“No, no. I only take the pink stuff—I’ll do it myself.” She rose from her chair, knees creaking, and ambled to the coffee fixings on the back counter.
Frankie flapped her hands at Zac to get a move on. He put his hands together and mouthed a silent “thank you” before turning to Lark and Tabitha.
“Shall we, ladies? I’ve got the gear loaded.”
At their nods he herded them back out the front door and around to the parking lot. The day hadn’t started off the best, but he was optimistic about turning it around. Perhaps with fewer eyes on them he could talk a bit more privately with Tabitha. He wasn’t expecting much, but he wanted to ensure that everything went as smoothly as possible.
Chapter seventeen
Tabitha
JaggedgravelcrunchedbeneathTabitha’s soles as she and Lark followed Zac through the narrow parking area. Before leaving the office last week, Claudia had encouraged her to raid the gear closet to see if anything would be useful. Fortunately for her, a pair of lightly tested approach shoes fit her perfectly and were the only thing she didn’t already have for the trip. Sneakers would have been fine, but not knowing where Zac would lead them had her grateful for the offer.
He rattled off a few boulders and routes they’d be visiting, but none of them rang much of a bell for Tabitha. She breathed out a chuckle and shook her head, finding humor in how much she’d traveled the world for climbing, yet barely scratched the surface of her own home state.
A gentle breeze whistled past as a large red footbridge came into view. Built from the bottom half of a massive culvert pipe supported by rusty steel trellises, the crossing looked like it was meant for a train more than foot traffic. It spanned across a shallow section of the Wenatchee River. A couple of families played at the water’s edge. The squeals of laughter coming from the small children splashing around brought a smile to Tabitha’s face.
“This bridge is so rad,” Lark gushed as her trigger finger worked furiously. “And with the morning light barely peeking over the ridgeline, it’s casting such fascinating shadows.”
Zac paused on the other side of the crossing and chuckled. “This is the Penstock Trail, or the Old Pipeline Trail. Used to be a water pipe that delivered water to a powerhouse that’s long gone now.”
“Look at all the colors and designs,” the photographer whispered with reverence then knelt down, capturing shots of the vibrant graffiti tags inside the halved pipe. Tabitha smiled at Lark’s enthusiasm. The woman was the very definition of glass-half-full. The polar opposite of Tabitha.
Her smile faltered as she looked up from her crouched friend and caught the intent stare of their climbing guide. Zac’s warm brown eyes captured hers. Held hers. Like he was trying to convey something of the utmost importance. A tremble tingled down Tabitha’s spine as she recalled what those eyes had seen.
Her.
All of her.
Zac had been a lights-on kind of guy, so he’d seen every bit of her from head to toe and back again. Tabitha wondered if he was still so visually focused. Something in the intensity of his gaze confirmed it.
“Oh, that’s a good one,” Lark cooed. She stood, severing the eye contact between Tabitha and Zac, and fiddled with a particular image she’d captured.
“Let me see,” Tabitha croaked, attempting to distract herself from the staring contest. She cupped her hand around the screen to block the sun and see the image. Of her. Gazing with a wild vulnerability on her face. Tabitha’s eyes widened, which Lark caught and mistook for awe.
“If you like that, you’ll love this one, babe.”
She shouldn’t look, but curiosity won out as Lark tilted the camera back to her. This one was of Zac, standing on the opposite side of the bridge, with the same intense look they’d exchanged a moment before. An instinctual offense crept up, but Tabitha chuckled and shook her head.
“You’re diabolical,” she murmured, brushing past and closing the gap between them and their guide.
“I just wanted you to know that I see you,” she said while securing her camera and lens back in her crossbody bag.
“Everything all right?” Zac asked as Tabitha reached him.
“Yes. What are we doing first?”
He beamed and explained, “First we are going to warm up at a boulder cleverly named ‘warmup boulder’.”
“To dust the cobwebs off?”
“Exactly. Then we’ll hit a couple of super popular routes in this area; nothing too tricky. Second half of the day we’ll be at Forestland. Does that all work for you?” His thick brows rose in question while those brown eyes scanned. She could tell it was important to him that this went well.
Something they had in common.
“Sounds great.”
A puff of dust plumed at the edge of a large granite boulder, where Zac tossed the crash pads. He eyed the rockface then repositioned the dense pads to create the perfect landing spots. Tabitha watched him consider potential fall trajectories as though she were about to climb a gnarly route instead of something to warm up on.
