Page 45

“Definitely a hard pass on RV camping. I’m going to open your eyes, love, to the joys of hiking, tent camping, and the great outdoors.”
“Sounds like fun, but go easy on me.”
“I thought you liked it hard and fast?” I can’t help but smirk.
“Oh, I definitely love hard and fast, and when you pull my hair…” She closes her eyes and squirms in the seat. “Mmm, that’s delish.”
“Noted. What else do you like?”
“Are we were talking about sex or hiking?”
“Sex.” I hurriedly regroup. “I need to know if I should break out the blindfold and the cuffs?”
“Do you have blindfolds and cuffs?”
“I do if that’s what you like.”
“Let’s leave that on the maybe table for now and just focus on getting through the hike.”
“Gotcha, love.” I reach over and take her hand in mine. “Just to say it out loud, I will never push you to do something you don’t want to do. I may tease and suggest. After all, sex is the playground of adults, but I’ll never do something you’re not comfortable with.”
“Playground?”
“Yeah, it’s the one place we get to shed what’s proper and right. We get to play. Have fun. Feel good. We can live out our fantasies, the light ones and the dark ones. The silly ones. We can explore darker themes, forbidden things, or keep things casual. It’s the one place we can lower our defenses and just have fun.”
“You have a really cool way of looking at sex.”
“I figure if sex was solely for reproduction, it wouldn’t feel as good as it does. We’re meant to enjoy it and I say jump right in and have fun. None of this dipping your toes in the water. Just be free. Like what you like. Ignore the stuff you don’t.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more.” She turns away and glances at the passing scenery.
By now, we’re out of the city heading toward Redwood National Park, right off PCH-1. We spend the next few minutes in silence, then chat about nothing in particular until I pull off the highway at the trailhead.
“This is where we’re hiking?” Barbi’s eyes grow wide with excitement.
“You like?”
“It’s so cool.” She closes her eyes and inhales deeply. “The smell of the redwoods is…” Her eyes open. “It’s magical.”
“Glad you like it. The hike is pretty cool as well.”
“Well, let’s get to it.”
Each time I hike beneath the giant redwoods, I’m in awe of the sheer size and beauty of the towering pines. There’s a simplicity and peace beneath the redwoods. A sense of majesty that makes me feel small, insignificant, and yet a part of something greater than myself.
I take Barbi’s hand in mine as we begin our hike, loving the way she takes everything in.
It’s a beautiful day, peaceful, and we’re immediately enveloped by the forest. Beneath the redwoods, lush and verdant ferns decorate the forest floor. The air is thick with the earthy scents of damp soil, freshly fallen pine needles, and the unmistakable aroma of the towering trees.
Those pine needles form a soft and spongy carpet beneath our feet, interwoven with moss and other fallen leaves of the deciduous trees that thrive beneath the shade of the giants far overhead.
“It’s so—quiet.” Barbi can’t seem to pick what she wants to look at.
Her head’s on a swivel, looking left, right, up, and down. I’m afraid she’s going to trip because she’s too busy taking things in than watching where she steps.
The quiet of the forest is broken only by the occasional crunch of a twig beneath our feet and the faint rustling of leaves by the wind whistling through the branches far overhead.
There’s a hushed silence all around us, creating the sensation of peaceful solitude that makes me believe in a greater power.