Emmy And Me

When I tried to slip quietly out of bed the next morning, hands held me back.

"Stay," Katrina urged, so I did. Katrina pulled us close together, once again using my shoulder for a pillow, but this time she draped her leg across mine, too. "It's too early to get up," she mumbled.

"What should we do instead?" I asked, kissing her forehead.

"This," she replied, kissing the top of my boob.

"Well, O.K., then," I said.

I stroked her back as she drifted back to sleep, but I was awake and there was nothing I could do about it. I lay there, contemplating life's mysteries… Or at least my part in it. I thought about Katrina and what it was we were trying to figure out. I thought about how Emmy was doing her best to push me into another relationship, presumably so I'd have somebody once she was gone. I thought about Katrina, and whether or not this was even fair to her.

None of the background with Emmy's condition had been explained to Katrina, and if this was a test drive to see if she could maybe fill the void left by Emmy in however many years, it would be the right thing to do to explain it all.

Then again, if it wasn't going to work out with Katrina, there was no need to tell her, was there? In fact, it would be breaking Emmy's trust to spill her secret, even though it would be public knowledge at some point.

Could I even imagine a life with Katrina? It had been easy to visualize a time after Emmy with Angela, but I was still far from being able to picture such a thing with Katrina. Maybe that was just a familiarity thing, and would just take time.

In the meanwhile, I was in a hotel bed with a naked girl I found smart, funny, and sexy, but if I was going to be totally honest with myself, I wasn't in love with her. I liked her and enjoyed her company, though, and that's how it started with Emmy, Stephanie and Angela in turn. Maybe it was simply a matter of spending enough time with Katrina to deepen my feelings for her, and hers for me- I certainly didn't think she was any sort of in love with me, either.

Despite all my musings, I had not come up with any answers at all by the time Katrina woke up and asked what the plans were for the day.

"No plans, no agenda, and no reservations anywhere," I replied. "I figured that we could play it by ear from this point on."

"What would you like to do?" she asked, idly playing with my boob under the covers.

"Well, I had been thinking of this week as a road trip, you know? We could drive up and check out the redwoods, or cross over and drive up the Lost Coast, maybe even all the way to Oregon. I've never seen Crater Lake- it's supposed to be incredibly beautiful. Then maybe back down through the high desert? I don't know," I admitted. "What would you like to do?"

"Why did you call it the lost coast?"

"It's actually how the locals refer to it," I said. "It's the coastal part of California north of the Bay Area."

"That didn't really explain it much," Katrina said, moving her hand to play with my other tit.

"Imagine if the vast majority of people in Florida thought of, um, Tampa as the northern end of the state," I said. "And almost nobody lived north of there, so Everybody called Tampa 'Northern Florida', even though a third of the state was north of Tampa."

"O.K…"

"Well, California is like that. People think of the Bay Area as the north end of the state, right? But it's four hundred miles from San Francisco to the Oregon border. Statistically speaking, all that area is practically empty, so nobody even remembers it exists. Hence 'The Lost Coast'."

"So if nobody lives there, what's there to see?" Katrina asked.

"Redwoods, wild coastline, small fishing and logging towns, lighthouses, stuff like that," I said. "It's really pretty countryside and way different from anything you might have seen on the East Coast. If we're really lucky we might spot some bigfoots."

"Wouldn't they be 'bigfeet'?"

"That's a grammatical discussion that has troubled scholars for a very long time," I said, getting a pinch to my ribs in reply.

"You know we have bigfoots, or bigfeet or whatever in the Everglades?" Katrina said. "They call them 'skunk apes' because they're supposed to be really stinky."

"They say that about California bigfoots, too," I agreed. "Very smelly."

"So, let's say we do drive up the Lost Coast today. Where does that put us, and what do we do tomorrow?"

"Like I said, we could cross into Oregon, going northeast to see Crater Lake, or we could keep rolling up the coast. I've never seen the Oregon Coast, so it'd be new to me, too, but two days of the coast might be a bit much. Maybe we go up to Portland? I don't know. Like I said, we can play it by ear."

"I have to be back in San Francisco on Sunday for my flight home," Katrina reminded me.

"No, you don't," I said. "You could just as easily fly out of Portland."

"Changing tickets like that costs a fortune!" Katrina protested.

"I have a fortune," I replied.

"Yeah, I guess you do," Katrina said, resting her head on my shoulder again. "O.K., let's do it. Let's find this missing coast. We can decide what to do tomorrow, tomorrow."

To my dismay, the hotel room's shower accommodations weren't designed with multiple bathers in mind. This meant that there was no fun soapy time to start the day, which seemed to disappoint Katrina just as much as it did me.

As nice as the hotel's spa was, their breakfast was uninspired, so we found ourselves on the road fairly quickly. When Katrina had asked how she should dress for the day and I told her to dress for comfort in the car and maybe some mild hiking, she did just that. A pair of loose-fit jeans, her University Of Miami hoodie and some tennis shoes made for an extremely casual outfit. Even as baggy and shapeless as her clothes may have been, she still looked good, and I told her so.

