30. Bailey-Rose
After another quick shower with all the guys, we got ready for the day.
First things first, they sat me down for a breakfast feast, even though it was well past noon.
I couldn’t argue, though, as crepes filled with strawberries and whipped cream were placed in front of me.
There was also sausage and cheesy scrambled eggs to balance out the sugar.
I wolfed the whole thing down and even got seconds of the crepes, revealing just how hungry I’d been.
“Damn, Care Bear, I think you ate more than we did,” Warrick teased, dropping a kiss on my head as he refilled my orange juice. “Well, maybe not as much as Yun.”
Yun-Sun had skipped the crepes, having gone straight for the sausage and eggs. No one was surprised about that, though, since rut caused Alphas to burn as many calories as heat did for us.
“So, are we still gonna go check out the studio?” I asked, popping the last strawberry into my mouth.
None of them answered right away, but I had a feeling they’d be reluctant to leave the house after all that had happened.
“What if we had a chill day here and went tomorrow? Maybe tonight we can go out to dinner someplace fun if you feel up for it,” Lysse suggested. “Call us paranoid, but I want to be sure Yun’s rut is settled, and there’s no risk of you passing out or lapsing into heat again.”
“I get your hesitation, but what if instead of staying at the house, we go to a park or something?” I offered. “We could pack some snacks and lay out in the sun. This way, you guys could do something active if you wanted while I keep it low-key instead of being cooped up in the house.”
Vili smiled brightly at this and clapped his hands excitedly. “This is best idea. Sun is good, same with fresh air, and maybe short walk. All things that relax.”
“V-man makes a good point. Doctors encourage outings like this to help lower stress and promote wellness. Going to the studio would be a lot with all that we wanted to do, but this is a way to meet in the middle. Then if everyone is up for it, we can do dinner,” Gareth said, seeming rather excited himself.
“There’s that awesome park with the lake and rowboats you can rent a half hour outside the city. ”
“All right, the people have spoken… a day at the park is the winner,” Lysse announced. “Let’s clean up from breakfast, gather what we need, and head out.”
I couldn’t help but smile at how everyone shot to their feet, grabbed dishes, and hurried to clean up.
The kitchen was spotless in no time, and Yun was writing out a list of things we would need.
“Warrick, you pack the cooler with drinks and snacks. Ulysses, you’re the outdoorsman, so if you could grab what we’d need, that would be super helpful.
Gareth might need help loading up the car if you can assist. Vili, I believe you got a yard game or two when we first moved in, didn’t you? ”
“Yes, I will get,” Vili said, then started to leave but paused. “Anything else?”
“Not unless you know of something I missed,” Yun-Sun commented with a shrug.
“Okay.” Vili gave us two thumbs-up and left to accomplish his task.
“Sweetheart, gather whatever you want to bring, and we’ll get this show on the road,” Yun instructed, jotting down a few things on the paper, most likely for himself.
“As soon as we get packed, we’ll head out.
Thankfully, this time of the year, it’s light out until at least nine, so we have plenty of time. ”
Giddy with excitement, I floated up to my room only to be met with the cloying scent of sex and noticed how the room was a bit of a disaster.
I hesitated only for a moment before deciding to deal with that later.
We only had five more days where the guys didn’t have to work, and I planned to make the most out of it.
An afternoon at the park was a far better use of time, and for the first time since I got back from college, I wanted to sketch.
The park was amazing and a place I’d never been to before.
You could see the city skyline in the distance, but the hustle and bustle were gone, leaving a slice of blissful peace.
There were two different sections of the park, but Ulysses was familiar with the place, so we agreed to leave our camp spot up to him.
He parked at the far end of the vast parking lot and took us down a paved walkway to the lake Gareth had mentioned.
It was noticeably a manmade lake but still pretty with a pier that had rowboats, kayaks, and canoes floating, waiting for someone to rent them.
People dotted the water as they made their way across the water’s surface.
Lysse brought us to a perfect spot with a few trees, a complete view of the lake, and an open grassy area to the right if we wanted to play a game.
