The Space Between Us(45)
“If you don’t stop asking me where we’re going I might have to gag you,” he said as he navigated the snow-filled streets in his truck.
“You know I don’t really like surprises much,” I complained.
“Well, I think you’re going to like this one,” he said with a smile. How could I resist his handsome face when he smiled? I couldn’t. I smiled too. We drove for another forty-five minutes, driving us farther and farther from civilization and out into the country. I was sure there was nothing out here that I would be excited about. Finally, he pulled onto a road that seemed relatively unused and we bumped around in his truck as it plowed over snow that had freshly fallen. The road disappeared under the snow and we were now just driving into oblivion.
“Where are we going?” I asked him nervously.
“Don’t worry, Bit. I got you,” he said as he shot me a smirk. His truck came to a stop and I narrowed my eyes trying to see where we had ended up. All I saw was snow directly in front of us, but a little farther up I could see someone standing next to something I couldn’t quite make out. Asher turned towards me. “You ready for your surprise?” I smiled because he was so excited.
“Yes?” I giggled, this all seemed a little silly, but I loved it. He hopped out of his side of the truck and came around to open my door for me. The thrill that ran through me when he put his hands on my waist to help me down never went away and would never get old. He had magical hands and they did magical things to me. He took my hand and led me towards the man standing in the middle of what I could only imagine was a field covered by snow. The closer we got the easier it was to figure out what was going on. “Asher?”
“Yes?” I heard his answer but also felt it as he leaned down and whispered it in my ear.
“Did you drive me out into the middle of nowhere to take me on a horse-drawn carriage ride?”
“I did, indeed.”
“Really?” He nodded at me. I never expressed a need or a want to take a ride on a carriage pulled by a horse, mainly because I guess I assumed these types of things only happened in movies. Surely not in real life would you happen upon a carriage waiting to take you on a romantic ride through the snow. “Really really?”
“Yes, Babe.” He took my hand and led me closer. The man standing near the back of the carriage gave me a smile as we approached. “Charlie, this is Stan. He owns this horse and carriage.”
“Hi Charlie, nice to meet you.”
“Hi,” I smiled back at him, suddenly shy. It seemed a little weird this stranger would be sharing in our date, but I tried to look past it.
“This is Utopia. She’ll be our mode of transportation today.” Stan walked towards the front of the carriage and I followed. He reached up and stroked the mane of the most beautiful animal I had ever seen. Utopia was all white, perfectly white, with deep blue eyes. She was gorgeous.
“Shall we?” Stan said to Asher.
“Babe?” Asher said as he held a hand out to me motioning for me to climb into the carriage. I managed to make it up and sat down on the comfy bench seat. Asher climbed up and grabbed a large plush blanket off the opposite bench and pulled it over us as he sat down next to me. He tucked us in, then wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in close to his side. I heard Stan make a loud sound that sounded like “Yah!” and the carriage lurched forward. After the initial takeoff, the ride was relatively smooth. We were very far out in the middle of nowhere so the only light around was from the moon. I couldn’t see anything around us and wondered how Stan was even able to navigate, but decided not to worry about it and enjoy the experience with Asher’s arm folded around me.
Even though all I could see was thick, black darkness around me, I could see plenty of stars. My eyes were drawn to the sky where the number of twinkling spots in the sky were immeasurable. We didn’t live in a huge city, but you definitely couldn’t see this many stars anywhere but out in the country, far away from any kind of city lights.
“It’s such a beautiful night,” I sighed. “I guess we’re lucky it stopped snowing so that we could see the stars.”
“I made a few calls,” Asher said and I could hear the smile in his voice.
“You’d do that for me?” I asked, jokingly.
“Get rid of a few clouds? That’s simple, Bit. I’d move mountains for you. Slay dragons. Build you the house of your dreams, going crazy in the process, waiting for you to come back to me, not sure if you ever will.”
“Wait. The Notebook? You focus on the part of the book where they’re apart? What about the end where they die together in each other’s arms?”
“That part’s sad.”
“You’d rather be apart from me then end up with me for all eternity?”
“No. I’d rather dedicate my life to hoping you’ll return then to be at the end of our time together,” he said. “I’d rather be remembering all the time we had together than face the idea of not having any more time with you at all.”
“Oh,” was all I could respond with, and barely that. He pressed a kiss to my temple ending the discussion and we continued riding in silence, heading God knows where. The vibrations of the carriage plowing through the snow and the gentle swaying were nearly putting me to sleep. That coupled with the warmth of the blanket and Asher’s body against mine were enough to make it difficult to keep my eyes open.