"Don't think I haven't noticed how those jeans of yours show off that rock-hard butt of yours," she replied. "And those thighs! Ay, Mamí!" she said, shaking her hand as if she'd just burned her fingers.

Pulling out of the hotel's parking lot, I suggested we start by going to see the geyser, but that got me a blank look.

"You'll see," I said, tapping her knee.

I've never been to Yellowstone National Park, so the 'Old Faithful Of California' was the most impressive geyser I've ever seen. Katrina seemed to like it, too, so taking the time for the stop was worth it.

When I gave the route options to Katrina I told her we could cut straight west to the ocean, then north, or northwest to the water. The first would add more coastal scenery but take longer.

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"Take longer to get where?" Katrina asked. "Isn't the drive the whole point?"

Admitting that she was right, I turned us west on Petrified Forest Road which would take us to Highway 116 al the way to the coast.

When Katrina spotted a sign for the Petrified Forest itself, she suggested we check it out.

"We're here to see the sights, right? I'd never seen a geyser before, and I've also never seen a petrified forest," she said, and I again, I had to admit that the sights were the whole point. I did say no to touring the safari park we passed, pointing out that a convertible, even with the top up, wasn't all that appropriate, and she had to agree.

We saw a few rafters and inner-tubers floating on the Russian River as we drove along its winding path, but not many- the water was still too cold for most.

"I'm glad we're doing this. This is really pretty, and you're right- I've never seen countryside like this before," Katrina said, looking at the granite walls of the narrow river canyon. A few turns of the winding road later and the Pacific came into view at the end of the estuary.

"You wouldn't think a thing as big as the Pacific Ocean could take you by surprise, would you?" I said with a laugh at Katrina's gasp.

Heading north along the coast, I was glad we were enjoying the top-down driving of the convertible. Yes, I had the heater going and both Katrina and I had our seat heaters on high, but the weather was as clear and sunny as anybody could ask for. Enjoying the smell of the salty air and the the feel of the breeze in our hair made the experience just that much better than it could possibly have been in the enclosed cabin of any of my other cars.

The Z8 was just about perfect for the road, too. Sporty enough to take the twisty canyon and coastal roads with ease, but not so taut that we would feel every ripple or pothole in the pavement.

Sitting out on the back deck of a nice little Italian restaurant in Mendocino, Katrina said she was really enjoying the drive.

"It's all so beautiful- I had no idea California looked like this. This seems more like Maine, or Scotland, or something, with the cliffs right down to the water, and the rocks and everything. And like you said, there's just nobody here!"

"There are a few of us here," The waitress said as she set down our pasta dishes. "Just not many."

"I'm from Miami," Katrina told her. "This is like the opposite of the shore I'm used to seeing."

"Yeah, I guess it would be," the waitress agreed with a little laugh.

Maybe half an hour after lunch pointed out a motel sign in a tiny little town she passed.

"Did you see that? It said 'The Lost Coast Motel'!" she said, watching the place disappear behind us.

"What, did you think I made the whole "lost Coast' thing up?" I asked, laughing.

"No, I mean, I didn't, but to just see it like that…" Katrina smiled.

Not long after that I pulled over to the left in a broad gravel turnout so we could admire the mid-afternoon view, with the sun shining off the blue, blue sea.

"The ocean is a different color than I'm used to," Katrina said as we stood atop the cliff that dropped a couple hundred feet to the rocky shore below us. "It's darker, more blue. Less aqua, I guess. The waves are a whole lot bigger, too. It just seems more, you know?"

"More what?" I asked as she leaned back against me.

"More everything. Bigger, fiercer, more serious. The Atlantic there in Florida is like a bathtub- except for when there are hurricanes, you know? But this- this is nobody's bathtub. That's some serious shit there. Look at those swells! I mean, today's a nice, calm day and it's still got way more power than I'm used to. I couldn't imagine going out in a ski boat out in that."

"No, nobody in their right mind would do that," I agreed.

"Thanks, Leah," Katrina said, leaning her head back against my shoulder, turning to ask for a kiss, which I was happy to provide.

"Wait'll you see what's next," I said.

"What's next?" Katrina asked.

I just nuzzled her neck and said, "Nuh uh. You're going to have to see for yourself."

"Meanie!" Katrina laughed.

"I'm not mean," I said, sliding my hands up her sides, under her hoodie. She didn't object, so I slid my hands up further and cupped her breasts. "I'm actually quite nice," I said, nuzzling her neck some more.

"Feel free to not stop that anytime soon," Katrina said, groaning with pleasure.

"As much as I'd love to continue this, we are on the side of a highway-"

"A highway nobody has come along in the entire time we've been standing here," Katrina replied, cupping her hands on mine to hold them in place.

