Page 71 of Interning For A Billionaire

I found a boulder, bigger than the ones I had attempted the day before. I took a look at the surface, and I saw plenty of opportunity for hold and grip. I got started and maybe I was overconfident, or I moved too fast, but halfway up the rock, I slipped. I lost my footing and for a moment, I was literally hanging onto it by my fingertips, and then, I fell.

It wasn’t that far. Maybe ten feet?

And it wasn’t as if I was flying through the air or falling backwards. I slipped and scraped my way down, falling only a few feet in the end, landing hard and painfully, on the ground.

I lay there for a while, aware of pain all over. I lifted my head and there was pain in my neck too. Great, just what I needed. After a while, I lifted my head again and moved slowly to sit up. My legs had deep gashes where I had cut them on rocks on my way down.

That was it for my climbing adventure.

I limped back to my car, a very long and exhausting walk.

When I got to the car, I got in and simply sat for a while in the driver’s seat. Then I found the first aid kit and poured disinfectant all over myself. I probably needed to have myself checked out.

But first I was going to take a little nap.

When I woke up hours later, my body was stiff and sore. For a few brief moments, I didn’t know where I was. I thought perhaps I had been drinking and had passed out somewhere strange. In college, this sort of thing had happened to me on occasion, regrettably. It took me a while to realize I was not drunk or hung over, but that something else was going on. In my head. With my head. I lifted my hand and saw it was caked with mud and blood.

I remembered coming to the park to climb and then, I remembered the fall. I looked in my car mirror and saw another cut above my head. I wondered if I was all right to drive and if I should go to hospital. My head was throbbing, and I felt incredibly thirsty.

I found some water and drank a whole bottle.

I adjusted my position carefully and decided to drive home.

Above everything, I craved to be home in my bed, on the Maxi Deluxe 500, next to Belle. I wanted her to hold me, to stroke my hair and tell me everything was going to be all right.

So, I guess, in the end, I got the answers I was looking for.

Or just one answer.

It turned out the answer to all my questions was one person.

A woman.

Belle.

Even the question to my sunglasses was linked to her. She had borrowed them and put them in the glove compartment, which I recalled as I was leaving the park, inching carefully across the rocky terrain to the highway and towards Belle.

It was always going to be Belle.

Chapter 27

Belle

When I woke up the next morning, the house was empty.

I recalled my father saying he took the dog for a walk each morning. It was cold and overcast outside, but I knew that wouldn’t deter my dad.

I decided to go down to the store to get a few things for breakfast. I picked up eggs and bacon, some big tomatoes and fresh bread rolls. My mouth started watering at the thought of eating them with home-made apricot jam.

As I left the store, I saw Sven coming towards me. When he saw me, he stopped in his tracks.

“Belle,” he said, looking stricken.

“Hi Sven,” I greeted him and walked past him. I was determined to be friendly, but I wouldn’t get sucked into any conversation with him.

“Wait!” he called out to me.

I stopped and turned around.

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