For you, Lucy. (On Hold)

Chapter 6. The First Item.

Robbie looked back at the sleeping figure. Why did she keep reminding him of Lucy?
Was she...?
No, she couldn't be.
He pushed the thought away and focused on the road. He wished Lucy were beside him, holding his hand as he drove. Ever since he stepped out of the house with the intention of completing her bucket list, he'd felt lonelier than before. So much, that his heart ached. Doing this, did seem to bring Lucy closer but, was that a good thing? He'd taken so long to get over the fact that she was gone forever. Not coming back to him smiling her beautiful smile, laughing as he told her stories of work and comforting him when he was sad or anxious. He looked over at Lucy's picture.

The sea ran towards them and washed their feet as they walked along the shore. They walked in silence, listening to the waves crashing onto the bay. The sun shone on Lucy and made her dark hair, shine like a dark shade of gold. Her eyes shone as she looked at him.
"Don't you want to collect seashells for your memory box?" Robbie asked her, teasingly.
"Oh, no. You can find seashells on every beach. I'd like something that reminds me of this one in particular!" she replied and Robbie smiled inwardly at his childlike yet mature and observant wife.
She suddenly gave an exclamation.
"Look!" she cried and ran over, kneeling down on the soft, golden sand.
She gently dug the sand till she pulled out a bottle cap, silver and shining.
"Really Lucy?" Robbie laughed as she put the cap into her pocket and walked back, with that heart stopping smile. Robbie put his camera to his eye and clicked a picture just as she looked into the lens.
"Good picture, eh?" he asked and she smiled.

"Good picture, eh?" he asked and that very smile, stared back at him from the passenger seat of his old Toyota.
                              ~~~

"We're here!!" came Janis's voice from the back seat and Robbie chuckled, pulling the car into a halt. Not a millisecond later, Janis jumped out and stared in wonder at the new surroundings.

Golden, brown and grey stone met the eye from every side. But the most eye catching of all was the bright blue and orange board saying: WELCOME TO THE GRAND RIVER GORGE! HOPE YOU HAVE A "GRAND" TIME!

Janis ran over to the edge which was outlined by a firm railing, and leaned as far as she could.
"Watch out, kid!" yelled Robbie and she laughed back.
"I'll be fine! But you gotta look at this!"
Robbie walked over and looked down. A blue green river snaked around, between the two huge cliffs about 400 feet below them.
"That is pretty grand." he said and Janis shook her head at him.
"So cheesy, Robbie Albert." she said. "But it is pretty grand." she added.

They rid the trunk of the camping supplies and then followed the arrows to the campsite. They sighed in relief to find it empty except for one tent.
"Hey there!" said a voice and they turned around to see a woman, probably in her late thirties or early forties. She had fair hair, crinkled eyes, a face full of freckles and tanned skin, all of which showed that she had lived a lot of her life in the sun.
"Hi!" replied Janis and shook her outstretched hand.
"I'm Sandra Butcher." she said smiling. Which made her eyes crinkle up even more.
"Janis. And this is Robbie Albert." replied Janis.
"Oh! Is it a grandfather-grandaughter camping trip?" she asked and Robbie Albert was about to shake his head when Janis nodded her head.
"Yes! And finally, I might add." she said and Robbie stared at her strangely.
"That's lovely. Well I'll leave you to it then. How about dinner together? Around the campfire?" relied Sandra and Janis smiled.
"That'd be awesome." she said.
Sandra gave them a thumbs up and went back to her tent.
"Grandfather-grandaughter camping trip?" asked Robbie once Sandra was out of sight.
"Well do you think saying 'Ha! No, I was running away and he was going on a road trip so I joined him!' would have worked better?" she said.
"Well, well saying that definitely would have been stupid! But-" he said but Janis cut him off and took his arm.
"Oh the job's done! Come on now, we've got a tent to pitch...Grandpa." she said and Robbie shook his head in mock disdain, making Janis laugh.

Two hours and seven "Let's ask Sandra" moments later their tent stood perfectly. Robbie slumped to the ground, relieved and Janis stared in pride at her first tent.
"Oh, you're finally done, are you?" came Sandra's voice as she walked up to them.
Janis laughed.
"Yeah. We couldn't have done it without your help." said Robbie, smiling thankfully at Sandra.
She smiled back at both of them.
                                ~~~ 

"Oh my God! This is so good! What is this, Sandra?" asked Janis through a mouthful of something she just tasted.
"Um...burnt corn?" Sandra replied, half laughing.
"Oh..."
Robbie laughed along with Sandra. He felt really good about his decision to complete the bucket list. He'd never felt this happy in days. Sure, he'd had friends at work and had attended random parties thrown by his colleagues but, that hadn't made him as happy as sitting in front of a campfire with a girl he had begun to think of as family and an hiker he'd juts met, underneath millions of stars, eating food roasted over the fire, doing something he'd never thought he'd do. He smiled as these thoughts floated around in his head. He got up and walked over to his tent. Reaching into his bag, he took out his diary...

Dear Lucy,

We reached the Grand River Gorge today. Lucy, it's so beautiful! I wish you could see it. You probably can, from up there in the sky, along with those beautiful stars. I picked up a runaway teenager too (not planned) and her name's Janis. She reminds me a lot of you and I don't even know why. Just little things here and there that make me feel that it's not her, but you standing in front of me. We also met a hiker. Sandra Butcher is her name. It seems to be a blessing that we met her. We wouldn't have been able to set up our tent otherwise. Yes, I'm an old man with arthritis and a hazy memory of how to pitch tents.

By the way, we're going to tick the first item off your list :)

Forever yours,
Robbie.

He smiled and put his diary back into his bag.
                                ~~~

"Where'd you get that camera?" asked Janis is wonder as she stared at the old fashioned device Robbie had handed her.
"Took it out of the attic before I started this journey. Works as good as new!" he said patting the camera he'd used to take so many pictures in the past.
"Okay Grandpa. Now go and stand near the railing so I can take your picture." said Janis but Robbie motioned for her to wait. He walked into the tent and brought out Lucy's picture frame before standing near the railing.
"Okay. I'm ready." he said holding the picture lovingly.
Janis smiled at the old man.
"Say cheese!" she said brightly and Robbie smiled widely.
Taking the picture, Janis felt her eyes grow misty. He loved her so much, it was so beautiful and sad. She wished it was Lucy and not her going on this trip with Robbie.
The camera whirred and a picture came out of the slot at the bottom.
"It's all black!" she said in dismay and Robbie chuckled as he took the picture from her and shook it in the air.
The picture formed and Janis stared at it in wonder.
"You make a lovely couple." she said making Robbie smile.

Watching from a distance, Sandra couldn't understand why Robbie was holding a picture of a woman and why Janis seemed so emotional. She dismissed the thought from her mind. After all, she had seen much stranger people during her adventures.

Thank you so much for reading the 6th chapter of my book! Please, please, PLEEEASE vote and comment if you liked it!
New chapter every Friday!