Chapter 25
Iwas not in the greatest of moods when I showed up to work Tuesday, and my day got worse when I realized I had completely forgotten about our office bonding experience.
With the Wellness Fair and now this, my whole schedule was out of whack.
I really wanted to get back to normal clinic days again.
I was the kind of person who thrived on schedules, and when those schedules got changed, I didn’t cope well.
We were going zip-lining, and with the phone call from my father the day before, I had completely spaced it. The office was closed for the day, and when I pulled into the parking lot, a big black van was idling out front.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I groaned as I parked and got out.
Upon seeing me pull up, Macey came running toward me, dressed in a cute pair of shorts, hiking boots, and an outdoorsy vest. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail, and she was grinning, nearly bubbling over with excitement.
“Are you ready to go zip-lining?”
I gave her a weak smile and gestured to my scrubs. “Um, so… I totally forgot.”
“Oh gosh, I knew I should’ve texted in the chat,” Macey said, putting her hands over her mouth and letting out a laugh. “Oof. We can fix this. Don’t worry. Come on.”
Macey tugged me over to the group that was gathering outside the van. Everyone was in outdoor clothes except for me.
“Hey, Hope,” Tyler greeted me with a big smile, and I did my best to smile back.
“Hey, Ty.”
“So, Hope forgot about our office outing,” Macey blurted out to everyone, and I barely contained my cringe. “Does anyone have a pair of clothes she can borrow?”
My entire face heated.
“I have some sweatpants in my trunk!” Erica said.
“Thank you, Erica,” Macey said, beaming and nudging me. “See? We got this.”
“You can borrow my shirt,” Jay said as he came around the front of the van from behind us. “I have one in the back.”
I couldn’t help but notice how ridiculously gorgeous he looked that morning, in a pair of olive-green sweatpants and a thin, long-sleeved black shirt, topped off with a matching black beanie. I was so used to seeing him in scrubs that the real clothes really threw me.
“Oh, thanks,” I said, flushing even deeper.
Erica retrieved her sweatpants from her car and handed them to me. I then followed Jay to the back of the van.
“I’m sorry, I totally spaced,” I said more quietly now that it was just the two of us. The group was chatting and laughing by the office's front doors, not really paying attention to us.
“I was going to remind you this morning, but you didn’t come down for a while.” He glanced at me, his navy eyes seeming to see right through me. I’d purposely avoided him so he wouldn’t ask to drive together, and I flushed even deeper. He totally knew I was avoiding him.
“Sorry, I woke up late.”
He found his shirt and handed it to me, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips.
“This should work,” he said. “And don’t worry—I’ll turn around this time.”
I blinked. “This time?”
A low laugh rumbled out of him as he pivoted to face the parking lot.
“Well, I’ve technically seen you in a sports bra before, remember?”
He was talking about the time I answered the door after having a panic attack. “That was not on purpose—I was having a—ugh, never mind.”
He lifted his hands in mock surrender but didn’t look back. “Don’t worry. I’ve been gentlemanly enough to pretend it never happened.”
I ducked into the van, my cheeks heating, and tugged the sliding door mostly closed.
“Okay, well—pretend harder.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I changed quickly, pulling the borrowed shirt over my head. It was soft and oversized, smelling like his detergent, with a bit of pine and that faint fireplace smell again.
“You can turn around now,” I said.
Jay turned back around just as I climbed out of the trunk. And as my feet hit the ground and I straightened, his gaze dropped to the edge of the shirt that hung halfway down my thighs, practically a dress on me.
“Yeah, no,” he muttered, reaching for the hem. “This is gonna be a safety hazard out on the zip-line.”
“What are you doing?”
“Fixing it.” He grabbed a bit of fabric near my hip, and before I could protest, he tore the fabric into two strips.
My breath caught. He shouldn’t have looked that good doing something that feral.
“There,” he said, knotting the two ends of the fabric together. “Now it won’t get caught on something.”
I stared at him, mouth slightly agape. “It’s ruined now.”
“It’s not ruined.” His mouth twitched into that half-smirk, eyes flicking to the torn hem he’d knotted at my waist. “Trust me.”
My pulse thudded. “Um, maybe we should… go join everyone.”
He was insufferably casual as he straightened and shoved his hands into the pockets of his olive sweatpants. Then he had the audacity to wink. “Come on. Before Erica starts wondering why we’ve been back here so long.”
