Chapter 5 Avery
Avery
It wasn’t enough that Avery had to deal with a hand grenade chucked into her weekend in the shape of a six-foot-one blast from the past. Apparently, when it came to her life, there was always room for more pressure.
A couple of staff members had fired up the grill again this morning, cooking bacon and eggs in a skillet, drawing people out of their cabins with the rich and inviting scent.
They handed out rough-cut breakfast sandwiches on a first-come, first-served basis, with cheery greetings and practiced efficiency.
Avery was halfway through hers when she got her mother’s first text.
Mom:
The shower’s blocked.
Aww, hey, Mom. Yeah, I’m having a lovely time, thanks.
Avery’s spirits sank like a tissue paper flower in a pool of water.
I’ll check it out when I’m home. Probably just full of hair and stuff.
Her mother took an inordinate amount of time to type her next message.
Mom:
It’s going to be a long weekend. I haven’t spoken to anyone since Wednesday.
I’m only away a couple of days and I called you before I left.
Mom:
A phone call isn’t the same. But don’t worry about me. I’m used to being alone.
Guilt was a solid ball in the pit of her gut as her mom’s woeful instruction had the exact opposite effect. Juggling her phone to send another reply, Avery fumbled and dropped her sandwich.
“Crap!” The muttered word was smothered in frustration and laced with concern.
“Let’s hope it’s not a coordination task this morning.” Leo crouched down before she could, his fingers closing around the remains of her sandwich. He examined it and wrinkled his nose. “You can’t eat that—there’s dirt in your egg. Want me to get you another?”
Shaking her head, Avery slid her cell into the pocket of her shorts. “I’ve had enough.”
Leo lobbed the remnants into the trash like he was shooting a basket.
Behind him, Tanner’s eyes met hers as she backed away.
He was leaning against the doorframe of the clubhouse, frowning slightly—or maybe just squinting into the sun.
Avery wished he’d smile. She wished she didn’t think everything was better when Tanner smiled.
As her phone buzzed again and then again, she also wished she didn’t feel so burdened by pressure and duty.
She wished so many things.
Avery shook her head to clear it, suddenly out of sorts and needing some space. “I’m just gonna grab something from the cabin. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“No time for that, babe. We’re on a schedule!” Gemma caught her by the waist from behind and spun her into a twirl, ignoring her resistance. Looking around, Avery realized people were already gathering for the first activity of the day.
Mia and Johnnie led them, like well-behaved schoolchildren, to a clearing away from the lake, where three staff members waited with smiles of welcome on their faces. Smiles that grew when they stared past Avery to the person behind her.
“Tanner Stone! Man, I can’t believe it.” The oldest of the trio, heavyset and bearded, was clearly delighted to recognize him. “I read about you maybe signing here—the Rapids are my team. We need someone with your speed, son!”
“Good to have your support, sir.”
Avery watched as Tanner accepted the attention with understated grace, though his hand jiggled in his pocket.
But the smile soon slid from his face when he spotted the harnesses rigged from the trees surrounding the clearing.
He scratched uneasily at the scruff on his jaw, one sleeve of his t-shirt pulling back to reveal a landscape of pine trees spreading in dark ink over the expanse of his biceps.
The tattoo was detailed and stunning. It reminded Avery of the pine stands that flanked Weller’s Lake and the western outskirts of Pine Springs.
Pulling her eyes away, she faced front again as Johnnie blew a whistle. What idiot gave him a whistle?
“Welcome to day one of our Bach Bash Couples Competition. Find your partners, if you haven’t already, and I’ll hand over to Geoff here, who’s going to introduce our first challenge—The Crate Stack!”
“Thank you, Johnnie.” Geoff stepped forward, emitting geniality from every pore.
“Right, this one is pretty simple. Each pair has to build a tower. You can only use two crates, side by side, for each level, and both members have to be on top for that layer to count.” He gestured to a pile of molded plastic crates at the base of the trees.
“We’ll pass them up to you, one by one, but that’s all we’ll do.
You have to position them, climb up, and balance.
The attempt ends when the tower topples.
You’ll each wear a helmet and a full-body harness attached to the top rope setup when stacking and climbing, and every climber will be fully supported by what we call a ‘belayer’ down on the ground.
