Hooked: A Love Story on 7th and Main

by Elizabeth Hunter

  “Okay.” Daisy took a deep breath and let it out. “Fair enough. That’s actually kind of admirable.”

  “I know,” Tayla said. “The whole company is amazing, and I would love to work there.” Her forehead fell back to the table. “I’m screwed.”

  Daisy said, “I know this seems out there, but have you thought about asking Jeremy to move up to the city with you? He has a degree. I’m sure he could find work in finance or investment somewhere.”

  “And he’d hate it. Can you imagine him up there? There’s no way. He’s built a business here. He can’t just leave that. And besides, even if he didn’t have the shop, he can’t leave his grandfather.”

  Daisy sighed. “You’re right.”

  “Stop.” Emmie held up a hand. “There’s a much bigger question we need to ask before we keep going with this.” She took Tayla’s hand. “When you first applied for this job, you were adamant that you wanted to leave Metlin. It wasn’t just the SOKA position, it was moving on, returning to the city, picking up your life there. I know it’s hard to imagine now, but if Jeremy didn’t exist, if you never had a relationship or you were only friends… would you want to stay in Metlin?”

  “Oh. Good question.” Daisy sat back. “If you and Jeremy broke up—it happens even when people love each other—if you broke up, or things didn’t work out, or whatever… would you want to stay in Metlin? Because life is unexpected. Trust me.”

  Tayla thought about traffic and museums and symphony concerts. She also thought about walking to work, biking for tacos, art walks once a month, and open mic night at the Ice House. She thought about where her friends lived and what she liked to do.

  And yes… she even thought about the mountains.

  “I like it here,” she admitted. “It’s small, but there are still lots of things to do. And a lot of the people I was friends with in the city have moved on or moved away. The people who are left are… kind of assholes. I mean, except for Tobin. Tobin is a borderline asshole, but he volunteers at an animal shelter, so I don’t think he can be one hundred percent asshole, and I’m getting off track.”

  Daisy was smiling. “So you like Metlin.”

  Emmie grinned. “I knew it.”

  “Don’t celebrate yet,” Tayla said. “We still haven’t figured out how this is all going to work.”

  “But we will,” Daisy said.

  “I have an idea.” Emmie raised her hand. “But you’re not going to like part of it. What if you compromised with SOKA? Spend one week a month up there and three weeks down here? You’d still have lots of face-to-face time. You could still collaborate. But you could live here most of the time.”

  “That sounds nice on paper, but think about the realities of that situation. Can you imagine living in a hotel for a week every month?” Tayla asked. “It would get expensive as hell. Not to mention annoying to have to live out of a suitcase like that.”

  “What if you got an apartment?” Daisy asked. “It wouldn’t have to be big. Just someplace to put your stuff.”

  “Have you seen the prices for studios in San Francisco?” Emmy grimaced.

  “You could buy a fixer-upper in Metlin for what you’d pay in one year,” Tayla said. “Not to mention, most of my income would be going to a place where I was only present one-fourth of the year.”

  Emmie raised her hand again.

  “Why are you raising your hand?” Tayla asked. “This isn’t school.”

  “Because you’re going to hate my idea and I’m trying to be adorable?”

  “Just throw it out there. Can’t be worse than what we’ve already thought up.”

  “You could keep a room at your parents’ house.”

  No one spoke.

  “I know it’s not ideal. But Tayla, think about it. They have room. It wouldn’t even be a question whether you could live there one week out of the month, and the commute is completely reasonable.”

  Tayla felt sick to her stomach. “On the surface, that might seem like a good idea, but I think you’re forgetting that my main objection to my parents’ house is that my parents live there.”

  Daisy was wincing. “Emmie, I don’t think—”

  “You have one set of parents,” Emmie broke in. “One. Bianca and Aaron are the only parents you have. And they’re still living. At some point you’re going to have to come to terms with them.”

  “Why? I’ve spent years trying to move past them.”

  “You can’t pretend they don’t exist.”

  “Really? Because I’ve been doing that pretty successfully for years.”

  “Your whole reluctance toward adult relationships has been because your parents are so unhappy,” Emmie said. “Don’t you think it might be good to examine that—possibly with them—before it causes you to sabotage something that’s important to you?”

  Daisy wrinkled her nose. “I hate to tell you this, but Emmie has a point.”

  “You’re going to have to deal with your parents someday,” Emmie said. “And maybe you’ll decide that you truly want nothing to do with them, but it won’t be this avoidance tactic you have going right now. You don’t hate them, Tayla. Especially not your mom. And at some point you’re going to want to introduce Jeremy to them. You might have children someday, and they’re going to want to know who their grandparents—”

  “Okay, okay, okay.” Tayla waved her hand at Emmie. “Let’s not get too crazy with the kids thing, okay? I’m still getting used to admitting I’m in love with Jeremy.”