He stepped aside so I could walk past, but he didn’t move enough for me to simply pass by, and when my shoulder had to brush against his, it sent something positively electric through my veins.
Just as I took my rightful place next to the Flossy Posse, Jay clapped his hands together and addressed the group.
“Alright, team. Today is our office outing. We’re going zip-lining. Please remember this is supposed to be a fun bonding experience. Afterward, we’ll head to my place to barbecue burgers. Sound good?”
Everyone seemed pumped except for me. Erica and Jenn gave little cheers, and Macey bounced up and down next to me as we started toward the van.
“I’m so excited for this! I can’t wait to be flying over the trees!” Macey laughed.
I followed after them with a bit of nervousness. I wished I’d had more time to prepare for this mentally.
I ended up in a seat next to Tyler, which I wasn’t at all mad about, and he smiled at me when he buckled in next to me.
“Glad to see you could make it.”
I leaned my head back against the headrest. “I’m starting to think I should’ve called in sick.”
He chuckled. “Don’t like the outdoors?”
“I like to look at the outdoors. Hiking, zip-lining, and wading through trees and bushes? Not so much.” I gave him an incredulous look.
“You’re sort of a homebody, aren’t you?”
“What gave it away?” I gave him a droll look, and he chuckled again.
“Well, don’t worry. I promise not to make fun of you if you scream, and I’ll always be right behind you on the platforms if that’ll make you feel better.” He nudged me playfully.
I found myself relaxing a little as he promised to stay by my side during the trip.
“Thanks, Ty. Sounds like a plan.”
When we arrived at the Big Bear Zipline Course, I started to feel a little nervous again. So we were actually doing this? We were going to get in a harness and fly at terrifying speeds down a metal cable.
Great.
Jay parked the van, hopped out, and opened the side doors to let everyone out.
The main check-in hub was a little log cabin, and a few other groups were already getting ready for tours. People were putting on harnesses and clipping carabiners as the guides explained the course rules.
“Let’s check in,” Jay said energetically, clearly trying to keep everyone’s spirits high.
When we got inside the cabin, a guy with short blonde hair and a contagious smile strode over to us. He was wearing a red T-shirt and shorts and appeared to be one of the zip-lining instructors.
“Well, hello! You must be the Summit Dental clan!” he said, and Jay reached out to shake his hand.
“That’s us,” Jay said.
“We’re glad you could make it! I’m Tony, and I’ll be guiding you all through your experience today. Why don’t you join me over here, and we can get you all harnessed up!”
We all shuffled after Tony to a desk that had rows of harnesses behind it. We told the girl working the desk our sizes, and she handed us each a bundle of nylon straps with buckles. Tony then led everyone outside to an expanse of trees and helped us put on the harnesses, using Jay as an example.
“This strap goes over your left shoulder, then you’ll want to situate this part over your waist like this—”
Erica and Jenn were bickering as they helped each other fasten their harnesses. Shelby and Devin silently went to work on theirs, methodically tackling the puzzle of material. Macey and Tyler, who were a few feet from me, were laughing as Macey put hers on backward.
“Need help, Hope?” Tyler turned to me after helping Macey, and I shook my head.
“No, I think I got it. Thanks, though,” I assured him. Surely if I could pass the DAT, I could put on a zip-lining harness on my own.
I managed to get most of the harness on, but the last strap, the one that ran right up the front of me, wasn’t… cooperating. I tugged on it twice, then a third time, but all I managed to do was cinch it tighter.
A shot of panic zinged up my spine. Oh gosh. No.
Essentially, I had given myself the most painful wedgie in existence.
“Uh—” I tried to discreetly adjust it, my cheeks blazing hotter and hotter when nothing budged. “Oh gosh,” I muttered, my fingers becoming frantic as I pulled at the straps.
A few seconds later, a hand fell on top of mine, stopping my wild tugging.
“Hold still,” Jay murmured, appearing in front of me.
I froze. My limbs locked up, partly out of fear that I might be eternally stuck and also from the all-consuming awareness of him. He crouched in front of me, his black beanie brushing the edge of my shirt as he examined the harness.
His fingers brushed my thigh as he found the jammed buckle.
“Oh,” he breathed softly. “Yeah, this is way too tight.”
I couldn’t help the whimper that escaped me. It really hurt. “I tried to loosen it, but I accidentally tightened it instead.”