It’s the belayer’s job to control the rope, and when you fall—which you will—they’ll lower you slowly to the ground.
” Geoff looked straight at Tanner. “Whatever you weigh.”
Tanner didn’t seem reassured. His feet fidgeted in the dust. “I fucking hate heights,” he murmured next to Avery, and she turned to see his throat constrict around an audible swallow.
“Sorry to hear that, big guy.” Bel popped up next to them, and she rubbed her hands together, eyes sparkling.
“What the hell?” grumbled Tanner. “Has she got ears like a bat?”
“Yup.” Avery nodded. “And the takedown skills of a tsetse fly. Don’t expect sympathy.”
It turned out that the pairs who did well were mainly those with smaller and lighter builds.
Bel and Drew made it look easy, their coordination matched by their fearlessness as they led the pack with a climbing height of seventeen crates.
Sam and Kash followed, giving them a run for their money.
Leo and Gemma, not so much—although Avery doubted Gemma’s full concentration was on the task.
Savannah and Griff, exchanging wild kisses at each level without a care for the structural integrity of their stack, soon plummeted to the ground amid a sea of vomiting noises from their friends below.
Johnnie and Mia scribbled numbers officiously on clipboards which the couples could probably have remembered themselves but would have definitely exaggerated.
Watching the other teams, Avery embraced the distraction; it was compulsive viewing. Each time the towers tumbled with a crash, the rush of adrenaline forced a burst of laughter from her throat. With every fall, Tanner flinched.
Their own turn came somewhere around the middle. By the time she was being fitted into her harness, Avery had analyzed the issues and thought she might have worked out the best strategy. Tanner looked a little gray around the gills.
When he held out his hands so they could step up onto the first two crates, Avery hesitated.
“Don’t leave me up here alone, Stretch.” Though he smiled, the nervy twitch of his mouth was at odds with the playful words.
Avery gave a soft snort. “All eight inches off the ground? You’re gonna have to dig deeper than that, Stone, or we’ll be in trouble.” But she stepped up, her hands drowning in the heat of his grip and a flush climbing her neck.
Damn, he was close. Avery pulled her fingers free and grabbed the straps of Tanner’s harness instead. He grasped her elbows. She heard his sharp in-breath, felt the release brush her left ear. They both froze.
“Get a move on, you two, or we’ll have to impose a time limit!” Bel heckled from a safe distance.
Keeping her chin down, Avery dragged her focus back to the task at hand.
Their first immediate problem was the size of Tanner’s feet.
When she stepped forward onto his crate to add another on top of her own, there was barely any room to stand.
It wasn’t so bad for the first half a dozen moves; they kept it quick, maintaining as much of a gap between them as they could.
But as the tower grew higher, they were forced to grip each other tighter for stability and balance.
Though Avery tried to pretend he was Leo, not a single molecule of her makeup was fooled for a second.
Nimble and flexible, she was far better than Tanner at crouching and turning in the limited space to fix each new level in place.
He swore fluently every time he had to let go with one hand to reach down for another crate.
By twelve high, the sway of the tower was clearly getting to him and his fingers bit into the bones of her hips until she could barely move.
A swell of heat burned through Avery’s chest, her breath coming in sharp and ragged gasps.
“I can’t turn if you hold me that tight.
” She shot a glance up at his face. His jaw was clamped and way too close to her mouth.
The slice of a short, vicious scar cut through the curve of his lower lip.
Another edged one eyebrow. His nose had definitely been broken since their schooldays, possibly more than once.
They were the marks of a man who lived a physical life, and he was no less attractive for them.
The proximity was way too much, way too soon. She’d barely got her head around Tanner’s reappearance in her life and now she was plastered against him, breathing in his heat, swallowing his scent. She didn’t want this.
She maybe did want this . . .
No, she did not want this.
“My fucking legs are shaking,” he growled into her ear. “You’re the only thing keeping me upright. And I have excellent balance.”
Avery thought again that his face didn’t suit a frown. The knotted eyebrows and tense mouth looked alien on Tanner; they reminded her of times she wanted to forget.
“One more crate and we can jump if you want. Bel can have this round.”
“No, she fucking can’t.” Tanner’s denial was immediate. “We’re up here now so we climb until we fall. We’re not quitting. Just . . . distract me somehow. Tell me something I don’t know.”