Shell Mound

The afternoon sun was high in the sky and the concentrated ray beating down on my thigh through the passenger window was becoming uncomfortably warm despite the best effort of the car's air conditioning. I rubbed the spot with my hand, but it does nothing to aleviate the sting. A state park sign reading "Shell Mound" with an arrow pointing west whizzed by. Eyes wide, my head snapped to the side to see if Sarah saw it. Sensing that my alarm for weird and stupid stuff had been activated, she laughed to herself. Without even looking in my direction she veered west and nodded. "Oh, we have to see what the hell that is." 

"Right?!" 

Passing houses on stilts and acres and acres of farm land, we finally see proof that we didn't imagine the sign. She looks at me in a series of short glances, the way someone does when they're trying to drive and make eye contact at the same time. "Shell Mound, 12 miles. What do you think? We've come this far." 

"Keep going. Hey, did you send me that selfie you took this morning before we left?" 

"Yeah. I texted it to you."

I check to see if my phone has a signal and open the picture. "Holy filter, Sarah! Can I have the unedited version?"

"I just tweaked it a little." She sounds defensive but I can see the tightness in her jaw and I know shes trying not to smile. 

"A little. Yes. I see that. Your skin wasn't that smooth 10 years ago."

"Come on, Heather. It's not that bad. The lighting made me look like an old sea hag, but you looked so happy and it made me smile so I wanted to keep it, so I was just trying to, you know...even things out a little." She's only 7 years older, but it's enough time for her to reach milestones before me. The first to see lines on her face, the first to notice a gray hair here and there, and most recently, the first hot flash. She's self conscious about it, but there's no reason to be; she only gets more beautiful with the passage of time. More sophisticated, more elegant, experience tempering that youthful passion with wisdom and patience. She has the kind of beauty you have to earn with years.

"No, it's not obvious at all. Sometimes one person in a photo is just blurry for no reason. It's like red eye. It just happens. " By now both of us are giggling. 

She narrowed her eyes, feigning outrage. "Why dont you shut your whore mouth?" 

"That's not what you said this morning."

"Really? That's where you want to take it?" God, her smile is beautiful. I love the way little faint crows feet soften her stunning eyes. 

"I mean, you were pretty much saying the opposite..." 

She smirked and bit her lower lip, sighing. "I do love hearing you scream."

I smiled at her and raised an eyebrow. "I'm aware." 

She nodded at a gate and pulled onto a dirt road next to a state park sign. It was rutted and bumpy, but the gnarled trees covered in Spanish moss that hung over the road made it look so magical I hardly noticed. On the left side of us was a sheer cliff of black sand with live oaks and palm trees sprouting from the top in all directions. On the left was an expanse of level forest thick with palmetto bushes and lanky pine trees. The light dappled the forest floor, shining through the foliage in clean, slanted columns. The pattern reminded me of laser beam boobytraps in silly action films. "Heather? Will you still love me when I'm old and wrinkly?"

Without looking away from the view, I distractedly answered, "Sarah, I would still love you if you were just a head on a little rolly stool." The car swerved as laughter stole her breath and I couldn't stop my own from bursting out. She recovered before we ran head on into the dirt wall. 

Still grinning, she puts her hand on my thigh. "So where do you think this shell mound is?"

"I'm not even sure what we're looking for. I mean, is it just a big, unusually impressive pile of shells some kid dumped out of a bucket or maybe something made out of shells?" Then I notice it. The wall of dirt. I point. "Oh, ok. Look where it's washed out. It's all shells under the top soil. It's this whole thing, I bet. We're driving around it."

Sarah slows down and looks where I'm pointing. "Huh. You think so? So we took a 50 mile detour to drive around a big dirt hill with trees on it?" 

"Yeah, apparentky so. I mean, why else would there even be a big hill here? We're near the ocean. Everything here is below sea level. It's flat. Like your chest."

She looks at me, her lips parted in disbelief, but her eyes are sparkling and a suppressed smile tugs at the corners of her mouth. "Low hanging fruit, my friend." 

"Well, not yours, anyway."

My name bubbles out of her, riding on peels of laughter. "Heather!"

I return her grin. "Hey, the gloves came off when you called me a whore." 

She nods. "Fair enough." Having completely circumvented the mound, she pulls to a stop where the park meets the highway and she turns to face me, amusement washed across her face. "Hey, Heat?"

I look at her. Her icy blue eyes penetrate my physical body, making me shiver in spite of the sun still trying to burn a hole through my thigh. God, how does she still do that? "Yeah?"

She touches my face so softly that it feels more like a whispered secret than a caress. "You're my favorite person. There's no one I'd rather be with right now...ever, really." For just a moment I can't breathe, then she releases my gaze, gently tucking a stray curl back into my ponytail. Smiling she puts the car in gear and pulls out onto the road. "Let's get out of here, its hotter than the devil's taint." Giggling, I pull her free hand into my lap and lace my fingers through hers.