“What If?”

It was mid-March and there was still a chill in the air as we made our way to the abandoned quarry on the outskirts of town. According to her it was about all anyone could really do in Oak, it was just a shoddy pass-through town after all. We pulled onto one of the quarry’s overlooks, her beat up green pickup truck rumbling its way into place, and she killed the engine. It sputtered before fully shutting off, and the doors groaned loudly as we opened them.

We stepped out, and she marched right over to the edge of the cliff and turned around. “Whaddya think hon?” She asked, broad smile showing the sweetest soft lines on her face.

Looking around I took it all in. The mountains of gravel and destroyed rock. The steep cliffs a dozen stories high. The broken down heavy machinery. The scattered litter. And her, the one stroke of color in an otherwise gray wasteland. The flower forcing its way through concrete. “I love it.”

She smiled even more deeply and ran over to pull down the tailgate, spreading out a plush gray comforter she had kept in the back. I bent down to grab the 6-pack of beer bottles from the floorboard and shut the door on my way up, bottles clinking in their carrier. The door slammed a bit too hard, making me flinch. She hadn’t even seemed to notice. Perfecting the pallet in the truck bed was the only thing concerning her in this moment. I walked around and shut the driver door as well, and set the bottles on the edge of the tailgate. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this.”

A low giggle escaped her chest and she looked up at me smiling. “Well, yeah. Why wouldn’t I? Gotta show ya the best spot in town.” She hoisted herself into the truck bed and laid down, patting the spot beside her. “Hop on in!”

We laid there for what seemed like an eternity while the sky shifted into pleasant dusk, talking about all manner of topics. She told me of her childhood, and what it was like growing up in such a small town where everyone knew each other and even the slightest mischief made its way back to her parents. She said it was probably for the best, and maybe she’d want to raise her own family the same way. I told her about growing up in the city, and how I never saw the same face twice. She mentioned how lonely that seemed, and she was right. I hadn’t realized it before, but loneliness underpinned much of my life.

We moved on to discussions of nature, and whether or not we were created with intention and purpose or if we just happened to end up here. She seemed convinced that I was led to her by cosmic intervention, but I knew it to be a coincidence born of escapism. I didn’t tell her that. She was smiling when she spoke, and I couldn’t bare to change that.

We sat in silence for a while, listening to the wind blow.

“When are you leaving?” The question rang through like a gunshot, and left lead in my stomach all the same.

“I uh…” I turned to look at her and she was looking straight up, holding a half-empty bottle to her chest. “I’m not sure. Probably tomorrow evening.”

Something between a hum and sigh, then a swig from the bottle, never once looking away from the twinkling sky. “What if you didn’t?”

Resting my head in my free hand, I drank in her beauty. Sandy hair cut into a bob falling just behind ears adorned with gold beads. Her beautiful amber eyes shaming the night sky in its contest of depth and wonder. Hands fit to cradle the world. What if I didn’t? What if I left it all behind in the pursuit of something that actually mattered to me, for the first time in my life? What if I stayed? “What if?”

She finally turned to face me and my breath caught in my chest. “Well… It’d be nice, I think. We could make this a date spot, come out here every night to talk. Oh, I could make us lemonade this summer, we could build a little house, maybe even get a dog. God, I love dogs.” Still smiling, she continued on. “I’ll keep workin’ at the convenience store, and maybe you could get on as a ranch hand. Or get a remote job, you know all the business folks love rural livin’ anyway. It’d be real nice. Take a lot of that stress off your chest.”

I didn’t have much to argue with. She knew I had no close relationships that I would miss, and that I hopped from city to city just trying to find my place. She was right, it would be nice.

“Well, I guess we could-” Her head fell against my shoulder, and she was breathing slowly, looking into my eyes. I blushed and looked away, up at the sky. “Oh wow, full moons out.”