Resisting the Current

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

We sat together at the waterfall for over an hour; just holding each other. I couldn’t stop looking at the ring on my finger. It felt so heavy, so foreign.

 “I really thought you were going to break up with me.” I confessed, as we were walking back to his truck.

 “I don’t understand why you would think that. I would have hoped you’d know me better by now.”

 “It seemed like you were avoiding me all week. I didn’t know what else to think. I certainly never expected this.” I said, pointing to the ring.

 “Oh baby, I’m sorry. I’ve been trying to research everything. We have a lot to talk about; a lot of things to decide. I also had to drive into the city to buy that ring. I couldn’t buy it in town, could I?”

 “So what now? Can we even get married?” I asked.

 “Yes, and no.”

 “What do you mean?” 

 “Before I get into it all that you should know I went to speak to your father.”

 “You what?!”

 “It just seemed like the right thing to do.”

 “And he didn’t shoot you?”

“I’m sure he thought about it. I asked for his permission to marry you. He told me no Cass. If we do get married, it will be against his wishes. I can’t say I blame him. If I were in his position, I’d say the same thing.”

 “So what happens then? Do we need his permission?”

 “No. Legally you are an adult. You don’t need permission. That being said, you do have a tough decision to make.”

 “What? Tell me.”

 “I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. You need to hear me out before you say anything.”

 “Whatever it is, I’ll do it.”

 “We’d have to move.”

 “Move? Like out of your house? Why? There’s plenty of room.” 

“No. We’d have to move out of town. I’m thinking out of state,” he said.

I felt my chest tighten as anxiety suddenly hit. “I’d have to leave school? I’d have to leave the river?”

 “Hear me out. This is kinda what I’m thinking. I don’t want another year like this last one. I want to be with you, but I don’t like constantly looking over my shoulder. I think we should tough it out until the end of the year, get married and move away where we can be together. You’d have to go to a new school, or online, maybe get a GED, but we can figure all that out. I looked at your transcript and with all of your honors classes you could technically graduate after one more semester.”

 “So what…do we move to Los Angeles?”

 “We could. I’m sure my family would love you. If that’s something you want, we can do that or I had another idea.”

 “And what’s that?” I asked.      

 “I don’t want to make you leave. I know you love the river but there really is no way for us to be together and stay here. Not even when you graduate. I’ve been doing some research and I found a city in Oregon. There is a place right on a river where you can float for an entire day. There is a good junior college you could attend if you decide. It’s a bigger city, plenty of places for me to find work. Plus, with all the work we did on my house I could sell it at a huge profit.”