“I can tell,” he said, his brow furrowing in concentration. “Relájate, Amapolita. I almost have it.”
He didn’t tease me about the location of the issue, thankfully. But heat still flushed down my neck as he knelt there, steady hands working the clips. Finally, after a few painfully long seconds, the pressure eased up, and I was able to breathe again.
“There,” he said, tugging once more before his navy eyes shifted up to meet mine. “Better?”
I swallowed. “Yeah. Thank you.”
“I’m going to check on the others.” He rose from his kneeling position and then headed over to Erica and Jenn as if he hadn’t just helped me out of my embarrassing wedgie situation, leaving me slightly breathless and red as a tomato.
“You good over here?” Tony, the instructor, asked Tyler and Macey.
“We’re good,” Macey and Tyler said in unison.
“And you?” Tony asked me.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I said, hoping I didn’t look too flustered.
Thankfully, a few minutes later, the harnessing was complete, and we started up the mountainside. As we walked, the embarrassment slowly eased from my body.
“So, Tony’s cute,” Macey said to me a few minutes later, coming up behind me and resting her arm on my shoulder.
“I guess so,” I replied, glancing at the zip-lining instructor again. But if I were being honest, I wasn’t super focused on Tony.
“I should get his number.”
I chuckled. “I bet you won’t have to. He’ll probably ask for yours by the end of the tour.”
“You think so?” Macey asked, twirling a lock of hair and openly ogling our instructor.
“Definitely.”
Our conversation ceased as Tony began giving instructions, and we all tuned in to listen.
He explained the course rules, the do’s and don’ts of zip-lining, and demonstrated how to stop on a small zip-line near where we were harnessing up.
He had us all practice on the mini zip-line to ensure we knew how to go down it correctly.
My stomach did a little flip as I tried out the baby zip-line, and from that moment, I knew this was going to be a problem.
If I were already getting nervous on the baby one, what would the really big ones feel like?
“Great job, everyone! You seem to be getting the hang of it already!” Tony said, beaming at us.
Tyler smiled over at me and lifted his hand for a high-five. I flushed and gently returned the gesture.
“You all signed up for the extended tour, so we’ll get to go on a couple more zip-lines on a different trail near the end,” Tony said.
Macey, on my left, leaned into me, her eyes sparkling. “I wish he’d take me on an extended tour.”
“Macey!” I snorted, immediately catching on to her innuendo.
“I bet it would be exhilarating,” Macey added, and I shoved her playfully.
“No more talk of ‘extended tours,’” I said, but a giggle escaped me despite myself.
Thankfully, Tony didn’t seem to notice our inappropriate jokes and continued naturally with his instructions.
“If you’ll all follow me, we can start on the first zip-line. It’s not far up the trail here.”
We all shuffled up the path into the trees, the clink of harness clips and carabiners filling the air.
I followed behind Macey, with Tyler close behind me.
I felt slightly winded when we reached the first zip-line.
It was only about a third of a mile, but I quickly realized I wasn’t physically fit for this kind of activity.
“Alright, who wants to tackle our first line of the day?” Tony asked enthusiastically, and Macey didn’t hesitate.
“I’ll do it!” she said bravely, stepping up to Tony and allowing him to clip her onto the zip-line. He double-checked her helmet, and off she went.
She gave a little laugh as she departed, then zoomed down the first line, which appeared to be a couple of hundred feet long. Once she reached the other side, Shelby was the next to volunteer. Everyone went except for Tyler and me, who were the last ones to go.
“They just get bigger from here,” Tyler said with a sympathetic smile. “If you want to go back, I’m sure no one would judge you. I can go with you back to the cabin.”
“No, I’m fine,” I said. But I was still breathing heavily from the hike.
“It helps if you close your eyes,” Tyler said with a smile. “I’ll see you on the other side.”
Tyler went, and then finally, it was my turn.
I took several deep breaths, and then Tony helped push me off the ledge, and suddenly, I was flying.
I barely held in my scream as my feet left the platform and I began to fly over a portion of the mountain.
The wind whipped at the tendrils of hair sticking out beneath my helmet, and even though I told myself to close my eyes, they remained glued open.
My eyes became watery from the sting of the wind, and I rapidly blinked to clear my vision.
Before I could even process what had just happened, I reached the end of the line and it was over.