“What?!” Cain stumbled over a log and almost bumped into a tree getting to me.
“Relax.” I laughed so hard my chest ached.
“If you found morels then I’m going to eat your pussy for several hours this evening.”
“Well damn. Let’s make sure these are the ones.”
We both kneeled by them.
“Oh yes.” He nodded. “Your pussy is definitely getting licked this evening.”
“Oh really?”
“Fuck yes.” He began cutting off a few. “Edible morels have plenty of deep pits that resemble a bee’s honeycomb or a giant prune.”
“Yeah. I thought it looked like a honeycomb.”
“Bad morels have wavy ridges and don’t have as many pits, and their caps tend to be shorter than the stem.”
“Got it.” I helped him cut some. “At least, I think I got it.”
“You do.”
“I wish I knew stuff like this back in the day.”
“Well now you know, and you’ll never starve while you’re in the wild.”
You damn right I won’t.
When we finished, we continued further.
“Noah is amazing at finding truffles, but he’s unlike most dogs.” Cain led the way. “Traditionally, farmers use female pigs to search for truffles.”
“Why pigs?”
“Truffles radiate androstenol which is a sex hormone found in the saliva of male pigs.”
“So, horny pigs.”
“Very horny.” Cain shrugged. “Granted, androstenol is found in human sweat glands too. That’s probably why truffles are considered an aphrodisiac for us.”
“I wish we had Noah to hook us up with that.”
“When we get back home, we’ll take him out to find some.”
I stirred at his mention of home. There were so many reasons it pushed me off guard. First, I hadn’t called anywhere home since my pre-teen years. Next, I wasn’t sure if his chapel could ever be more than the place that I escaped—a location reminding me of haunting memories.
I walked forward and pushed through the stress of that word, letting the forest give me a full escape.
Take it day by day, Phoenix.
Searching for more mushrooms, we covered the ground with ease. While I cut morels by one dying tree, Cain carved our names into the trunk and sliced a large heart around it.
We strolled over fallen moss-covered tree trunks and weeds, until we came to a clearing and halted.
There, I stopped in shock. My mind was blown from the sight before me. “Just. . .wow.”
Cain stayed at my side. “After you, there’s nothing more beautiful than nature.”
The clearing revealed a picturesque view of the mountain range.
The ground was carpeted in pine needles and wildflowers.
A stream babbled through the center, emptying into a clear blue lake. It wasn’t as big as the one behind Cain’s place, but it was still breathtaking. Rugged black cliffs surrounded parts of it.
Gently squeezing my fingers, Cain tugged me forward. “We’re forest bathing today. Calming down and becoming immersed in the natural environment.”
I slowly inhaled, held it for a few seconds, and then exhaled. A soothing sensation rippled through me.
We continued forward.
A few leaf-laden water lilies had bloomed in the water and their bell-shaped blossoms looked up at us with haunted eyes. The stream was clear and sweet-smelling, with only a hint of grit from the gravelly ground below.
As we went further I noticed that a few feet from the edge of the stream was a small waterfall.
“Wow.” I picked up my pace, eager to see it up close.
Cain stuffed our bags of mushrooms in the backpack and hurried after me. “Have you ever seen a waterfall in real life before?”
I rushed forward and stared at it in pure amazement. “Never.”
Water poured off the face of the cliff in a wide arc and fell into a small sapphire lake with a thundering rumble. Mist rose from the bottom. Black, jagged rocks jutted up from the water and the cliff’s face, marching upward toward the sky.
I walked over. “Oh my God.”
“Yeah. . .” Cain sighed. “God is here.”
I grinned and continued to take in the place.
Up close, the air was alive, with the scent of flowers. The sound of falling water was a song to my ears, a tune I couldn’t help but hum. As I approached, the waterfall shimmered, dancing like thousands of diamonds in the sunlight. It was so damn beautiful.
He pointed to the side. “You see that?”
I squinted and spotted a flickering view behind the falling water. “Is that a. . .cave?”
“A small one.” He put the backpack on his other shoulder and took my hand. “Let’s go check it out.”
“Oh hold on. What?” I hurried with him. “Hold up now. We’re not just walking in a cave behind a waterfall.”
“Why not?”
“Anything could be living in there, Cain!”
He chuckled. “Lions and bears?”
“Fuck yeah. And vampires too. Whatever else. Big foot.”
“Bigfoot is Pacific Northwest.”
“You don’t know if he has cousins out here.”
“Come on.” Cain laughed and gestured to a rocky path on the edge of the pond. “That trail leads into the cave.”
“Said the white man right before he died.”