Until I Met You

bonus chapter 1: geocaching with warren ashford pt. I

Nova

"Dickson Falls again?" I ask, frowning as I step out of Warren's truck and onto the gravel.

"Yeah," Warren shrugs from the driver's seat. "Remember how we found most of the geocaches last time we were here? Well, last night, at the hotel, I was searching to see what parks would be best to scope out and I saw there were like four or five new ones that have been planted. There's also one we didn't find. I figured we'd find them and then head to a different park." He pauses and looks at me across the console. "Unless you want to do something else?"

I contemplate what he's proposed. Warren's still somewhat new to this geocaching concept – I don't think he understands that some people sometimes remove their geocaches due to problems with the coordinates or sometimes nature itself is responsible for never being able to find it. As for the new ones, there have been situations where people have simply updated the coordinates or contents and caused the app to mark it as a newly placed geocache. But if it means being able to spend more time with him, then so be it.

Julia and East would call me crazy for wanting to spend more time with Warren after the long drive from Vancouver. Instead of flying, this time we decided it would be a great experience to drive across Canada to get to Halifax. From the beginning, it was his idea to do so. I, for the record, thought he was insane. Until he pointed out that we could stop in Alberta and see my family before we go to see his. He also made an impressive argument about the amount of geocaching we could do at different parks, and about how many different types of food we could try.

I eventually caved.

"Okay," I smile, gathering my backpack from the backseat. "Then let's do this."

Warren grins at me, and then gets out of the driver's seat. "Awesome," he says. "Just gimme a sec to change my shoes and we'll be good to go."

I'm leaning against the tailgate when he finally comes bounding around, water bottle in hand and backpack ready to go. I tried to convince him that sharing a backpack would be a better way to carry things, but he disagreed and insisted that he carry the geocaching stuff (useless trinkets we bought from the dollar store, extra pieces of log paper, pens and pencils, and a solar charger for our phones in case they end up dying because of the app) and I carry the food (sandwiches and lemonades we bought from the nearest market).

"Damn, baby," he grins, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me in for a kiss. "You look hot in those sunglasses."

"I'm glad you think so," I joke, nudging him in the ribs. "Now let's get going before it gets too hot to move."

He laughs at my comment. "Better than freezing my ass off like I did back in December. I swear to God, Novs, I am never evergoing back to Alberta during the winter."

I smile as I think about how we spent his birthday and Christmas. I had been a little scared that our families would end up disliking each other, but things turned out better than I expected. Mom and Karen talk to each other on a regular basis, sometimes dragging me into their calls and asking when the wedding is. I always think they're joking when they ask me that, but Hazel reminds me every time I mention the awkward conversations to her that both our moms are cheering for Warren and I. And then I end up averting the conversation to her daughter, Cassie Grace Williams, and how she's doing.

Warren and I still haven't met Hazel and Greyson's daughter yet, and university is the reason behind all the delays. Especially Warren's volleyball team. They made it to provincials this year and won the championship title. There was a lot of travelling involved, along with me helping him keep up with homework for exams. It was a stressful period of time for both of us, but we managed.