"Wow, that's...kind of poetic." What a depth of love that must have existed between them. "Few people get to experience that kind of love."
He nodded, a sad smile playing on his lips. "Yeah, they had something special. There's a lot about their story, about me, that's tied to how they passed. I'll tell you all of it someday, I promise."
I could feel the pain behind his words, the history he carried with him. We sat there, two souls touched by loss, silently sharing the beauty of the sunset before us. I was dying to know, now that he'd brought it up, but I'd let him tell me in his time. It made me a little giddy that he thought we'd be in whatever this was long enough for him to open up to me.
Ashton turned the conversation toward me, his gaze gentle and inquiring. "What about your parents?" he asked softly, breaking the brief silence that had settled around us.
"Car wreck," I said. "I was in college. It was storming, they were on their way home... a drunk driver took them out." The details spilled out of me in a measured cadence, each one a practiced fact devoid of the emotion they once carried. "The good news is the drunk driver died too."
I paused, contemplating the next part, feeling the weight of it as always. "Dad hung on for a couple of days, but honestly, once he knew mom was gone... I think his broken heart wouldn't let him live. So, in a way, that happened to both of us."
Ashton found my hand across the picnic blanket and squeezed. There was an understanding in his eyes that only those who've tasted loss could offer.
Looking out at the dusky skyline, I shifted the topic away from death. "What about you? Your past relationships?"
He hesitated, then chuckled lightly. "I've had several kind-of long-term relationships, but none of them really stuck. It just never felt exactly right." His shoulders lifted in a small shrug as he picked up a cookie, turning it over in his hands before taking a bite.
"I've only ever had one long-term boyfriend. Honestly, he was kind of boring." My laughter faded into a smirk. "Very blah."
Internally, I rolled my eyes at the memory, thinking back to how the sex was so mediocre I had never hadan orgasm that I didn't give myself. That thought stayed locked away inside my head, where it belonged.
"Blah?" Ashton said, a playful note in his voice. "I can't imagine anything about you being blah."
"Trust me," I said with a wink, taking another sip of wine. "It's possible."
Ashton's gaze lingered on me, his eyes softening with the kind of curiosity that invited confessions. "So," he said tentatively, breaking the silence that had settled between us, "what are your dreams? What do you really want out of life?"
I hesitated, my fingers tracing the rim of my wine glass before answering. "You know, for the longest time, I didn't have a big dream. In college, I was the girl who changed her major like it was a hobby. Then my parents died." The words still caught in my throat, no matter how often they were spoken. "I just couldn't bring myself to go back to school. So, I sold their house, moved into an apartment in the city, and started working."
"Working?" Ashton said gently.
"Yeah, at this hotel downtown. I worked my way up from the bottom. I had just made manager, actually, when everything with the mob went down, and I ran for my life." A bitter chuckle escaped me as I took in the irony. "Buying the inn wasn't planned. It justhappened. I used the money my folks left me, and now, here I am."
Ashton nodded thoughtfully, his attention never wavering from my face. "What about now? Do you have a dream now?"
A shy smile crept across my lips. "Family," I whispered. "My parents were only children, and so am I. Sometimes I think about distant cousins out there that I've never met. What I really want is a big family. I'm already thirty-two, so I feel like I'm running out of time for that. Three or four kids would be amazing." I glanced away, feeling suddenly vulnerable. "I guess I have this secret hope that my husband will have a large family. One that'll welcome me as one of their own."
For a moment, Ashton just stared at me, his expression unreadable. Then, slowly, a strange look crossed his face. "I'm sure it'll happen for you." Something in his tone made me believe him.
"Really?" I cocked my head at him.
"Really." He cocked his head back at me.
We sat there, silent, just looking at the mountains stretching out before us. The sky was turning a soft shade of pink as the sun dipped behind the peaks.
I turned back to him, that strange look still lingering on his face. "Why do you look at me like that?" I asked, unable to keep the curiosity from my voice.
Ashton shook his head, as if clearing it of thoughts. "No reason," he said, but his smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "It's just... nice to hear you talk about the future. About family."
"Family is important to you too, isn't it?" I asked, remembering the reverence with which he spoke of his own.
"More than anything," he said, his gaze drifting off to the horizon.
"Then maybe..." I said, but the words tangled up on my tongue. Maybe what? That we could be family? It was too soon, too much, yet the thought lingered, an extremely attractive prospect.
"Yeah, maybe." He squeezed my hand again.
The thought of a family with Ashton was ridiculous. I sat back as if cold water had been splashed on me. Here I was, on the side of a mountain with a man I barely knew, thinking about making him my family. What had gotten into me?