Most people were camped out on the other side, where the picnic tables and grills were located, leaving us to ourselves.
“Holy cow, Lysse,” I said, laughing at what he’d brought for our afternoon. “You know we’re only going to be here for a few hours, right?”
The man had a rattan mat rolled out with a pop-up canopy over it, offering shade.
There were various styles of chairs they pulled out of bags and set up in a semi-circle.
He even thought to bring a table and a fan if we needed it.
What shocked me even more was the inflatable mattress he covered with a blanket and pillows from the downstairs nest thrown on it.
“Why are you even surprised, Rosie? How many years have I been going camping? It would only stand to reason I know the right way to hang in the outdoors. Just wait ’til I have this hammock strung up, then you’ll never want to go anywhere without one,” Ulysses teased with a wink.
“Now get comfy… you’re supposed to be relaxing. ”
Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my sketchbook and settled on the air mattress.
Warrick joined me, curling around me like a cat, arms around my waist. It wasn’t long before the man was softly snoring, making me smile.
Flipping open my book, I scanned my surroundings, looking for the thing that would beg me to draw it.
I landed on a woman paddleboarding on the lake, standing there strong and confident with a prosthetic leg attached to her knee.
Joining her on the board was a golden-haired dog sitting tall as if they were the captains of the ship.
The whole image spoke to me, and I had to capture it on paper.
Within moments, I’d lost myself in the sketch as I observed this woman.
Her movements showed her skill as the paddle cut through the water, moving her across the lake.
The serene look on her face as she navigated around the others who struggled to get their boats, betrayed this wasn’t the first time she’d been on this lake.
At one point, she stopped to help a young boy with his kayak, effortlessly dropping to one knee, her board hardly even shifting, as she showed him what he needed to do.
All the while, her furry companion merely observed, never moving from its place.
“Care Bear, that’s amazing,” Warrick said, his voice filled with awe. “You got all that about her from this far away?”
I glanced down to see him awake and sitting up on his elbow to get a better look at my sketch.
Instead of the woman being on a lake, I’d chosen to have her navigate through a canyon dressed in the clothes of an ancient warrior.
Her hair flew in the wind, everything about her portraying the fighter she was and the inner strength that flowed off her.
“Some things you see no matter how far away they are,” I answered, not really sure he’d understand, but I didn’t know how else to explain it.
Warrick seemed to sit with that for a moment, staring at my sketch. “I think I get what you’re trying to say. We are the product of the experiences we’ve lived through, and some of those moments continue to shape us long after the events happened. Am I close?”
My lips curved up in a smile as I leaned back against Warrick.
“Yeah, I’d say that’s a pretty great way to say it.
Not every challenge in life has an end to it.
There are so many who fight every day to exist. Even though it’s hard, sometimes painful, and takes everything they have to simply get out of bed, quitting would make all the suffering they’d done pointless.
Granted, there are those who feel there is no other choice, that life will only be filled with endless days of torment, and beg for it to end.
The battle those people face is the hardest of all because there is no right answer or magic cure. ”
“Have you ever been in that place?” Ulysses asked, coming to sit on the edge of the mattress.
Yun-Sun, Gareth, and Vili joined, crowding us and squishing me to be the center of the circle they created.
This clearly hadn’t been meant for six people, but they didn’t seem to care as long as they were close to me.
I knew they thought Ulysses’ question was going to be hard for me to answer, but I wasn’t ashamed of my past.
“I never reached the place where I wanted to die,” I assured them.
“However, there were dark days when I didn’t want to fight anymore.
Anger and resentment at the restricted life that had been forced on me by this condition I never asked for was the lens I viewed life through.
No matter how hard my family tried to get me to see the good all around me, I refused to let them change my mind.
Everything turned into a fight. I refused to take my medications, eat the way I was supposed to, and for a week, I went without my monitor.
Thankfully, I have a wonderful therapist my mother hired to work with me all through my childhood, knowing I’d need Dr. Libby’s help in earnest at some point. ”