Page 2

Chapter 2

Wyatt

M y phone’s ringtone echoes off the canyon walls, breaking the serene late afternoon stillness, and “Dad” glows on my watch screen.

“Don’t answer it,” Noah, my best friend and business partner, calls out from the ground twenty feet below me.

“Wasn’t planning to!” I shout back and shift my foot up to the next hold.

My fingers burn with the ache of clinging to the rock. I was tired before I even started climbing thanks to the earlier hike to set up the top rope. Sweat covers my skin despite the chill in the air.

I scan the jagged cliff face taking more time with my moves than I normally would. I’m trying to figure out the puzzle to guide less experienced climbers so they can have the thrill of a challenge but not end up careening off the rock face. We don’t have a climbing excursion in our repertoire yet, and this would be a perfect one to add.

Another sound breaks the peaceful mountain silence; this time it’s a high-pitched chirping.

“Eagle?” Noah asks.

“Yep. Over there.” I nod my head in the direction of the stunning bald eagle drifting across the sky. For a moment, the bold greens of the trees and the mountain valley take my breath away. I’ll never get tired of this.

“You sure you don’t want to climb? You should see it up here.”

“Not today,” Noah says.

“Is something on your mind?” I grunt as I lunge for a new handhold that’s too far a leap for the newbies I’m planning to take here, but a guy’s got to have a little fun. “Look at this place, man. Nowhere better to solve the world’s problems.”

“All is good. You should pay attention to where you’re putting your feet,” he says.

“Is there trouble in paradise? Six months of marriage, and already there are ripples in the smooth waters of love with you and Mindy?” I doubt that’s the case. The two of them have been head over heels since the moment they met. Only five months into their whirlwind romance, he put a ring on it. He saw his chance and he took it. I don’t blame him, either, because nobody knows that opportunities are fleeting better than I do. My best friend has found the love of his life, but I’ve yet to find mine. I’d be jealous if I wasn’t so damn happy for him.

“No way. You know Mindy is the best. There’s a good foothold by your left knee.”

I glance down, and he’s right. I step up into the hold and boost myself higher. “If I’m honest, I thought with you two getting married and the new house, she wouldn’t want my big feet tracking in mud all the time, but she’s been super cool about it.”

“It’s been going great other than the home improvement projects that keep popping up,” he says. The eagle screeches again, and we both go silent for a minute. I cling to the rock as the eagle flies by, leaving us behind as effortlessly as it sometimes feels like my friends do, when each day someone else announces new marriages, homes, kids.

“I was thinking it might be time for me to get married too.”

Noah lets out a hearty laugh. “Really?”

“For sure. I mean, you and Mindy being married, and I was talking to Carlos the other day and he’s ring shopping. It seems like it’s time.”

“Brilliant plan. There’s just one small problem. I’m your best friend and know just about every detail of your life. Sometimes too much. I could do without knowing the schedule of your bowel movements.”

“That’s what you get for sharing an office with me.”

He ignores me. “To my extensive knowledge, you don’t have a girlfriend at present.”

I look down at Noah from my perch halfway up the cliff face. “What’s your point?”

“Are you kidding me? How can you think you can get married when you aren’t even casually dating anyone?”

I sigh. “I didn’t say I’d worked out all the details yet, just that I thought it was about time. You tend to get hung up on the minutia of a master plan.”

Noah scoffs. “Minutia? I think the bride-to-be is a pretty big detail in a wedding.” The rest of his lecture gets cut off by ringtone of Kip from Napoleon Dynamite shouting, “Your mom goes to college.”

“It’s my mom.”

“Yeah, I figured. You can call her later.” Talking with Noah while climbing is one thing, but while Noah gets along well with my parents, dealing with them while hanging on a cliff goes against his idea of safety.

But if they both are calling in a span of a few minutes, my cell phone is about to become a revolving door of parental missed calls if I try to avoid it. “She’s just going to keep calling.”

“You should have turned off your phone,” Noah says, bracing himself for me to let go of the mountain and put my weight on the rope.

“If I’d done that, she would have sent helicopters out here looking for us.” It might sound like I’m joking but it’s a real possibility.

“You might want to tell her your life is literally hanging by a thread right now and she should wait to talk to you later.”

