We drove about two hours, down through Fort Worth, and south from there. When we arrived in Glen Rose, she was confused. The fact that I had asked her to bring her portable art supplies was even more confusing to her. When I drove up to the road that had Dinosaur world on it, she got a little excited but then disappointed when I drove past it and the State park entrances.
When I pulled into the area for the Skybox cabins, she was utterly confused. I told her to wait for me in the car as I went and talked to the owners and got the keys. It was a cabin Lance had originally rented, but him and Lirael both agreed to give it to us before I left their place last night. They had kept me there for two more hours, making sure I was in my right mind before I went back home to her.
They felt we needed to get away for a day and get away from all the stressful triggers back at home. I couldn't help but agree, really.
The crisp early spring air was still inviting for campfires at night, but was nice during the day for the state park that we passed on the way there to walk around and hike. After putting our bags in the cabin and taking a look around, I unpack the ice chest into the small mini fridge in the cabin.
"Well, shall we go to the state park and take your art supplies?" I suggest, grabbing my small hiking bag that had a blanket for sitting on, some waters and snacks for us.
"Sure." Sarina smiles as she puts her bag together, with more waters, her sketchbook, pencils, and other art supplies. Once we're ready, we drive the short distance to the park, park and grab a hiking trail map, we were stopped by one of the park rangers.
"What's that right there?" The man asked, pointing to the portable easel that Sarina has.
"It's a portable easel and blank canvas sir."
"We better not find any paint on any thing in the park." He gives us a pointed look.
Sarina laughs, "Of course not sir." She pulls out a business card from her pocket, "I own an art gallery, I plan on getting some inspiration from one of our hikes."
He takes the card and looks it over, "Alright, don't use the stream to wash your brushes or dump anything inside the park."
"Of course sir. Could you tell me which trails would have some interesting sites to use?"
After being told of the trails that would most likely work out best for us, so we wouldn't have a bunch of others walking in front of our views, we take off on our hike, having to be careful as we rock hopped across a section of the river. There were a few spots that we took pictures of, one or two that she started a quick sketch and then took a picture after a few minutes.
She finally found a spot that she wanted to paint, a wooden lodge on stilts that lay across the river from where we were. I lay back watching her paint, putting together a little lunch of fruit, lunch meat, cheese and crackers for us on my camping plate. I offered her bites of food as she painted, her concentration on getting the colors right on the canvas for the background. She took several pictures, but mainly relied on the lighting and colors she saw at the moment of her painting it.
It was intriguing to see her work like this, so focus, so sure of her self as she mixed colors, pulling the paint in different ways with different brushes. She was no doubt, an artist, and knew her craft when it came to recreating a scene. I saw it come to life on the canvas and even though I know she's talented, she never fails to awe me.
She stops after rinsing out her brushes, joining me on the blanket I set up. She drinks some water and leans against me. "Have you been just watching me the whole time?"
"No, I made us snacks and checked out the nature around us too." I smirk at her.
She scoffs and rolls her eyes up at the sky, "I don't understand...." she mutters under her breath.
"Don't understand what?" I ask her, seeing the smile spread across her lips.
She lowers her eyes back to me, "Why I'm such an idiot sometimes. How I could be so lucky to have someone like you. Why I let stupid things go through my head and make me forget the truth. How it takes ..." she closes her eyes and takes a breath, "takes something like last night, for me to realize, I don't show you often enough, how much I appreciate and adore you. I really don't deserve you." She smiles at me, but it's a guilty smile.
"No, you do deserve me. You just need to let our relationship, be OUR relationship. Stop carrying around the past ones into this one. It's one thing to learn from past mistakes, it's another to make someone else pay for them."
She sighs, looking around, "I know. It's hard when I'm scared though. It always seems when nothing can go wrong, everything does. I feel like this is just the calm before the storm and I'm needing to prep for the flood..." She lets out a shaky breath.
I rub her arm with the palm of my hand, "You forget though, I'm willing to weather the storm with you, not be the force that overwhelms you."
She blushes, her eyes watering as a meek, "Thank you." escapes her. She leans over and kisses me, holding my cheeks in her hands.
We lay there for a little while, letting the paint on her canvas dry before packing our stuff up and head back to go to the cabin. Sarina points out the Dinosaur World place and so we pull in to check it out. It seems like a tourist trap, but as we pay and walk into the back area, we find it's more informational than it appeared at first.
It had animatronics in one area and a hiking trail with giant statues of different dinosaurs with plaques explaining about the dinosaur displayed. We took a bunch of pictures and she got all excited seeing her favorite dinosaur on display.
"A Parasaurop... Parasaurolopdicus...." I try to pronounce the name, making her giggle at me.
"Parasaurolophus.... or you know ducky, from the land before time." She giggles.
We leave through the gift shop, after she stops and purchases a shirt and some dinosaur bones.
"I never realized you like dinosaurs." I mention to her.
"I like them enough, I guess it's a childhood nostalgia thing for me." She shrugs as we leave.
My phone starts going off as we approach the car. I pull it out and see it's David.
"It's your brother." I let Sarina know, right before I answer it.
"Hey, brother. What's up?" I ask.
"TWINS!" He shouts through the phone, making me pull the receiver away from my ear. "SHE'S HAVING TWINS!" His happy laughter follows through the phone, while me and Sarina look at each other wide eyed. "I'VE GOT TO MAKE SOME MORE PHONE CALLS, LATER BROTHER!"
The call ends and we both just start laughing. "I'm glad he's excited about it." I get out as we drive down the road to the exit.
Twins? I don't even think Lance was as excited when Lirael told him she was pregnant. Of course I wasn't present for that either.
Sarina is laughing, quietly to herself.
"What's so funny?" I ask her.
She blushes and turns her face away from me. "Oh... nothing."
"Doesn't seem like nothing." I ask her as we pull into the cabin space.
"Just laughing at reactions is all." She says, getting out and making her way to the cabin.
I grin, following behind her and shutting the door. "Reactions? That was A reaction. Who's reaction are you thinking about?" I ask genuinely curious, "Do you think Alyssa is thrilled too?"
Sarina scoffs, "Duh. Amanda is probably already having kittens over it though.." She chuckles shaking her head, "Her mother is probably going to be trying to hook her up with some guy again."
I shake my head, "I would hope not, I gave her good advice for free. It would be a shame if she wasted it."
Sarina snorted, "Advice?" She pauses, shakes her head then nods, "Okay, I agree after all, brutal honesty can be good advice."
I wrap my arms around her waist, "See. David is doing donuts in his chair probably right now."
Sarina smirks, "You'd probably be doing the same if you were him." She stares off into the distance and blushes, her smile widening and her eyes start to sparkle with a different light.
She's thinking of what my reaction would be if she told me she was pregnant. The thought was beautiful, thinking of her glowing like Lirael was when she found out. Imagining Sarina with a baby bump... would be .... ethereal.
She looks back to me and meets my heated gaze but can't hold it as her color turns crimson and she ducks her head into her shoulders.
"What?" She finally inquires when I don't say anything.
I shake my head, "You're just going to have to wait and see for yourself that reaction from me."
She smiles, "I think it will be worth the wait." She leans forward and kisses me softly.
Our noses bumping as we slowly start to delve deeper with our kisses, my hand coming up to cup her cheeks and hold her as I take her breath away.
"I believe it's time for your punishment." I state, making her whimper in disappointment.