Page 53 of Dead Ahead (Department of Defense)
Chapter 25
Triton
ASHLEY FOLLOWED ME out to my rental car, my hear still soaring with her joyful reception. Then it flipped slightly as I opened the passenger side door for her, and she gave me a shy smile before slipping into the seat. I slid into the driver’s seat, scrolling through my phone and entering the name of the place into the GPS I’d found on a search on the way up as I was waiting for the gas tank to fill.
Now my heart was pulsating so hard I felt it. Ashley and I had been together on the island in such an intimate setting, but this was her home, our native soil, a world and a lifetime away. I still didn’t know if things would be different. But I knew my mind, and I knew my heart, and this was it. Ashley was it.
“You ready?” I asked, flashing a bright smile at her.
“Uh-huh,” she nodded, swallowing, then managed her own smile. It looked as fluttery as I felt.
We drove over the Bay Bridge, away from Oakland and towards San Francisco, until the close-packed buildings rose around us. I followed the soft voice giving me directions from the GPS, turning a corner and heading down a wide street until the bay opened up before us, the Golden Gate Bridge hovering in the background.
Somehow, I found parking, a feat impressive in its own right with the press of cars and crowds—the Internet search hadn’t mentioned that one. I cut the engine, and Ashley pushed herself out of the car, looking around—did she think we were sightseeing? She knew from our conversations I was from the East Coast. Maybe she thought I’d never been to San Francisco and wanted to see the sights with someone who had spent her entire life living here? But seeing the sights was the furthest thing from my mind.
Ashley moved around the car to join me, and my heart flipped again as she twined his fingers with mine.
“You ready?” I wasn’t sure why I’d asked it again, except that maybe I was asking myself as much as her.
“I think so?” I could tell Ashley still wasn’t clear on what exactly we were doing here. But I pulled her towards the lookout point anyway, a vantage point quickly becoming famous for its views of the bay and the Golden Gate, according to the online article.
We wove through the milling crowd of people, some taking photos, others running on the trail, and one person taking pictures of their fluffy dog.
I was glad the sun was out today, the weather perfect for our reunion. From what I understood, a perfectly sunny, warm day was not a given in San Francisco, especially on this side of the Bay Bridge. And the Golden Gate Bridge rising over the water was an incredible sight.
With my gaze on the view, I almost missed that Ashely had stopped walking.
“You okay?” I asked, a small smile ticking up one corner of my mouth as I watched her face.
“Yeah, fine,” she swallowed, a slight flush creeping over her cheeks. “I just really love this view of the bridge. I wasn’t sure I was ever going to see it again.”
“It is a beautiful view. I’ve never seen it up close before,” I said, watching Ashley as she lifted her face towards the landmark in the distance, her green eyes taking it all in with a studiousness I hadn’t seen before.
I was the kind of person to take on everything with a seriousness bordering on fixation until I’d mastered it, figured it out, or poured myself into it. It was what made me so good at what I did, but it also made me rather intense as a person. But Ashley seemed in constant wonder of the world, from the smallest fish to an enormous, made-made bridge, and it had brought a curiosity to my life that lightened the seriousness with which I lived.
Ashley’s eyes flicked to me, and I realized with a start I was staring at her, but I’d been too lost in my thoughts to notice. But this time, the intensity was for her, not the bridge, and I flushed. “Sorry.”
For a moment, Ashley didn’t say anything, and I wondered if I’d done something wrong, though I couldn’t understand what. Then, she smiled, as bright as the sun, and I knew this was the moment. Without a second thought, I took both of her hands in mine, so big they engulfed hers, her eyes bright as they stared back into mine. Drawing in a breath, I almost let the words out, but closed my mouth again, taking a steadying breath before I started again.
“Ashley, I know we don’t know each other well, but almost no one else has lived through what we've been through. It was terrible, but I’d do it all again in a heartbeat just to find you, to be there with you. The past days have given me a lot of time to think, and I’ve had a big change in perspective. I can see things now that I couldn’t see before. We literally saved the world together, and I wouldn’t have wanted to do any of it with anyone other than you.”
Before I could think about what I was doing, I knelt on one knee, my face tilted up towards Ashley’s. I saw her draw in a breath of disbelief, her eyes growing wide and round in wonder. I could suddenly barely breathe, and I was intensely aware of people around us stopping to stare and point excitedly.
“What we went through put my life into perspective, what I’ve been doing with it, what I want to do with it, and what’s missing. We saved the world together, you and I, and now, I want to spend the rest of my life in peace. With you.”
A shimmering in Ashley’s eyes spilled over as tears on her cheeks, and I had to swallow past a lump in my own throat. I realized it was quiet, and everyone seemed to be waiting in breathless silence for her reply.
“I do, too,” she finally managed, her hand moving against her mouth to hold back the rest of the tears, and I imagined she was trying not to turn into a blubbering mess. Not that I would care if she did
I was on my feet in a heartbeat, my arms wrapped tightly around her. Our unexpected audience of locals out for exercise and tourists applauded, the dog barking excitedly in response to the noise.
My idea, my impulse to find her and make her mine had been so sudden and entirely unexpected, but it was the only thing I’d suddenly wanted. In Ashley, I’d found the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life learning to know and understand.
We got back into the car, hands tightly intertwined, and Ashely directed me back over the bridge to the apartment she kept in Oakland.
“Sorry, it’s not homier,” Ashley said, as though she were seeing the bare apartment through someone else’s eyes for the first time. “With all my travel, I don’t spend much time here.”
The apartment held the requisite couch, old and leather, a dusty TV on its stand in the corner, an old kitchen table, and the furniture in the bedroom. Barely anything hung on the walls, save for a few photographs of dolphins and whales and her framed degrees.
