Chapter 7 #2
Pro. Tension traveled from her shoulders and settled in Tabitha’s stomach, recalling the hangover queasiness that had subsided at the diner.
There was no way of knowing how the week would go.
The stakes were high. One article would determine whether she went home to a job or not.
She’d already arrived late on the first day, and though their guide seemed ambivalent, tardiness wasn’t a good look.
And Tabitha needed to look good during this trip if she had any hope of remaining with the magazine.
“Does your sexy lawyer climb too?” Lark asked, idly cleaning her camera’s lens.
Frankie smiled as she turned down a rutted dirt road. “Benjamin’s gone a couple of times, really gave it a good college try, but he’s a feet-on-the-ground kind of man.”
“Doesn’t love heights?”
“Understatement of the century.” Frankie’s mirthful scoff held nothing but adoration.
It was clear she loved her boyfriend and appreciated his attempt, but Tabitha knew as well as anyone that climbing wasn’t for everyone.
Take her brother, Angus, for example. Give the man two wheels and a helmet and he’d tear through the woods and over jumps like a maniac, but put him in a harness and tell him to climb and he’d freeze three feet off the ground.
“What about you two? Anyone special back home?”
“Lots of someones, but none of them special,” Lark chuckled. “I’ve got high standards for anything long-term. Plus, I’m a wanderer. My RV and I go everywhere, and not too many quality grown men love the lifestyle.”
“I get that. What about you, Tabitha? You’ve been awfully quiet this whole ride, which I can only assume means you’re holding out on us.”
Tabitha hadn’t been in a relationship since . . . Damn. It had been years, and she couldn’t say for certain when she’d last felt anything beyond initial attraction. She dated a little here and there, but no one ever seemed to measure up.
She shrugged. “You can’t hold out when there’s nothing to hold out on. I focus a lot on work and climbing. There isn’t much time for other things.”
Two sets of eyes, one from each side, bored into the side of her head.
Why did she agree to sit in the middle spot of the bench seat?
Her love life was never a topic she enjoyed talking about.
Her stories paled in comparison to everyone else’s, and she always left those kinds of discussions feeling a twinge of jealousy.
She glanced at their driver, who surveyed her head to toe, then raised her brows.
“What?” Tabitha suddenly felt self-conscious.
“Nothing.”
Lark chimed in. “Spit it out, babe. Say what we’re all thinking.”
What the hell were they thinking?
“Fine. You’re a fucking stunner,” Frankie blurted.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me, red. Your legs are so freaking long. And you’ve got these drool-worthy climber girl arms—I’ve spent the last twenty minutes deciding if I could chop them off and Frankenstein them to my body.
” She ignored the giggle-snort coming from the other side of the truck’s cab.
“And your hair. I don’t even know what to call that shade. ”
“Late autumn sunset,” Lark provided.
Tabitha squirmed under the assessment coming from both sides.
She worked hard to stay fit over the years, even after she quit climbing competitively, but working at a desk and tiptoeing toward forty wasn’t making it easy.
Each year brought a little more fluff around the middle and a few extra dimples on her lower half.
She longed to be one of those women who didn’t give a damn.
To be grateful for a body that allowed her to do what she wanted.
But it was hard to keep from comparing herself to others who climbed, or even to herself, twenty years ago.
“Can we get back to business?”
“Fine. Fine,” Frankie said with a sigh. “We’re almost there anyways.”
Comforted, Tabitha relaxed a little. “I’m looking forward to meeting Jonathan. He’s got quite the story.”
“Yep. Best big brother I could ask for,” Frankie stated.
Lark jerked her head in Frankie’s direction and gasped. “You’re related? That means we can get the dirt.”
“Lark,” Tabitha chastised.
“I’m only saying. You could write a multi-POV article. She’d be most likely to give us the straight shit on him.”
“I hate to disappoint, but there wouldn’t be any shit to share,” Frankie assured as she pulled into a small, rocky lot off the side of the road and turned off the truck. “Unless you count his over-protectiveness and unwavering dedication to his family, friends, and business.”
“Aaaaw,” Lark swooned.
“I look forward to meeting and climbing with him,” Tabitha said, donning her professional tone and taking note of Frankie’s assessment.
“About that.” Their driver hopped from the truck, and she and Lark followed suit. Frankie dropped the tailgate and hauled on her gear bag. “There’s been a little switcheroo.”
Tabitha collected her gear and asked, “Switcheroo?”
“Jon will be available for an interview later this week, but he had to bow out of your excursions. His wife, Lucy, signed them up for baby boot camp this week and she has him wrapped around her swollen little finger. She’s having twins,” Frankie added, and Tabitha was unsure if it was meant to explain the devotion or the swollen fingers.
Tabitha swallowed hard. Pivoting wouldn’t be an issue, even though she’d spent hours scouring the internet to learn about Off the Beaten Adventures’ owner prior to the trip. The information would still come in handy while writing the article.
“No worries,” she said, aiming for casualness and feeling pretty confident that she’d nailed it. “Does that mean we’ll be with you the whole week?”
“I wish, but no. Only for today.” Frankie started for a small trail at the edge of the parking lot, motioning for them to follow. “Today, you have me and another guide who’s been with us for as long as Jon has.”
“I bet they’ll have loads of juicy gossip too.” Lark huffed and puffed as the trio ascended the first hill.
“Oh yeah,” Frankie laughed. “Jon and Zac go way back.”
Tabitha felt the color drain from her face, no doubt she was white as a sheet. Lark snickered behind her, probably putting two and two together at the same rate. Frankie turned and miscalculated Tabitha’s blanched expression.
“Deep breath, red. Zac’s harmless. He doesn’t bite.” She smirked and continued up the trail. Tabitha barely heard her say, “Not anymore.”