"-And we still have a ways to drive, and things to see before it gets dark," I continued, but left my hands where they were, squeezing her breasts and playing with her nipples, which had gotten nice and hard.

"Tonight, then," Katrina said, her breathing a bit ragged. "We go to bed early."

"I approve of this message," I said, turning her around as I dropped my hands from there happy place and onto her hips. I leaned down and she rose up for a kiss, which was hot and heavy.

Taking her hand, I led her back to the BMW. Once we were both in and buckled, I set my hand on her thigh, but higher than I had in the past- very nearly all the way up. Katrina rested her hand on mine, signaling that yes, she was open to the idea of my hands finding their way into that territory.

Pretty much immediately after returning to the highway, the road turned inland and into the deep, dark redwood forest. The trees near the coast weren't all that big, but they were close enough to each other to completely blot out any trace of the sky, making it as dark as twilight as the road twisted and turned like a snake on meth.

"This is crazy!" Katrina said after maybe mile at the most. "This forest- it's incredible!"

"You haven't seen anything yet," I told her.

There was no avoiding a side trip to the drive-through tree in the micro-sized town of Leggett. There were no other tourists, since it was early season and a weekday, so we took a lot of photos and a few videos, too.

From there we took the side road called 'The Avenue Of The Giants' and parked so we could take the short hike to the Grove Of The Giants, where some of the biggest trees on Earth grew.

"This freaking tree is bigger around than my apartment!" Katrina said, marveling at one particularly large specimen. "Who thought trees this big make any kind of sense?"

"These redwoods are the tallest trees, but they aren't the biggest around. If you want to see really thick trees, you need to see the sequoias."

"Those are in California, too, right? Can we go see them?"

"They are, but in a completely different part of the state," I said as we walked hand in hand through the silent forest. "It'd be a really long drive to get down to where they are."

"Tonight, once we're checked in to our hotel and everything, can we maybe see how long it would take?" Katrina asked, awed by the ancient forest of super-sized trees.

"Sure, we can try to see if driving down there makes sense," I agreed.

"This is amazing," Katrina said, craning her neck to try to see the tops of the trees, but there was no way.

I'd booked us a room at a Victorian-era hotel in the old part of Eureka, and the place didn't disappoint. It had period charm in spades. After dinner at the surprisingly hip adjoining restaurant (named after the owner's cat, from what I read on the menu) we headed up to the room. Eureka didn't seem like the kind of town that encouraged evening strolling, after all.

It wasn't any sort of tourist destination, really. It was a town that had been built on the back of the logging industry, which had seen better days. Yeah, it had some cute older buildings, but for the most part was a working-class place that had never really had a lot of money.

"Check it out!" Katrin called from the room's adjoining bath.

"We can take a bath together tonight!" Katrina said when I joined her, pointing at the antique claw-foot tub definitely big enough for the both of us.

"That… sounds like an excellent idea," I replied.

It didn't take us long to get naked and in the hot water. I'm not sure what I expected- maybe I actually had no expectations by this point. I'd already committed to letting Katrina set the pace, so it was in her hands, so to speak.

"Just lie back," she said, so I did just that and let her lie back against me. This was the same position that Emmy preferred and had become so natural with Angela, too.

Katrina laced her fingers with mine from behind on the same sides and used my hands to wrap herself up. She let out a long sigh, leaning her head back against my shoulder.

"Today was amazing," she said. "You were right- it was all so beautiful, and so very different than what I expected."

"What was your favorite part?" I asked, enjoying her weight against me.

"God, I can't even pick one thing," Katrina replied. "The redwoods! So freaking huge! I mean, I thought they'd be like pines, you know, but bigger- but that didn't even begin to describe them. And the coast! The cliffs! You know, that spot where you pulled over and we looked at the ocean- I remember thinking that I might have been higher above sea level than I ever had been before this trip, you know? I mean, of course in planes and whatever, but standing on solid ground? I don't think there is any point in Florida high as that. Looking way down at the water like that really drove it home, know what I mean?"

Amused by what had impressed her, I gave Katrina a squeeze.

After a thoughtful moment, Katrina said, "Thanks for all this, Leah. I never would have seen all this if it wasn't for you."

"Thanks for coming to California to see all this with me," I replied. "I've really been enjoying seeing everything with you."

"You've seen all this before," she protested.

"Well, sorta," I hedged. "I'd never stopped at the petrified forest before, so that was new to me, and I've never stayed at this hotel. Sure, I've driven up the coast, but, like, that specific turnout you were talking about? I'd never actually stopped there to look down at the ocean three hundred feet below."

Katrina sighed and lay her head back on my shoulder. "Can this… Can we keep doing this?"

"Keep doing what?"

"Keep driving, keep seeing new amazing things, keep forgetting about the real world," Katrina said, sounding melancholy.