“I hope it’s hanging by a lot of threads.”

I don’t bother looking down. I know the eye roll is there, and so is the grumbling that I can’t hear. Such a worrier, but I love him.

I lean back and let the harness catch me, then tap to answer through my watch.

“Hey, Mom. It’s not the best time. Can I call you back?” The question may as well be rhetorical. I brace myself for the latest gossip about her friends, what my dad has done to drive her up a wall, or inquiries into my dating situation, the latter of which I'd prefer to avoid.

“This will only take a minute.” I shake my head and laugh to myself. It will not take a minute. “Your dad thinks we should put a hot tub in the backyard. What do you think?” Mom calls out over the clank and clatter of bowls and pans as she presumably prepares breakfast. To purchase or not to purchase a hot tub. This is definitely a problem that needs to be solved while I'm swinging in the breeze.

“Uh, sure, why not? It sounds fun.” They live in the same house I grew up in and have lifelong friends all over the neighborhood. Unfortunately, that means the whole neighborhood feels they have a right to know everyone’s personal business.

“Well Honey, here’s the thing. I think it would be great for us and I’m all for having fun stuff around the house.”

I let the sun hit my face, spreading my arms wide and relishing the beauty around me while I dangle like a spider on a string.

“Great, then go for it.”

“I’m not sure.”

Now is not the time for me to wait for my mom to get to her point. “Listen, I should pay attention to what I’m doing right now. Can you give me the short version?”

“Oh, come on. Her short version is a marathon, not a sprint. I’m not going to hold you up forever!” Noah shouts.

“I just know that woman is going to bring it up to the homeowner’s association and they’ll say we can’t do it. Or she’ll bring it up at Stitch ’N Bitch and find a way to turn everyone against me.” My mom’s so-called crafting group really just gets together for the wine and the whine, but they do have an incredible amount of pull in the neighborhood goings-on.

“Don’t you think this has gone on long enough?”

“I’m not going to dignify that with a response. But that’s not the only problem.”

“What else?” I roll my eyes and shrug down at Noah, who exaggeratedly taps his foot with impatience.

“Your dad’s breakfast buddies will come over every weekend to soak, and then before you know it, I’ll get roped into making breakfast for them and that will get old fast. And they would all be out there soaking in their swim trunks. I don’t want to start off every day with six old men simmering in my backyard asking for bacon and eggs. Can you imagine?”

“Mom, that’s a visual I didn’t need.” I rub my eyes as if that will wipe away the image now burned in my brain.

“How do you think I feel? I can’t wake up to that every morning. They’ll be nearly naked! In. My. Backyard!”

“Mom–”

“What happens to my quiet weekends enjoying the mountain view? Good grief, they would never leave! Can you talk to your dad and tell him this is a bad idea? Please?”

I sigh, knowing she’ll call me every morning if these guys are over there, and probably send pictures too. “Okay, I’ll talk to Dad and see if he can encourage Mr. Lewis to put it in his yard.”

“As long as it doesn’t get back to Ava that we suggested it. She’d never forgive me!” Mom takes a deep sigh. “I feel better. Now that we’ve settled that, any news on the dating front? It’s been a while since... what was her name?”So much for avoiding this topic.

"Jessica. No Mom, there’s no one new.”

“What happened with her? She seemed nice.”

Noah groans, “Don’t get into this with her, man. Tell her you’re going into a tunnel or something.”

“Yeah, she’s nice. Just wasn’t the right fit.” I can’t say I brought her over to meet you and Dad and she panicked .

“That’s too bad. Although, if I’m honest, remember when you brought her over for chili that time? She wasn’t very friendly at all.”

I take in a deep calming breath of mountain air to remind me that I can handle my mom’s version of love, which involves way too much participation in my life.

Still, it wasn’t a great loss. I liked Jessica but was she my one true love? No. I can’t say I felt a strong connection with her or any of my past girlfriends, really. I’m not too picky but every time I try to move it to the next level, I end up getting dumped. It sucks.

“Any day now,” Noah shouts from the ground. I shrug, plant my feet against the wall, and bend my knees to bring myself back in to climb.

“Why don’t you give Kayla a call? Her mom told me she’s not dating anyone right now.”

