Free Never Far Away by Anie Michaels, Krysta Drechsler, Brook Hryciw Shaded Tree Photgraphy

“Perfect.”
        Porter took his backpack off and started unloading.  He handed Ella the blanket which she spread out over the rocks and they took a seat.  As he unloaded their lunch he saw her looking around, taking in their surroundings.
        “It’s so beautiful here.  You know, I’ve always heard you’re not supposed to go off the trails.  Every year lots of hikers get lost around here and all you hear from rescuers is to stay on the trails.”  She gave him a look that said ‘this is dangerous, but I kind of like it’.
        “Don’t worry, Ella.  All we did was follow this creek.  We just follow it right back to the trail.  I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.  Although, I can think of worse things than being lost out here with you.”  She turned her head slightly and looked at him from the corner of her eye.
        “Me too.”
        As they ate, they talked about their week.  Ella told him about the actress from a Hollywood movie coming into her store with Kalli for a fitting, which she described as ‘the most exciting moment of her life, ever.’  He told her about his work on his latest project of a house rebuild on the beach and about the progress he’d made on his boat over the course of the week.  He did not mention that he used working on his boat to keep himself from going insane with thoughts of her, and to keep him from driving to Portland every night to see her and finally make her his again.  She didn’t need to hear that.
        “So,” Ella began when they’d finished their meal.  “Tell me about us, Porter.”  Taken a little off guard, Porter cleared his throat and took a drink from his water bottle.
        “What do you mean?”
        “Well, you’ve alluded to the fact that we were, um, well, intimate, with each other,” she said and even though he wasn’t looking at her, he knew she was blushing.
        “That’s correct.”
        “Well, I mean, I guess I’m just wondering, what it was like.”
        “Can you be more specific?” He became uncomfortable, not really sure what kind of information she was looking for.
        “Ok, well, the first time was, obviously, really soon after we met, right?  Was it like, a one night stand?”
        “No.”  He responded immediately and unequivocally.
        “Were we a couple by then? Already?”
        “No,” he said less surely.
        “Throw me something here, Porter.  You are very handsome and terribly charming, but I am still trying to wrap my mind around how I came to sleep with you thirty-six hours after I met you.”  Porter took a pause to formulate the best response he could come up with.
        “I’m not going to downplay the highly unusual circumstances that brought you and me together.  You were a broken-hearted beauty who needed someone to help you that night.  And I might have stepped into some sort of hero role, unintentionally.  I can’t miscount the beach and the effect being somewhere as romantic as the ocean can have on two people.  So, yes, we were both acting, perhaps, a little out of character, being influenced by the situation we found ourselves in.  But the fire with which we consumed each other was neither pretend, nor was it the product of our surrounding circumstances.  We wanted each other.  No, we needed each other that night.”
        Porter was looking at the water, so he couldn’t see the look on her face as he said those words, but he heard her sharp and ragged intake of breath.
        “Porter,” she whispered.  He looked over at her.  “How can you say those words to me?  How can you think those thoughts, and tell me these words, and be so far away.”
        “I’m right here, Ella.  I’m never far away.”  What happened next should have been in slow motion and nearly felt like it was.  Ella leaned towards him, turning slightly so that she was facing him, and with her hand wrapped around the back of his neck she pulled his