The Girl With Five Watches

33: The Hike

The family reunion had gone better than I expected. Everyone seemed to love Sara. My parents were obsessed with her. During that afternoon in the living room, my mom began showing Sara embarrassing pictures of me from the photo album. Several other family members were gathered to take a look at this picture party. Was my mom out to get me?

"Oh, look at this. Jimmy and Emily took a bath together." Everyone including Sara awed at that embarrassing moment. All I could do was put my palm over my forehead and went back outside. This was too much for me.

Things came to an end that evening with some beginning to leave while others began crashing in different parts of the house. Sara and my mom found themselves doing a little shopping trip while I ended up in my room laying in bed. About to fall asleep, there was a knock at my door and my grandma entered the room without warning and sat on my bed forcing me to sit up.

"Sara's a nice girl," she began. "You really are blessed, Jimmy. You know that?"

"Thanks, grandma. Glad you like her."

Her eyes quickly wandered to the rings on my finger. "Still got those rings I see. Your grandpa loved that ring. He literally saved all that he had to buy our two rings. He lasted a decade in debt." Her thumb began touching the ring that laid on my finger and grew lost in the moment. Once the moment was over she stood up. "How about we go on a little hike?"

...

I don't know why I agreed to the hike when I trying to get sleep, but sure enough, my body got out of bed and my clothes came on. Grandma had the water bottles ready. About an hour later, we landed ourselves on the hike. She moved quickly for someone her age. Within a matter of time, I stopped. The river was right in front of me. Only this time, there didn't seem to be much water. Erosion seemed to play its part in killing much of the water.

"This is where I died," spoke Emily in my head. "The river was heavier and was able to kill me. It could've killed you."

"Mom, we lost Emily! I cried to my mom that morning She's in the river!" The waterworks on my face were untamable. "I'm sorry. It's my fault. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"Jimmy!" shouted my grandma. "Earth to Jimmy!" My head came back to reality. "You OK there boy?"

With my vision still on the river, I answered. "Yeah, I'm fine I think. Completely fine."

Her vision was also on the river. "Yup, there's that river." She grabbed my hand and started walking. "We better keep going. No sense of reminiscing at this river. Only hurts the poor soul."

And we kept on hiking. About another hour later, we reached the top. The place where my grandpa wanted to take us. After all this time we had finally made it. Never would I ever had guessed that I would experience this moment. The only thing that would make this moment better would be if Emily were here, but I had a feeling that she was. The view was amazing. The eye could see an entire town from the top of the mountain.

"This is where I met your grandpa," began my grandma. "I was with a church group hike..."

"Are you guys seriously taking another break?" my young grandma asked. "At this point, we are never going to reach the top with all these breaks."

"Lilian," spoke the youth pastor. "Why don't you keep going? We'll catch up with you. And please. don't forget to drink enough water."

With all the energy that Lilian had, her foot found itself stuck in the muddy river. With the fast flow of the water, she grew nervous and regretted not staying with the group. Would this be the end for her? She took a moment to pray, hoping to get her foot out of the river. Seconds later, her foot was out. Someone had helped her. A nice young man pulled it out.

"Be careful next time," the young man instructed.

He had such a charming spark in his eyes. Lillian couldn't look away, but she didn't have much of a choice once he walked away and continued his journey to the top. This young man was faster than she could ever dream. In her heart, she wanted nothing more to keep up with him. With all effort, she hustled her way to the top. The young man was still there sitting on a rock looking at the view until he noticed that Lillian had made it.

"Hello there," he smiled. "Trying to keep up?"

It was impossible to answer with such a golden spark in his eyes. There was no way she could look away. The young man did most of the talking. He gave her the chance to share a few words, but it seemed like she couldn't remember any of her words. How did she ever learn to talk? Things came to an end once the hiking group reached the top. And immediately, the group was ready to hike down. They were completely out of shape. Lillian realized she had to take initiative and provided this young man with her phone number. He promised to call and take her on a date soon. It was unclear where this date would be. Upon leaving the top, she someone knew she was in love."

"I loved him so much," my grandma claimed, looking at the view of the town. "On our first date, we came back here and spent the night here looking at the stars and the moon." She turned to face me and took off her ring only to hand it to me. "Sara deserves this ring." She took a deep breath. "Do not marry her without giving her this ring. Can you promise me you'll do that?"

Did she seriously give me her ring? Did she love Sara that much? Without hesitation and a little concern, I agreed to give Sara the ring.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to comment, vote, and share!

Do you like Jimmy's family?

Thoughts on Jimmy coming across the river again?

Will Jimmy propose to Sara? Should he?