Despite my recent proclamations about marriage, letting my parents set me up probably isn’t the way to go. “I really need to get off the phone or Noah’s going to drop me.” Frustration bubbles in my chest and I kick the rock face. Noah grunts with the force of the sudden catch.

“Okay, no Kayla. How about if I ask around? I’m sure I can set you up on a date with someone. You can come over on Saturday.”

I take a second to secure some footing from my new handhold and catch my breath before responding. “Absolutely not. Been there, done that. I can find my own dates, thanks.” This hell will not end. Mom means well, but if she gets started talking to her friends about who I should date, I’ll have to leave Colorado to find a deserted island with no cell service. That woman has a lot of friends.

“But–”

“I’m good Mom, but I’ve got to go.”

The eagle makes another chirping pass.

“What was that?” Mom asks.

“An eagle.”

“Where are you?” Concern tinges her voice.

“On the side of the mountain.”

“What on Earth are you doing talking to me while climbing?” she shrieks.

“I told you it wasn’t a good time!”

The line goes dead. That’s one way to get her off the phone, I guess. I return to my climb, and before long, I reach the top. An endless sea of rockface stretches before me, and deep trenches cut by the river create a picture-perfect view of Colorado. A laugh escapes me. I have to blink a few times to keep my eyes from watering. I truly have the best job in the world. I get to experience beauty like this almost every day, and better yet, I get to watch the absolute wonder on other people’s faces when I guide them through those experiences.

Even though my camera roll is full of hundreds of similar pictures, I pull out my phone to snap a few more shots of the valley from my perch at the top. I take in one more deep breath of that sweet mountain air while I spin in a slow circle to get a full 360-degree view before reluctantly preparing to descend.

“On belay,” I call down to Noah.

“Belay on,” Noah calls back. I take hold of the rope and rest my feet on the edge of the cliff, then slowly lean back until I'm standing against the side of the rock. My phone rings again.

“Let it go until you get down,” Noah calls out.

“I got it, don’t worry. It’s just my dad, so this will be quick.” After ensuring I've got a good grip, I tap my watch back onto speaker.

“Hey Son, you aren’t on the mountain right now, are you?” I should have guessed it would be Dad.

“Yeah, actually. I’m climbing down now. What’s up?”

“Oh shit, call me back when you get down.”

“It’s okay, I can talk.”

Without looking I can tell Noah is glaring at me. He calls up, “I should drop you.”

“Mom got to me first about the hot tub and Noah is threatening to let me plummet to the ground, so I’ll call you later.”

“Later, but back me up on this one!” The line goes silent.

“Thanks for not actually letting me fall,” I say.

“I definitely considered it,” he grumbles. “It sounds like your mom’s got you covered with this marriage idea of yours.”

“See, that’s another reason why it’s time. You wouldn’t believe the list of people she wants to set me up with. I can’t take it. I know you think I’m joking but I’m serious.”

“I know you’re serious but I’m not sure you’ve really thought it through. Are you planning to just fall in love with the next girl you meet? It isn’t something you just decide to do. Besides, in a week, you’ll be on to some other big idea, and finding the love of your life will be out the window.”

I land my feet on the ground and face Noah. “Nope, I want this. You never know when the perfect one will walk into your life. You never saw Mindy coming.”

Noah concedes the point. “I guess that’s true. But there’s an issue with timing. Let’s get back to focusing on work, and when there are women around,” he gestures to the quiet trail, “you can consider finding the one.”

I chuckle and flip him off as I gather up my equipment. “This would be an awesome tour for us to do. Check these out.” I hold out my phone for him to see the shots I took up at the top.

He shakes his head. “Yeah, but you’re talking a lot of new equipment. We have to do a feasibility study before you get carried away. The bouldering trail looks great, but I think it’s better if we focus on the things we have going right now.”

Noah is always a little hesitant to add new trips, but I love to keep things fresh.

“Let’s come up with a good description and you can set a price for that at least.”

“Fine, but I want to see how we do at the Expo before you go adding climbs. Business has been a little slow lately, so I want to wait until our numbers go up.”

We grab our gear to start our trek back out. When the phone rings, I mime pitching it over the side of the mountain.