Chapter 11
Ginny heard the snick of the shutter behind her and turned to Rhys. Her heartbeat was an irrational flutter. Nothing in their poor excuse for a conversation should have elicited such a reaction in her.
But blaming her dating ban for her sudden fascination with him was beginning to feel like an excuse.
He hurriedly looked away. ‘We should catch up to the others.’
Ginny lingered a moment, surprised when he waited with her. She wanted to look at the waterfall. She’d been so distracted, she hadn’t appreciated the colours and sound, the movement of the cool air over her face. The moss on the right bank of the ravine glowed neon green.
She fished her phone out of her pocket to snap a photo, disappointed to see the ruggedness and the depth, the expanse of space above and below her reduced to something that was little more than a flat jumble of pixels on her screen. She wondered what Rhys had captured.
Glancing at him, she saw he held his camera loosely in his hands, but he wasn’t looking through the viewfinder. He was so still, interacting with the world using only his eyes, though she was convinced there was a lot more churning underneath.
But he’d been clear: he didn’t think he had anything to say that would interest her. That must be code for he didn’t like her or, at the very least, he didn’t want to talk to her. That hurt too, more than it should.
He set a fast pace to catch up to the others, which confirmed Ginny’s suspicion that he didn’t want to spend any more time with her than was necessary and she tried to let it go, but his look was back, that wary, uncomfortable one, and she couldn’t help wondering what she’d done to deserve it.
Her sigh of relief when they caught up with Toni and Gabri at the back of the group was more of a huff of hurt pride, although her friends’ joined hands reminded Ginny that she was a constant third wheel at this wedding.
‘Are you looking forward to the fly-line?’ she asked them brightly, relieved to have a competent conversational partner at last.
‘I’m a little out of practice with this kind of thing,’ Toni admitted, ‘but yes. It’s a lovely activity for a Great Heart wedding.’ She squeezed Ginny’s arm. ‘You’ve done an amazing job.’
‘It’s a compromise,’ Ginny replied drily. ‘The guides want to go do something genuinely dangerous. Hopefully this will soothe their adrenaline withdrawal enough to get them through to the wedding.’
Another few minutes of walking beneath the looming pines and they arrived at the little wooden hut where the fly-line began.
Cillian came bouncing through the crowd of wedding guests, impatient for his turn flying through the forest. He dragged Toni away to look at the carved wooden bear on the platform.
Tash and her son Jonny were the first to slip into the full-body harness and head to the departure point as little Eliza watched and waited her turn with her father.
After a giddy smile and a thumbs-up from Jonny as the attendant attached them to the bracket with carabiners, they slid off down the first incline and disappeared through the trees.
Rhys had taken up a position in the front corner, recording all of the nerves and wobbly knees as one by one, the wedding guests went flying. When it was Tita’s turn, Ginny rushed over to Rhys.
‘Sophie asked me to make sure we have a video of Tita doing this!’ she said, leaning up so he could hear her as she spoke quietly.
Her hand landed on his upper arm for balance.
He smelled nice; fresh and earthy. For a moment, before he stiffened, her mind flashed with the impression of what it would be like to snuggle close.
Oh dear, she was misfiring all over the place. He wouldn’t even look at her, and she was imagining cuddling him, this monosyllabic man who had given her no encouragement – only clear discouragement. Sometimes her persistent heart was just a nuisance.
She snatched her hand back and put a whole lot of daylight between them to clear her head.
After Tita had yelped and laughed as she disappeared through the trees, Cillian and Toni set off together, Toni clutching her son’s harness while he lifted his hands in the air and whooped.
After everyone else had taken their turn, Andreas was one of the last remaining.
He glanced up and gave Ginny a tight smile.
‘Sophie would have loved this if…’ He scratched the back of his head.
‘One day you’ll be able to take your son or daughter on here,’ Ginny said indulgently.
When his gaze lifted to hers with a gulp of alarm, Ginny wanted to pull her tongue out. She heard a click behind her and Andreas looked over her shoulder.
‘What was that photo of?’ he asked Rhys gruffly.
‘I’m not sure I’m going to like what your camera exposes at this wedding,’ he muttered as he stalked away to make his flying descent.
Holding casually onto the little handlebars, he allowed the assistant to push him off and then Ginny was alone with Rhys – again.
He noticed as well, suddenly refusing to return her look.
‘That wasn’t a good time to take a photo, was it? Not for your perfect wedding album.’
Her hackles rose at his wording, but his tone was uncertain. ‘We can just take it out later,’ she replied.
‘I’m not used to thinking about how to make the subjects look… good.’
She nodded, wishing her urge to reassure him weren’t so strong. Surely he didn’t need it. ‘It’s okay. Although now I’m worried about that photo you took of me.’
‘You looked fine,’ he said, although his brow furrowed. ‘I think so, anyway.’
Then Ginny realised with a start that they’d wandered to the start of the fly-line and she was next. She gulped.
‘Shit.’
‘What?’ Rhys asked.
‘I kind of forgot I had to do this too,’ she admitted.
‘Compared to climbing, this is nothing.’
