Jessica walked slowly into the quad garage, looking around in wonder at what she’d created, with carte blanche from Alex and Cassie, in the past year. The twenty quads were all nestled in their bins, gleaming, and she looked at them proudly as she walked to the back. She knew they were all in perfect running order as she’d been the one to ensure it, with her crew of three mechanics, and she knew they ran a great program.
She thought back to the first group of tourists they’d taken out after getting everything situated. Kyle had wanted to tag along, taking a day off from his doctor’s duties, and as she’d stood on the step of her quad so she could do a final check of the line behind her, her stomach had fluttered as she spotted him bringing up the rear. It had been his first trip on a quad since the accident, and he’d started out slowly, learning to trust her bit by bit and thawing out in pieces.
She’d waved, blowing him a kiss, and he’d waved back, giving her the thumbs up. She marveled at how much had happened since then, and how they took regular rides in the evenings, spending a lot of time in the giant saguaros, watching the sunset with a picnic in tow.
She pulled at the straps on the storage boxes on the back of the big, 4-wheel drive quads she’d recently bought and gone over with a fine-tooth comb. She put the tents and sleeping bags in one and their food and water supplies on the other, an extra gas can strapped in as well.
Cassie and Alex had brought up the subject of longer eco-tours down the coast of Baja, maybe for seven to ten days at a time, and it hadn’t taken much convincing for them to get her to agree. Kyle, on the other hand, had taken a bit more time before he had agreed, but now the time had come. They were leaving tomorrow for a ten-day trip, past the Islas Encantadas and further south, all the way to La Paz.
“Sleeping bags?” Kyle said as he walked into the garage, carrying his fishing pole. “If we’re going to camp on the beach, we’ll need this for food.”
Jess laughed as she tugged the pole out of his hand, nestling it in between the gas can and the plastic food container. “You’re going to look like Huckleberry Finn with that sticking out behind you.”
“How else am I going to take care of my beautiful fiancée while we’re on the road? We have to eat, don’t we?”
She smiled, remembering the fish they’d caught in Gonzaga Bay so long ago. “There’ll be a few restaurants we can stop at in the smaller towns, but fishing would be good,” she said as she walked toward him, wrapping her arms around his waist.
Kyle sighed deeply, resting his chin on her brown curls. “I just can’t believe how much has changed. Me, getting on a quad and driving down Baja. I wouldn’t do it without you, Jess, and I’m grateful you’ve brought that back into my life. I hadn’t realized I’d missed it so much.”
Her cheek warmed on his chest as tears welled up in her eyes. “And I had no idea I was missing so much, so completely. I never would have seen the souls dancing on the waves if it hadn’t been for you getting me to slow down.”
He lifted her chin up, brushing a stray curl way from her face. “Seems it was no accident, after all, that we were thrown together.”
“No, it doesn’t seem so,” she said as she tossed him his helmet and put hers on. “Ready to ride?”
“Never been more ready,” he said as he buckled his helmet, hopped on the quad and followed her down the dirt road and toward the beach.
THE END
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I hope you enjoyed As Blue As The Sky!
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Series:
As Deep As The Ocean
As Bright As The Stars
By The Light Of The Moon
As Blue As The Sky
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