Page 76 of Crazy for You

“I think I’ll like that,” she said with a hint of a smile.

They arrived at the rock face, and Ryan was encouraged by the excitement on her face. He opened his bag and helped her get geared up in the harness and helmet. They didn’t talk about anything other than the business at hand while she started to climb. The rock intimidated her at first. He could tell. Her movements were timid and stiff, and she fell several times before she made any progress.

But after a little while, her prior experience seemed to come back to her, and she began to climb with more confidence. She had an advantage over Emma during her first lesson in that Kate already knew how to keep her weight in her feet and her body flush with the rock, thanks to her time spent on the indoor climbing wall.

Forty-five minutes after she’d started, she climbed over the top.

“Wow,” she said as she stared out over the landscape before her.

Ryan stayed put at the bottom of the rock, one hand on the belay rope, and let her enjoy the moment. She sat up there for several minutes, her expression quiet and pensive. When she looked down at him, she looked like she had something to say.

He just wasn’t sure he wanted to hear it. “Something else up there, isn’t it?”

“It sure is.”

“I’ve climbed indoors, too, but it just isn’t the same once you’ve done this,” he said, raising his voice slightly to carry to her thirty feet above his head.

“No, I don’t imagine it would be.”

“The view from up there gets in your blood. Nothing else will do,” he said.

“Ryan—”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“You’ve done your best. I know that.” She stared out at the treetops behind him.

He didn’t say a word, had nothing left to say on this topic.

“And so have I. I’ve always tried to do what’s best for Trent.”

Ryan was silent for a long moment, but his tongue finally got the better of him. “You ever consider that the best thing for Trent might be getting to know his brother?”

“No,” she said faintly, the word almost lost in the chasm between them. “But maybe I should have.”

Emma stared at the unopened email from the University of Georgia on her phone, hoping desperately that it was good news.

Good news. Her stomach cramped, and her heart raced. Suddenly, she wasn’t sure what she wanted the message to say.

Attending the University of Georgia had been her dream for so long. When she’d first graduated high school, she’d have given anything, anything for the chance to go to college. To truly learn her trade. Oh, how she wanted a diploma to frame on her wall, something that said she’d made it.

But did she still need that diploma? Was it worth the mountain of debt that would come with it in student loans and leaving behind all her friends—and Ryan—in Haven?

She smacked herself on the forehead. What in the world was the matter with her? This was her dream!

She clicked on the email.

Congratulations. We’re extremely pleased to extend an invitation to the University of Georgia’s Landscape Architecture Program…

She’d done it. She’d gotten in.

Despite the fact she’d been having mixed feelings a moment ago, she realized she was smiling. Actually, she felt like jumping up and down. She must have made a sound because Smokey gave her a disgusted look and headed in the direction of the closet.

Emma minimized the email and dialed Ryan. His phone rang until voice mail picked up, which meant he was probably either with a client at Off-the-Grid or on his bike. She hung up, knowing he’d call when he saw that he’d missed her.

Needing to share her news with someone, she took a screenshot of the first few paragraphs of the acceptance email and texted it to Gabby. Moments later, her phone rang.

“Oh my God!” Gabby said. “Congratulations.”

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