What kind of friend would you be then?
A normal one.
Jack chuckled.He loved her witty, quick humor.None of my other friends ditch me.Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?
It’s nothing dangerous, is it?
Not the question he’d thought would come from her.No, I would never put you in harm’s way, and that’s all I’m willing to say about it.
Alright, I’ll go, but I want to state for the record I’m doing it under duress.
Noted.
Jack set down his phone on the couch next to him, feeling a smile pull on his lips.He couldn’t wait for Saturday and to show Andrea his surprise.She was apprehensive now, but she was going to love it.
Chapter 19
“Where are we?”Andrea asked for what felt like the hundredth time.The man was being sneaky and evasive.All he’d told her so far was that it wasn’t dangerous.Just so it didn’t ruin the surprise, he’d made her wear a blindfold.She bet that it looked suspicious as they drove down the street.
“It’s a surprise.”Jack chuckled evilly.If she could see him, she would hit him for stressing her out.He could be leading her to a swamp full of gators for all she knew, though that was doubtful.Michael didn’t seem like the type to wine and dine ‘em to kill ‘em.
Still, it was scary driving around town with a blindfold on and having no clue where they were going.She’d been nervous the rest of the week about where he would take her, and he’d always avoided the question when she’d brought it up.Finally, she just had to accept he wasn’t going to tell her.She was just going to have to either trust him or cancel.
“Michael, you know I don’t like surprises.”
“You’ll like this one.I promise,” he said confidently.Michael didn’t know her well enough yet to boast about something like that.Should she pretend to hate it or admit it if she didn’t like it?
“Doubtful,” she mumbled, but she couldn’t suppress the bubble of excitement as the car came to a stop and the engine was turned off.“Can I lose the blindfold now?”
“No, not yet.”Michael took her hand and guided her out of the car and forward.Andrea gripped his hand tightly and slid another around his waist even though the ground was even under her feet.It was just the fear of tripping over something she couldn’t see; that was the reason she told herself she held on so tightly.
With one sense paralyzed, she noticed her others picking up like her hearing.Her ears strained to listen for any sign of where they were.She couldn’t hear the ocean, so they weren’t close enough to the shore.She didn’t even hear much traffic.
“Watch your step.Two steps in front of you there is a lift,” Michael warned her.Her gait slowed, and she pushed her foot forward instead of stepping so she could find the lift he’d warned her of.
Andrea navigated over the lift which was felt more like a speed bump.After that, the ground seemed to shift from flat and even like a sidewalk to dirt feeling.The smell around her changed too.It was more earthy and pungent.
“Almost there.”
“How do I know you’re not leading me out to the swamp to dump my corpse to the alligators?”
“For one, if it’s your corpse, you’d already be dead, and two, you have a vivid imagination and still a very poor impression of me.”
“Well, it smells like a swamp.”
“No, it doesn’t.It smells like flowers.Alright, stand here.”He guided her to a spot then released her.She instantly missed his heat though she wasn’t cold, but she felt alone.“And take off the blindfold.”
Finally.Andrea pulled it off her head, her eyes taking a moment to adjust the light as she gasped.She wasn’t in a swamp at all but surrounded by an atrium of flowers.There were flowers of every kind and size.Most she couldn’t even name.Not only that, there were hundreds of butterflies fluttering around her.A pale yellow one landed on her arm followed by another which had turquoise-colored wings rimmed with black and another landed that was green and black.She had never seen so many variations of colors on butterflies.Andrea chuckled and waved her arm up and down, the butterflies clinging to her.
“This is incredible,” she stated in awe.Her eyes travelled around her trying to drink in everything.
Michael beamed at her.“See, I told you it would be a good surprise.”
“Do you always have to be right?”she mused with an arched eyebrow, but there was no heat behind her words.How could she be cross when he’d taken her to such an incredible place?
“No, but I knew I would be in this case.”
“I can’t believe a place like this exists.”Andrea had never heard of such a place.She knew atriums existed but not for sustaining life other than plants.
