“And believe me, I’m not internally motivated to climb that wall.”
“Let me confirm something else. You know, your mom interviewed at Gherring Inc. without doing any research and without the slightest idea of who I was. But I’m betting you’ve already read everything there is to find about me and Gherring Inc. Am I right?”
“Yes, you are.” She tilted her head.
“Don’t believe everything you read, okay? I bet you know in my younger days I dated a lot of different women?”
“That would be an understatement according to what I read.”
“I’m sure the number is exaggerated. But would it surprise you to know I dated a prima ballerina for a while? That woman could really climb. She couldn’t do overhangs, but she could do anything else. Ballerinas have strong leg muscles that don’t fatigue easily. That’s what you need for climbing. People think you need arm strength, but the key is to use your legs.”
“Okay, so what?”
“Your mom said you dance. Do you still do ballet?”
She nodded.
“Then you just might have the ability to be an amazing climber, and if you don’t try, you won’t ever know.”
“You really think I might be good at it? Even my first time?”
“There’s a good chance.”
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” She closed her book and set it on the bench beside her. “But now I really want to know.”
Gherring had the good grace not to look smug. “If we’re as alike as I think we are, you could fall in love with it.”
She bent to grab her backpack before turning back to Gherring. “Why do you think we’re alike? You barely know me.”
Gherring sighed. “How old were you when your dad died?”
“Eight years old.”
“I was ten when I lost my parents. The day I got the news was the last day I felt like a kid. Does that sound familiar? Feeling like an adult stuck in a kid’s body?”
Her expression strained, Emily sat back against the wall and stared straight ahead. “And like you need to be strong for your family?”
“Exactly,” Gherring murmured.
“Maybe we are alike,” she said in a small voice. Without another word, she headed toward the dressing room with her backpack.
Anne’s eyes were brimming with tears when Gherring looked up at her, his eyes questioning.
“Yes, I could hear everything,” she said.
“I hope that was okay for me to talk to her like that.”
Anne sniffed and dabbed at her face with her shirt. “It was good. I mean… she needs… She didn’t have any father figure in her life. Just her grandfather when he was visiting. It’s good for her to talk to a man like that. She’s so… careful… She puts up such a wall around her heart. It’s amazing you got her to open up at all. I just don’t want her to end up alone like…”
“Like me?”
“No I didn’t say—”
“That’s okay. I don’t want her to end up like me either.”
A few seconds later he was at the climbing wall, putting on his gear. But Anne was still struggling to push the heart-wrenching image out of her mind… that of a ten-year-old boy with tears streaming down his face.
I wonder if that was the last time he let himself cry.