  Daisy leaned forward. “Would you consider this as an option? In theory? If you can sell this idea to SOKA—”

  “Which is a huge ‘if.’ Huge.”

  “But not impossible,” Emmie said. “I’m just saying this could be a good opportunity to make some positive change, both for you and your parents. You could be with them for a week, come back home and take a break. But you’d go back. And they would know you’d be coming back. It might be what they need to start talking to each other.”

  Tayla pursed her lips and considered what Emmie was proposing.

  One week in the city. Meetings with SOKA. Employee dinner. Collaboration meetings. Maybe grab a concert or a museum exhibit. Three weeks in Metlin. Nights with Jeremy. Weekends with her friends. Trivia night.

  She could do it. In fact, it would be everything she wanted. The question was: Would SOKA be interested?

  “If I proposed this,” she said, “I’d have to convince SOKA they would be getting a better employee in the process. Otherwise, what’s in it for them?”

  “A happier Tayla. A more productive Tayla.”

  “You could also bribe them with food,” Daisy said. “We grow everything around here. Pistachios. Almonds. Grapes. Oranges. And don’t forget the cheese.”

  Emmie asked, “Where are their other offices?”

  “Nairobi and Chiang Mai, Thailand. And then the main office in San Francisco.”

  “All big cities.”

  “Yep.”

  “But you living in Metlin not only makes a happier Tayla, it also keeps you in touch with a more rural market. Lots of people only buy clothes and house stuff online around here because the choices are limited in the shops.”

  She nodded. “That’s a good point.”

  “You can sell this.” Emmie leaned forward and put a hand on her arm. “Tayla, you can sell anything. You’ve sold thrillers to little old grandmas and young adult fiction to farmers. You can sell staying in Metlin to SOKA.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Jeremy hooked himself into the anchors at the top of the cliff and turned to yell down. “Safe!”

  He started to pull the rope up, taking his turn to belay the next climber coming up the rock. Cary had introduced Jeremy to Ashley and Dave the night before. They’d hiked the trail to the rock, eaten dinner and set up camp, then Cary led them up the rock face the next morning.

  “On belay?” Ashley called from the bottom of the cliff.

  “On belay,” Jeremy called. “Climb
when ready.”

  “So Tayla’s up in the city this weekend?” Cary watched Ashley and Dave check her harness.

  “Yeah. Said she wanted to talk to her parents about something.”

  “About the job?”

  “Climbing!” Ashley called.

  “Okay, climb.” Jeremy watched Ashley start up the rock face. “I’m not sure what the thing with her parents is about.”

  “She seemed weird on trivia night.”

  “She’s just got a lot on her mind right now.”

  “But I heard her refer to you as her boyfriend. That’s new.”

  Jeremy kept his eyes on Ashley, but he couldn’t stop his smile. “Yeah, I heard that too.”

  “Congrats?”

  Jeremy tried not to let his heart get heavy. “Might be too soon for that.”

  “She hasn’t said yes yet.”

  “She’s not going to say no.” Jeremy kept his eyes and his focus on Ashley. He was responsible for her safety, and it wasn’t fair that he was so distracted by Tayla being gone. Luckily, Ashley was an experienced climber. She was a tiny girl who looked like she was about sixteen, but she moved like a monkey. She made it up the cliff in short order and clipped on, taking the rope from Jeremy to belay Dave up the wall while Jeremy collected their gear.

  “Beautiful day.” Ashley was panting and smiling. “Wow, this is a great spot.”

  They were a fun couple, newly arrived in Fresno from somewhere back east. New York maybe? New Hampshire? Somewhere around there. Ashley still had that pale not-enough-sun look, but Dave had clearly spent some time out of his office. He’d said something about agricultural marketing, but Jeremy hadn’t been paying attention.

  “It’s really nice,” Cary said. “If we hike a little farther along this ridge, there’s another wall around this height I think we could get to today. Some nice bouldering along the base and great seams right up to the top.”

  “I’m game if Dave is,” Ashley said. “It’s early; we’ve got time.”

  “Sounds good.”

  They waited for Dave to make it up the cliff and gather their anchors where Cary had placed them. After all four climbers were safe, they spread out, exploring the giant slope of granite that protruded from the forest. Jeremy was first to walk along the ridge that Cary had mentioned, curious about the next rock.

  The route Cary had mapped out was a variation of one they’d found online. Again, it would be a little challenging for them, but still well within their skill level. Jeremy eyed the sloping base of the climb, eager to try some bouldering.

  He glanced over his shoulder, curious what was taking Cary, Ashley, and Dave so long. Wanting to keep his body loose, he dusted his hands and climbed low along the wall, heading for a ledge he saw ten or twelve feet up. The holds were easy and the height was low enough that it was an ideal practice area. Also, the ledge was in the sun, a perfect spot.

