Shattered Girl (Emmy)

Chapter 60

I was so excited, that I jumped out of my seat the moment Mike slowed to turn into a parking space.

"Careful, honey. Let me

e get the truck turned off before you start jumping around, Mike admonished. Blushing, I sat down. When Mike had turned off the truck, he turned to me, smiling. Now you can get out. If I had brought you back hurt because you jumped out of a moving vehicle, we would both be in a lot of trouble," he joked.

I nodded in understanding. 'I'm sorry, I know that wasn't safe; I will be more careful, I promise," I told Mike before letting myself out of the truck. I met Mike at the back of the truck, He pulled out my pack first, handing it to me so I could get it adjusted properly.

A few minutes later, we were heading toward the trailhead, and Mike began telling me about the area, pointing out and telling me the names of trees and flowers as we passed. "It's beautiful out here; 1 love it; look at all the flowers I laughed. I love flowers, they were so bright and beautiful, and always lifted my mood. Living with my father, though, I never had any money to buy any, and if I had tried to plant any seeds, my father would have surely killed them or pulled them out when he was mad at me,

to plant. I grinned excitedly, "Do you think we can find someplace like this to live? I love it here, but

toward him, and gave me a deep. I smiled up at Mike as

too, honey, but I'm more excited to see you in whatever swimsuit you packed for this trip.

guess what I'm going to wear. I'm just glad I remembered to pack one, otherwise I

in the trail, and there, as the trail branched off in

began to feel misty drops of water brushing my face, and as if by magic, the waterfall

scene. "Can we come

and swim here?" I asked Mike. He

to be a lot colder than the lake." Curious now, I walked toward the edge of

tucked it into the crook of his arm while he led me further along the edge of the pool. There was a small outcropping of rocks off to one side. Mike led me to one that was flat enough for both of us to sit on. Pulling a blanket out of his pack, he folded it before setting it on