Page 6 of Entwined Hearts

Everyone grabs a cup of coffee; Jake plucks a Danish from the tray as well. We all settle into our chairs.

“Maybe he won’t show,” Jake whispers in my ear.

I glance up a clock on the wall, seeing it’s ten minutes past.

An assistant wearing a headset enters with a hand truck loaded with three boxes—the clothing we’re to wear on the climb.

As soon as she backs out, Colby’s face appears in the glass door. Meghan stands to welcome him, giving me a minute to covertly take in his natural smile, quick blue eyes, and broad shoulders. He’s wearing jeans, a t-shirt with a faded graphic of a giant tongue licking an ice cream cone below the words “Lick me, I’m delicious,” and flip flops.

“Sorry, everyone, the frogs in the campground kept me up half the night,” he says, gliding into the room.

He serves himself a cup of coffee. When he moves to a seat, our eyes connect for an instant. His face stills, and those playful eyes sparkle just like they used to.

“Frogs?” Meghan asks curiously.

He turns to her. “Yep. It’s their mating season.” Colby’s grin widens.

Jake makes a sound like a flat tire. It pulls me back into the room. I blink as Colby slides into a chair.

“That’s Nevada for you. Land of extremes,” Meghan says with a smile.

Colby blows across the top of his coffee cup, then takes a small sip. He seems to take up his entire chair. Maybe it’s the confident way he sprawls in it or just his boundless energy.

“I take it you all know each other,” Meghan says, tucking her chair in a little tighter.

“That we do,” Jake says in a cold voice.

If Colby notices this, he doesn’t react.

“Well, let’s get started,” Meghan says.

The meeting is mostly a review of logistics: travel, accommodations, our stipend for food and incidentals. We go over the route. I present my ideas, using a projected image of the Dragen’s Tarn to go through the various crux moves. I’ve studied every inch of this crack system, so it feels familiar even though I’ve never touched it. Because the wall faces north, we’ll be exposed to every kind of element, though due to the summer season, I’m hoping the only real extreme we’ll encounter is the northern latitude’s extensive sunlight. There’s one section of the climb with an awkward corner, requiring a layback against a sloping slab. I’m surprised when Colby speaks up to offer a suggestion. He’s done his homework. I eye Jake, but he’s still stewing.

Laura talks about her setup, where she’ll place her team, the angles she’ll shoot. She’s very methodical and calm, though I sense her excitement.

Finally, it’s time to test fly our wardrobe. The team breaks up, and we say goodbye to Laura and the others.

“I’ll be right back,” Meghan says, following the group.

The silence that envelops us after she leaves intensifies. I stand, then grab the box with my name printed on the top.

Jake glares at Colby. “I want you off this climb.”

“Too bad you’re not calling the shots,” Colby shoots back.

Jake shakes his head, grimacing. “What the fuck happened to you, anyway? You know they canceled Ketil.”

“They would have canceled it, anyway,” Colby replies, opening his box. “I was the only one with the balls to get through that crux, and everyone knew it.”

Jake jumps to his feet. Startled, I take a step back. In the years I’ve known Jake, he’s never talked like this.

Just then, Meghan pokes her head into the room. “Jake,” she says, looking unaware we were moments away from the first-ever brawl in Marvik’s HQ. “Serena in Product Development wants your opinion on the Flash Tech jacket.”

Jake gives Colby one last stare, then follows her out.

Colby’s eyes find mine again. He exhales a heavy breath. “Damn, he’s gotten prickly in his old age.”

I give him a look. At twenty-six, Jake’s hardly old, though we are getting to the point where climbers start thinking about transitioning to a job that doesn’t involve such intense physical demands. Jake will never give up this life, and I wonder what will happen when he’s forced to.

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