Page 31 of Impossible Rapids
One personal item.
Brylee suggested cinna-mint lip gloss and even sent a link for where to buy the best-tasting flavor. The one Cash loved.
Oh, my. Julie had seen their episode and knew all about Cash and Brylee and cinna-mint lip gloss. She thought of Shawn ‘tasting’ her lip gloss and couldn’t think of anything else for days. She couldn’t bring that.
She thought through what the other participants had brought.
Pepper spray for Rose Lillywhite in “Impossible Escape,” the episode that had taken more work, planning, and time than any of the others with Julie hiring multiple teams to design, convert, and build out a different escape adventure each day in an abandoned Cancun resort. She’d loved that episode, but the pepper spray was definitely a no. Shawn would protect her from bears or wolves, and she needed no protection from him physically. Only emotionally.
A gardenia-scented body splash for Livvy Benedict from “Impossible Sail.” Hmm. Not a bad idea. She did love her Aerin Lilac Path perfume. Would Shawn smell like bergamot and citrus? Yummy. But wouldn’t their scents just wash off in the river?
Anna Marley had brought a photo of her nieces and nephews and some children from her play centers. So sweet. Julie pulled out a photo of her large extended family. Mom, Dad, six siblings, in-laws, eleven adorable nieces and nephews and counting. That might be the ticket, but truthfully, she didn’t look at their picture every day at home.
Chalisa Anderson in “Impossible Crusade” had brought the very necklace Captain Aiden Porter had bought her three months before when he rescued her in Cancun. The Maquech Beetle necklace represented ‘Everlasting love.’ So touching. She and Mercedes had imagined the charming Aiden Porter and sweetheart Chalisa would be an incredible fit, but even Julie’s extensive research hadn’t revealed they knew each other previously. It proved how incredible Aiden was as a security expert and showed the couple was meant to be together.
Shawn had never bought her any meaningful and romantic gift, so that was a moot point. Goodness, he shouldn’t have bought her anything, and this wasn’t some matchmaking show. This was to honor Mercedes’s memory, and Julie would get through the five-day adventure without throwing herself at Mercedes’s love. Somehow.
Darcy Saint had also brought a necklace, a locket engraved with an image of the mother who’d died giving birth to her and the daughter Darcy had lost as a newborn baby. Very touching.
Julie pulled out a necklace her parents had given her when she graduated from Denver University. It was a beautiful diamond pendant. She loved it, but she didn’t want to wear it on a river-rafting trip and risk losing it.
Besides, the one personal item should have some significance to her, something that strengthened her and inspired her, reminded her why she was doing this. Of course she was doing this for her charity; a million dollars would be a huge boost to helping widows and children who’d been left behind by a military death improve education and skills for better jobs and futures, pay mortgages, or assist with other bills or a down payment for a home.
But truthfully, Julie was doing this for Mercedes and to spend time away from the office and pressures of everyday life with, and to be with Shawn. They couldn’t be together now and maybe never, but she longed for time with him. It felt twisted that she was honoring Mercedes’s memory by being on the show and at the same time longing for Mercedes’s man.
Why do you keep pushing me to love Shawn if you two were married? she asked Mercedes in her mind.
It’s your time now, beautiful friend! She imagined Mercedes clapping and laughing.
It wasn’t her time. Shawn needed time to heal from losing Mercedes and put the mess with Lucas and Arianna behind him. Franz had hoped the judge would finish the trust and legacy transfers and protections before now. No such luck. She doubted it would ever be their time.
Ugh. She needed to focus and choose a personal item. Shawn would be here any minute.
She thought about Jagger and his long-lost love Belinda Ralphs. She hadn’t had time with losing Mercedes and the funeral and everything else to even watch the footage from their episode. She was happy for Jagger and trying to think if she knew what Belinda’s one personal item was. She could review the film but doubted it would do anything but make her long for a love like Jagger and Belinda had.
Sighing, she kneeled next to her bed and prayed. What would strengthen her and help her? She stood and paced the room, and then suddenly she knew.
Running to her dresser, she pulled open the top drawer and sorted through an overstuffed jewelry box. She pulled out the colorful handwoven bracelet. Most people had their names woven into these bracelets from street vendors in Mexican resort towns.
WOMAN UP, BABY! her bracelet proclaimed.
She, Mercedes, and Shawn had been on a trip and the captain navigated Mercedes’s yacht to a beautiful little alcove in Banderas Bay, close to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The town they found was called Yelapa. A local guide took them on two fabulous waterfall hikes and lunch on the beach. As they ate the delicious Mexican food, they watched tourists rising even above the mountains with a guide in a tandem paraglide. They started behind a boat but then the guide detached the rope and they floated up over two thousand feet, riding above the mountains with the wind drafts. It looked exciting and terrifying.
Shawn had talked them into trying it. He’d gone first and promised them it was fun, safe, and not scary at all. ‘A little disappointing on the thrill meter, honestly.’ That wasn’t very reassuring; he was super brave and had done things in the Navy and on adventure trips with Jagger and Hays that neither of them would ever dare do.
They had both gotten strapped in at the same time, Mercedes attached to one guide and Julie to another. Mercedes would go first, as there was only one boat to get the initial flight started. She was visibly trembling and had begged, ‘Help me. I’m losing my brave.’
Julie had said, ‘Woman up, baby! You’ve got this.’
Shawn had laughed and laughed at that. Mercedes had taken off, screaming and laughing and kicking her feet. Julie and Shawn had looked at each other and laughed even harder. They were still laughing when Julie’s guide called to her to run. After two steps, she’d floated off into the air still laughing. She hadn’t been afraid for one moment and had loved the views and soaring like a bird.
It was a great memory. The next day, Shawn had paid a vendor in Puerta Vallarta to make them each a bracelet with the words WOMAN UP, BABY!
Julie tied it on. Wearing something Shawn had given her felt reassuring and meaningful. It wasn’t a romantic gift like the Maquech Beetle necklace Aiden had given Chalisa, but she would definitely need to ‘woman up’ this week. Would he think she was too invested in him when he saw what her one personal item was?
A rap came at the door. Shawn was here for her. Since she couldn’t bring anything, there was really nothing to do but pray in her heart and go get the door.
Her legs trembled as she walked to the door. Could she and Shawn do what Belinda had advised and use this week to adventure, take risks, have fun, mourn, and love?