  His muscles were warm and quick, his fingers hardly sore. He needed a board for crimp training. His pull-up bar was good, but it didn’t give his fingers any practice. He focused on moving along the rock face, reaching for each new hold, enjoying the scrape of cool granite under his fingers and palms.

  His right foot reached for a nice crevice just a few feet beneath the ledge, and he shifted his weight when his toes felt secure. His hips nicely balanced, he reached his right hand up and over the ledge, testing his grip to make sure it could take the shift he would need to move his left foot off the jug it was resting on.

  His right hand secure, he lifted his left foot and boosted himself up. His face cleared the ledge and everything happened at once.

  His eyes registered the bared teeth first, but he didn’t hear the snarl until it was too late for him to retreat safely.

  “Shit!”

  The mountain lion had been sunbathing on the ledge Jeremy was headed for, its back against the rear wall, invisible from the ground.

  “Jeremy!”

  Their voices only registered faintly. Jeremy’s right hand let go of the ledge when he saw the giant cat’s paw go up. His left hand was too low to hold his weight. His left foot was unsteady.

  The shock of the cat’s appearance drove the air from his lungs.

  He fell.

  “Jeremy!”

  The sound of shouting made Jeremy sit up straight, and he immediately regretted it.

  “Whoa.” Cary pushed him back down. “Relax. Dave was just scaring off the cat.”

  Jeremy drew a harsh breath in and everything hurt. His chest hurt. His head hurt. His right arm was numb. He could feel the blood pulsing through his body.

  “Lion!” he gasped.

  “It’s gone,” Ashley said. “It ran off. Dave threw a few rocks at it, but you surprised him as much as he surprised you, I think. How’s your head?” She was probing around his hair.

  Usually that weirded him out—white people could be strange about black people’s hair—but he could tell Ashley was checking him for injuries.

  “I’m not feeling anything swollen and nothing is bleeding.” She snapped her fingers and he looked at her. “Follow my finger, okay?”

  “Okay.” His gaze tracked her finger as it went right and left. Up and down.

  “Cary, what are you doing?” He was watching Ashley, but Cary was messing with his right arm, the numb one. “My fingers hurt.”

  “Your fingers are pretty torn up, my man, but I’m a little more worried about your ulna.”

  Jeremy looked down his arm. It was bleeding, and he saw a bone protruding above his wrist. “Oh fuck.” Bile start to rise as the feeling began to return. “That’s not good.”

  “No, it’s not,” Ashley said. “Cary, let me look at the bleeding. Come hold his head, okay?”

  “Are you a nurse?”

  Dave crouched down beside him. “She was an EMT before our daughter was born. How you doin’, man?”

  “Been better. Big cat.”

  “Yeah, he was a big one. Lazy though. I think you interrupted his siesta.”

  “My mother is never going to shut up about this.”

  Dave grinned. “No class prepares you for interrupting a mountain lion’s nap. Is it shitty that I’m kind of thrilled I saw one? We don’t have ’em back east.”

  “Uh… yeah, it’s maybe a little shitty. I have a bone sticking out of my arm.”

  “You only fell about ten feet. Unfortunately, your arm hit at exactly the wrong angle.”

  “The bleeding isn’t out of control,” Ashley said. “Dave, get me my first aid kit.”

  “On it.”

  “Is anyone’s phone working?”

  “No reception for a couple of miles,” Cary said. “We’ll have to tie him up and lower him down the cliff. Jeremy, you trust me to tie you on and get you down? The other option is two of us boogie out of here and hike back to call search and rescue.”

  “Fuck no.” He was going to throw up. There was no avoiding it. “Get me on my side.”

  Ashley and Cary rolled him over, and he upchucked the oatmeal he’d eaten for breakfast. He felt better, but the nausea only yielded to waves and waves of pain. “I think I did something to my shoulder too.”

  “You may have a partial dislocation.” Ashley was feeling along his neck. “No pain here?”

  “No.”

  “Any numbness anywhere?”

  “My arm was numb. Not anymore.”

  She winced. “Yeah, your nerves have caught up with the break. I don’t feel anything along his spine or his head, Cary.” She took something from Dave and poured it onto his arm before she started wrapping gauze around the bone. “Jeremy, you think you can walk? Are your legs okay?”

  He flexed his knees up. “Yeah, they’re good.”

  “I think it’s more important that we get his arm taken care of as quickly as possible. I’m gonna wrap it up and make sure the bleeding is okay, but I don’t want to mess with it. I’m not a doctor. We need to get him down the mountain.”

  “Okay.” Once they made it down
the cliff, it was a two-mile hike back to the car. “This is gonna suck.”

  “Yeah.” Cary put his arm around Jeremy and helped him to his feet. “It really, really is.”

  Tayla had forced her parents to sit in the living room. