Page 30 of Memories with Fire

One of his hands is hooked in the top of my harness, and he’s about to tug on it when he stops, his eyes narrowing, eyebrows furrowing. “Hailey, not only do I rock climb, rappel, skydive, and zipline as frequently as I can, but need I remind you I’m a firefighter? And certified in technical rope rescue.”

My mouth opens, closes, opens again, and then firmly shuts. Right. If anyone is an authority on this, it’s him. Not that I knew all of the death defying stunts he likes to do in his free time, not that they surprise me. The certification, however, I did know about.

Luke smiles at me, his dimples popping ferociously with his wide, satisfied grin, and he gives one last tug on my harness, pulling me to him again. “That’s what I thought, Freckles.”

He dances out of my way, laughing before I can smack him, heading towards the ladder that will take us up. The others are already on the main platform, having climbed up while Luke made his final checks. Or while I stalled, asking all my questions.

I look up. Way up. And I want to throw up.

The ropes course is high above the ground in the redwoods, trees that are gigantic and majestic. I love them. I’ve always loved them. But there’s also significant danger when it comes to them. When one of these comes down it can be devastating to anything caught in its path. It isn’t just falling to my death that scares me about climbing up there and doing this course, although that is my main fear. It’s the thought of one of the trees coming down. Falling while we’re all high up in the air. Or being in the path of it.

“It’s going to be fine,” Luke tells me, all trace of joking and laughter gone. “We’re going to take the easiest path.”

Sliding my gaze down the large trunk of the tree, I find him at the base of the ladder, hand outstretched, waiting for me.

Good God. This is how he looked at me every time he asked for my trust when we were kids. Soft eyes, open palm, and a smile that gave me the barest glimpse of his dimples. And when I would take his hand, whether it was five seconds or five minutes that passed, he’d deepen those dimples, rewarding me with the smile that made my heart pound and my stomach swim.

“You could also say no,” he adds, pulling my attention from his hand back to him. “You know I’ll respect you if you do. We can go sit at the picnic tables and talk over hot chocolate and tea.”

My eyes widen at the prospect. Oh, hell no. The last thing I want to do is sit with him for any period of time. My mind immediately pulls up images of the other night, the flashes I’ve been assaulted with since I woke up hungover. Truly, still drunk. My embarrassing fall out the door had me all but forgetting about my mortifying night, but now it’s front and center, and I want nothing to do with it.

“No.”

Lifting my head, I take a deep breath and march forward, ignoring his hand, and begin to climb the ladder. It isn’t that bad, but when I get to the top and crawl onto the platform, my pulse picks up speed as I look over the edge.

It’s a long way to the ground.

Disaster swims in my vision. The trees toppling over, all of us standing on the platform falling as the cables go slack and come down with it. My stomach nosedives with the visual dancing before me, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s how my dad felt when he went over the edge of the roof. It’s a thought I have every time I’m somewhere high.

“Hailey?” Luke says gently, but I start, my name so unexpected and so close to my ear that I can’t help it. His hands grip my upper arms, steadying me. “You’re okay. I know it’s pretty high, but we’re clipped in.”

“But what if the trees fall?” I ask without thought. Without thinking of how vulnerable the question makes me to him and my deepest fears.

“They inspect them every day. Just like the cables.” He rubs my arms soothingly. “It’s hard to bring down a redwood. You told me yourself once, how long some of these trees have been standing, and how much they go through. They’re strong. Just like you.”

My head turns at that, just enough that I can see over my shoulder to him right behind me, the heat of his body offering a comfort that seeps into mine. Strong isn’t a word that I would use to describe myself. I mean, sure, I lift weights with everyone at the firehouse when I can, but I know Luke isn’t talking physically.

“Okay,” I nod, but the motion is in vain. I don’t believe it for a second. “You go and I’ll follow.”

The first obstacle isn’t difficult. It’s a plank bridge from this platform to the next. There are even cables along the sides of it to hold onto as you walk across. It should be easy. One foot in front of the other.

Luke looks at me dubiously as he comes around to face me. I set my jaw, my lips flattening into a thin line, and lift my chin. It’s all for show. I don’t feel a single ounce of the confidence I’m trying to exude. His eyes move down the length of me and then back up until our eyes meet and his narrow. If he sees right through me, he doesn’t say anything, finally shrugging.

Clipping into the line that we need to cross the plank bridge, he points at the platform right in front of him. “Come here so I can at least clip you in. Then I’ll go across.”

“I can do it myself,” I protest with an air of defiance.

“Yeah, but will you?” he counters, one corner of his mouth lifting. He did see right through me.

Damn him. He knows exactly what he’s doing because my feet are moving before I know what’s happening, and then I’m in front of him, eyebrows raised in challenge as I clip myself into the line and unclip from the original one. “Yes, you ass. Happy?”

“Not yet,” he says, stepping backwards onto the first plank. “That was the easy part. I hope you weren’t expecting a medal for it.”

Grabbing onto the cables, I step up to the edge of the bridge, my eyes narrowed at Luke only a foot away from me. The plank is lower than the platform, so we’re nearly eye level. “I know what you’re doing.”

He grins, a dimple popping at me. “Enlighten me.”

“Getting me angry so I won’t think about it,” I tell him, and his eyes sparkle with mischief. “You’re not the only one who can see through shit, you know.”

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