Accepting the harness from the attendant, she stepped into the leg holes and slipped her arms through gingerly. ‘Don’t use rationality with me,’ she grumbled. ‘If I’m scared, I’m scared. Just let me scream with dignity and never remind me of this again.’
‘You always seem to want to forget things that happen when you’re with me.’
Before she could call him out for commenting on that, the attendant asked, ‘Do you want to go down together? If you’re scared, it might be a good idea.’
Rhys would surely refuse. Ginny gave him a moment to do so, but that was unfortunately her own time to refuse and when all he said was, ‘Okay,’ she realised she’d missed her opportunity. He was suited up and attached to the fly-line behind her.
So much for maintaining her dignity while she screamed. She clutched the tiny handlebar that felt entirely ineffectual – even though its only job was to give her something to hold onto as she panicked.
She couldn’t get enough oxygen as she swung towards the departure point, her chest heaving but her lungs still too tight.
The drop-off at the beginning was steep to gather momentum, and trees loomed on either side.
Surely people crashed into those trees all the time.
How secure were these cables? Had the attendant even checked?
Her heart rose into her throat and she squeezed her eyes shut as she swung off the platform and gravity took hold of her. Her stomach was left behind as she plummeted down – so far down.
The rush of cool air swallowed her up. For a moment, she was weightless, then her insides were rearranged again as her body was flung around the first corner and her eyes shot open to see the forest floor below.
On the left, the ground dropped away with the rushing water at the bottom. Groping for the handlebars, she gave herself a cramp without any extra feeling of security.
‘Shi-i-i-i-it,’ she blurted out, relieved the children were all far ahead of her. ‘Aaaaaaah.’ The trees swished past too quickly to convince her that she wouldn’t crash into one. She flew down and around, hearing the water crash and catching glimpses of a blue-green rock pool.
There was a nudge to her back. ‘Are you okay? We’re not going fast.’
‘I told you, reason doesn’t work on my fear,’ she called back through gritted teeth, but she had to admit he was right. Currently, they were sailing placidly through the forest, past fairy hollows and sculpted wooden forest creatures. ‘But at least I don’t think I’m going to vomit.’
She registered an unexpected sound behind her and it took a moment for her to identify it.
Glancing back, she quickly regretted it when her whole body turned and she was rushing down sideways. She flung her arms out to try to steady herself, which didn’t quite work.
‘Are you laughing at me?’ she asked indignantly. ‘Yi-i-i-i-ikes! Oh, fuck!’
The fly-line dipped suddenly and swerved, swinging through a few loops as it made its way down. She clutched the straps of her harness, but that didn’t help, so she grasped the handlebar again, her knuckles white.
‘That tree had a mat tied to it!’ she cried.
‘That means people do sometimes collide with the trunks. Aaah!’ The ground rose up, close enough that she was worried she was going to make an unscheduled landing.
She hiked her legs up, but that only rattled her carabiners and made her twist again and she blew out a breath to try to settle her animal brain.
‘I’m pretty sure if you don’t swing out, you’ll be fine.’
‘I swing out at every curve!’ she protested. ‘It’s called centrifugal force and I’m not immune to the laws of physi-i-i-i-i-i-ics!’ Her breath was sucked out of her again as they swung around yet another corner.
She had impressions of colour and sunlight, rushing water, but mainly it was her own heartbeat, racing in her ears.
They shot out of the trees and over the water into the unexpectedly bright sunlight.
Ginny glimpsed the rapids, the rocky gorge and the vivid water and, in the distance, a looming summit.
Then it was over. Another wooden platform, a gentle stop. Ginny flopped forward against her straps. Her head spun and her hands shook.
The attendant said something and she simply nodded without listening. A moment later, she crashed onto her backside when she unclipped her harness from the straps.
Warm hands grasped hers and pulled. ‘Up you come.’
She recognised Rhys’s voice in an abstract way, still not quite believing her feet were on the ground again.
‘All right. You did great.’
‘You patronising—’ She didn’t have the energy to finish the sentence. Her muscles had turned to pure adrenaline.
She thought he replied, ‘I know,’ but her blood was rushing in her ears. At least she had a railing under her hands now and she blinked and squinted as her vision returned to normal – in time to see Rhys snapping a photo of her.
‘Hey!’
‘You’re going to want this later. Proof that you survived.’
‘I’m going to want you to delete that later.’
‘That’s your choice. I won’t show anyone else,’ he promised. She glanced up to find an amused smile on his face. The smile accentuated his square jaw, drew attention to soft lips. He had no right to be so hot while teasing her.
Looking at him fed her another drop of understanding, but she couldn’t put him together yet. There was something she was missing here. They clearly didn’t get on, but this buzz was persistent. It was probably just her own hopeless – and meaningless – attraction.
She hauled herself upright, determined to restore some of her dignity, but dizziness shot straight to her skull. She stumbled on the steps down from the platform, then her stomach turned.
‘Whoa!’ she heard from over her shoulder, then an arm curled around her just in time to help her keep her balance as she doubled over and hurled into the undergrowth.
Urgh, lucky she hadn’t eaten much today.