Page 35 of The One That Got Away

Once we’d put the radio we’d been given on a lanyardaround our necks and taken the earphones we’d use to listen to the tour guide, we set off.

As we stepped onto the first of the wooden slats, I positioned myself on the outside like I’d promised and held the handrail.

The wooden path had steel rods, which were pinned to the cliff. I wasn’t bothered about heights, but even I had to admit that the drop below was pretty steep.

Beneath us was the narrow original pathway. I could see why it used to be dangerous. For starters there weren’t any barriers. Thankfully the current walkway looked much more secure and had an iron mesh fence at the edge to stop us from falling.

I caught Stella glancing down and could tell she was freaking out, so I tried to distract her.

‘It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’ I pointed to the scenery and blue skies.

‘Yeah… although it’s difficult not to notice how steep that drop is.’

‘Just keep your eyes straight ahead and you’ll be good.’

‘I’m trying.’

The tour guide talked us through some of the key sections of the walk and I kept an eye on Stella to check how she was coping. She wasn’t.

A woman in front of us reached into her backpack and pulled out a bottle of water. As she guzzled it down, I noticed it’d trickled down onto the slats. But Stella had her gaze firmly fixed on the vultures that were flying overhead so she stepped right into a wet patch and slipped.

She shrieked and after quickly grabbing her arm, I helped her back upright.

‘Shit!’ she gasped, panic in her eyes. ‘I-I…’

‘Don’t worry. It was just a bit of water. Nothing would’ve happened to you.’

‘You don’t know that,’ she said. ‘I’m trying to stay calm, but…’

‘I know. It’s okay. But like I said, I won’t let anything happen to you. Maybe you could…’

‘What?’ She frowned.

‘Forget it. I was just going to suggest something that might help, but I don’t think you’ll like it.’

‘Tell me!’

‘Well,’ I exhaled, plucking up the courage to make a suggestion that could quite easily result in Stella throwing me over the edge of this pathway. ‘I was gonna say you could… hold my hand. Just to make you feel better. Actually,betterisn’t the right word, because obviously you hate me. But more secure? Safer? So you know that if you slip again, which I’m sure you won’t, you’ll know you won’t fall.’

Stella looked at me like she was weighing up my suggestion. Although I couldn’t read her expression, the fact that she was taking a few seconds to consider it was more than I’d expected.

‘But what if I fall and drag you down with me?’

‘I’ll take my chances. And anyway, I owe you, right?’

‘True.’

‘It’s just until you feel comfortable. I promise I won’t use superglue, so you’ll be free to remove your hand whenever you want to. Okay?’

‘Okay.’

My eyebrows hit the sky.

Stella had agreed to hold my hand. Shit.

To anyone else, it wouldn’t seem like a big deal. It wasn’t like we were kids in the playground about to hold hands with our crush for the first time. We were adults.

But I knew this was big for her. She must bereallyscared to agree.

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