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KIM BALDWIN. It took a few moments for their eyes to readjust and regain some night vision
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It took a few moments for their eyes to readjust and regain some night vision. Gable rubbed the back of her neck, which was beginning to ache from looking up. “We’re going to feel this tomorrow.”
“You know, we’re still close to the beach. Want to go watch from there?” Erin asked. “I have a tarp in the back of the truck we can lie on.”
“Sure,” Gable answered, and they found a deserted stretch of public beach not far away and unrolled Erin’s small tarp near the water.
It was just big enough for both of them, lying shoulder to shoulder.
The sky above was a dazzling display of color, changing from moment to moment. A curtain of green, then a large whorl of yellow, then streaks of pink and red. In the distance, a chorus of crickets lent a resonant counterpoint to the gentle constant lapping of the surf against the shore near where they lay. With Erin pressed up against her side, Gable could hardly imagine a more perfect moment.
“Have you ever seen anything this beautiful?” Erin asked, her voice soft and full of wonder.
“Never,” Gable answered in an equally hushed tone. “I’ve seen the northern lights before, but it was never like this.”
“Sure makes you feel kind of small.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Gets you thinking about things like, what’s our place in all this?”
As if in punctuation to her statement, a shooting star f ashed across the sky, and they both gasped.
They watched in silence for another few minutes as the vibrant spectacle continued unabated.
“Gable, do you believe that there’s one person that we’re supposed to be with? Or do you think there’s lots of people out there who could make us happy?”
It took Gable a long moment to answer. “I’ve always kind of believed in the soulmate thing,” she admitted. “One special person for each of us. But I always expected that when it happens, it would hit you between the eyes, and you’d recognize it immediately. You know?
Bam!” She took a deep breath and let it out. “But maybe it’s not like that at all. Maybe it takes a while sometimes to know it. And I wonder whether you can miss it when it happens, if it doesn’t happen just exactly like you always imagined it would.”
• 152 •
FORCE OF NATURE
“So you think it does always happen…I mean, that you will eventually meet that right person…but you just don’t always recognize it?” Erin asked.
“Something like that, yes. Maybe they won’t look at all like you thought they would. Maybe they can’t fulF ll every single one of your expectations. But that doesn’t mean they can’t make you happier than you ever imagined.”
There was a very long silence between them then, and Gable wondered whether she’d said too much, given too much away. But there was something about the magic of that moment under the stars that told her to speak from her heart.
The northern lights began to fade, and in a few moments there was only a mere hint of what had been—a thin transparent veil of green, near the horizon.
“It’s very late, and I know you have to work tomorrow,” Erin said, sitting up. “But I’m very glad we stopped and got to share this.”
Gable got to her feet. “Me too.”
Erin extended her hand in a silent plea for help getting up, and Gable happily complied. Once she was pulled to her feet, she hugged Gable around the waist. “Thanks for a wonderful day.”
“It sure was. Thank you for suggesting it.”
They gathered up the tarp and headed back to the truck, walking close together, saying nothing. They were mostly silent on the way home too, but it was a companionable quiet, neither strained nor awkward. More the result of their sharing such an awesome and rare celestial display.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow night, then?” Erin asked as she pulled up in front of Gable’s at half past eleven.
“I’ll be there. Can I bring anything?” Gable offered, turning toward her.
“Just yourself.” Erin paused. “Gable, I…I…” She opened her mouth, then quickly shut it again.
Gable waited, one hand on the door handle, but Erin gave an embarrassed laugh and shrugged. “Never mind. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“You sure?” It sure looked as though she wanted to say something else, and Gable’s curiosity was piqued.
• 153 •
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