"Mom would like this." I smiled at Dad, pointing to the gardenias scattered about.
My dad chuckled, "She'd be surprised to see us working in the garden."
"She'd probably freak out and say we were doing it
"She'd probably freak out and say we were doing it wrong." We both laughed until tears burned our eyes.
Mom was hard to get along with, but that didn't change the place she held in my heart.
Grandma called us inside and handed us each a sandwich, bag of chips and a soda.
After munching on our food, I headed back outside.
An errant thought crossed my mind and I remembered the swimming hole Tola and I used to go to.
We never told anyone else about it, keeping it between ourselves. It was one of the most magical things I had ever seen. It was nestled deep in the woods, far off any path.
The best thing about the swimming hole was that the patrol teams never got close enough to find it.
Impulsively, I turned around and headed in the direction of the woods. I crossed countless houses and a few shops until the buildings became much scarcer. I crossed the street and walked through a playground for children.
I peeked around to make sure no one was looking, and slipped into the woods.
It was almost a thirty minute hike through the woods until I could hear the running water.
My face broke out into a smile when I looked at the swimming hole. It looked even better than it had.
The water was crystal clear. The waterfall at the top was roaring as it splashed into the pond's surface.
Tola and I had spent countless summers sneaking off to the swimming hole.
When I looked at this place, all of the memories that accompanied it popped into my head.
I was surprised at how happy I felt. It had taken me almost six months to fully move on from Tola but I was completely at ease now that I had.
"Well are you just gonna stand here and stare at it?" May teased me.
I giggled and stripped down to my bra and underwear, setting my clothes against one of the many trees.
I climbed up to the top of the waterfall and jumped in with an excited squeal. The cool water felt amazing on my heated skin. This was definitely the best way to cool off after gardening for hours.
I swam under the waterfall and giggled as it rushed over my head, making pieces of my hair cling to my face.
I took deep breaths of the humid air around me. The smell was always once of my favorite parts of the hidden swimming hole. It smelled like clean water and damp earth.
I swam over to one of the large rocks protruding from the water and pulled myself up onto it. The rock was the perfect size and shape to lay out on. The water lapped at my knees, submerging my feet in their cool depths.
My mind wandered back to when Tola and I would come here. We'd have some pretty heavy make-out sessions here and occasionally I would let him roam his hands over my body. We never made it further
than that, thankfully.