Hazel in the Demon's Den

In the end they bought some chocolate for the road and ended up splitting a giant marshmallow hot fudge sundae. Hazel noticed that Will was digging into it with as much gusto as she was. He must have a sweet tooth too.

"I'm sorry I didn't save you more strawberries yesterday," she said, feeling a bit ashamed.

His brow furrowed. "Why are you bringing that up now?"

"Because you clearly like sweets too and I ate almost all of them while you were in the shower."

Hazel immediately pushed it toward his side of the bowl with her spoon before a thought hit her. They were eating out of the same bowl right now. Wasn't this what they called an indirect kiss?

She flushed slightly. They still hadn't kissed for real since it wasn't a part of the ceremony at the drive-thru chapel. She chided herself for being so easily flustered. They were married; sharing a bowl was a perfectly acceptable thing to do.

Once they left the shop, there was one more thing left to do before leaving San Francisco. Hazel wanted to ride in a cable car. All that time living here and she had never done it. Then again, they were mostly for tourists.

Will wrapped his hand around her small one and led her towards the nearest cable car stop. They could ride it around the loop and come back for the rental car parked nearby.

"Have you ever been in a cable car before?" she asked conversationally once they boarded and made their way to the very back railing.

"No. This is my first time coming to San Francisco."

Duh. She should have known that since he wanted her to show him around. It had been a dumb question.

"I've lived here for sixteen years and it's my first time riding one," Hazel confessed.

"Sixteen years? That's a long time," Will said mildly.

Too long. Her uncle's house was in San Francisco and it was easier to continue living with him for free and go to college in the city. When he died, she continued living in his house until she was engaged and Billy suggested she move in with him.

At that point in time Hazel sold the house and used the money to pay off student loans. The market wasn't great at the time and she still had to pay the remainder of the mortgage so she didn't have as much leftover money as she had hoped for. She used what was left to buy headstones for her parents.

Her uncle, who was left in charge of the burial arrangements, had been very stingy. Against their wishes, he had them both cremated. They had wanted to be buried together in the Oakland Cemetery according to the will she stumbled upon in her teens.

Hazel had been angry about that for a long time. It was fitting to use her uncle's money to right that wrong. She bought them proper headstones and buried their ashes in the otherwise empty graves.

If she hadn't spent all that money on headstones she wouldn't have had to worry about being homeless when she ended things with Billy. So she wouldn't have met Will and gotten married on a whim. Funny how one tiny thing can affect so much else.

"I'm originally from Oakland. I've been in the Bay Area my entire life," Hazel admitted.

Her parents' house and the mental hospital were both in Oakland, a little more than twenty minutes from San Francisco. She had lived in a bubble up until now. She hadn't even seen much else in California because she didn't have a car, money, or time. Las Vegas was the first place she had ever visited out of state.

"Wow. Utah will be a very different experience for you then," Will said as a breeze blew through his hair, making him look more ruggedly handsome than he already did.

Hazel eyed him critically. He seemed like a knowledgeable, well-rounded, and well-traveled person from what little she had seen of him. Very different than her sheltered existence. What sort of life had he led?

"Have you traveled a lot?" she dared to ask.

His crooked smile appeared, making him appear almost mischievous. "Not as much as I would like but I've been to nearly all 50 states and to Mexico. Most of it has been for business. When I have the time I'd like to travel overseas."

Hazel smiled dreamily. That sounded amazing. There was so much she had only read about in books or seen in movies. Seeing new things in person seemed like it would be a hundred times better.

Billy had asked her once where she would go if she could choose anywhere in the world. She had told him Florida because she wanted to go to Disneyworld. It had been the childish wish of a four-year-old that never got fulfilled because her parents were dead and she was locked up.

If she were to visit Florida now she would probably be more interested in the Keyes, the beach, and NASA. Hazel loved to learn. If she wasn't immersed in her art she was reading about things she couldn't experience for herself. Billy instilled that curiosity in her.

Even if he broke her heart by not keeping his promises she would always owe him for breathing life back into her at the age of seven. She never would have made it in the outside world after the fire otherwise. Her uncle would have sent her to another mental hospital.

She lifted her face towards the sun and let the breeze caress her as she leaned on the railing at the back of the cable car. No use dwelling on what might have been. She was out now and had a whole lot of life to experience.

Hadn't Will said he would teach her how to snowmobile? Hazel could probably learn to do a whole bunch of other things in the snow as well. Skiing, sledding, possibly ice skating…as terrified as she was of injuring herself she had to admit new things seemed exciting.