to be together again?”
“Yeah, he has to. I mean, it’s been a few months since I said anything about wanting to get back together, but it’s pretty obvious. I just don’t want to force the issue, you know?”
Jade stopped and pulled a water bottle out of her backpack. “From what I’m hearing, it sounds like you have to sort of tiptoe around him?”
Amanda shrugged. “I wouldn’t call it tiptoeing, it’s – ”
“But it sounds like you do a lot of things to prevent him from being…scared off.”
“It’s not ‘scared off’ exactly, it’s just so that he doesn’t feel trapped or anything.”
“Trapped into what, though? Into being in a relationship?”
Amanda thought for a moment. That wasn’t quite it. “I don’t know.”
“Do you worry that if you ask him about it, he’ll be scared of being in a relationship with you again?”
“Not exactly.” Amanda let out a sigh and looked down at the lake. The water looked gorgeous and inviting, despite the chilly temperatures. When she was growing up, she spent summers cliff diving into the blue waters of the lake with her friends. That’s something that Rupert would love – if he’d just give it a chance. And if he was still around in the summer.
