“Does the office have a Halloween party? I’m totally dressing up as Spider-Woman. And you need to dress up as Spider-Man!” I couldn’t control my random rambling. “Oh my God. That was so much fun!”
“I’m glad we take a half-hour break before climbing to the next plateau. You look like you might run up the wall, stepping on the backs of all the people ahead of you, you’re so full of energy.”
“I can totally see how this can become addicting. Something physical happens. I was terrified the minute my feet left the ground, even though I knew I was only two feet up and I wouldn’t get hurt if I jumped down. The blood started pumping in my veins and my chest started to pound, but then I forced myself to climb one more leg up, and an incredible feeling came over me. It was like I was drawn to the top of the mountain and had to climb it. The farther up I went, the more dangerous it became, yet the less I cared about the consequences of falling. I just craved reaching the top and couldn’t stop myself if I wanted to. Did you feel like that?”
Reed stared at me, his face less amused and more serious now. “Yes.”
I’d been wearing a light sweatshirt over my cropped yoga top, but the climb had made the heat accumulate in my muscles and my body temperature rise. Now that I’d stopped, the sweat began to pour out of me. It happened when I exercised, too. I would suddenly start to sweat profusely after I stopped moving. I unzipped my sweatshirt, slipped it off, and tied it around my waist as I spoke. “I can totally imagine being unable to think about anything else but this feeling for days to come. It must be tough to walk away from this and not obsess about it, huh?”
“You have no fucking idea.” Reed’s voice sounded funny, and when I looked up, I realized why. His eyes were glued to my sweaty cleavage. Finding that made my breathing almost as labored as it had been a few minutes ago, scaling rock. It also reminded me of Reed’s weakness. I took a step closer to him and leaned up on my tippy toes to plant a kiss on his cheek.
“Thank you for sharing this with me, Reed.”
He cleared his throat and blinked a few times. “You’re welcome.”
After another invigorating climb, our instructor called it a day. Reed and I had only signed up for today, but when the instructor said there was an early-morning intermediate climb tomorrow, I encouraged Reed to do it.
“You should go. I’ll sleep in, or maybe even splurge for a massage in the morning. I’ve used muscles I didn’t even realize I had today. I’m sure I’ll be sore anyway. But you’ve spent the entire day taking care of me. Go do the intermediate climb in the morning. You’ve earned it.” Before he could say no, I walked over to the instructor, who was packing up his gear, and told him I wanted to sign up my friend for the morning climb.
“Has your friend climbed before?”
Reed finished packing his own bag and walked up midconversation.
“Yes. He was an avid climber, but took a break for a while.”
“Okay. Tell him to meet us at the west hiking trail entrance.”
I grinned and turned to Reed. “Meet them at the west hiking entrance.”
The instructor looked back and forth between us. “Oh. You meant Reed?”
“Yes.”
“You said a friend. I assumed you two were a couple.” He looked at Reed. “Seven a.m. start. I’m not the guide for the morning climb. Heath is. You met him earlier today when he dropped off the equipment we used.”
Reed nodded and turned to me. “You sure you don’t mind?”
“Not at all. I’ll find something to occupy myself. Don’t worry about me.”
The instructor hesitated for a moment but then said, “I hike on Sunday mornings. Not a tour or anything. Just me and nature, for fun. Why don’t you join me while your friend is on his climb.”
“Umm.” I glanced over at Reed and caught a vein bulging from his neck. “Thanks for the invite. But I think I’ll be too tired to hike.”
Oblivious of Reed’s death scowl, the instructor reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He fished out a business card and extended it to me with a flirty smile. “Cell phone is on the card. We could make it a short hike and have some breakfast after? Think about it.”
“Umm. Okay. Thanks.”
Reed was quiet as we walked to the car. As always, he walked around to the passenger side first to open my door. Only he didn’t shut it like he normally did. He slammed the damn thing. The awkwardness continued to grow as he drove to the hotel in silence. I knew what he was pissed at—it wasn’t like he could hide his obvious jealousy. But I was curious what he’d do with it. So I didn’t try to make any conversation, either. I let the discomfort continue to stew.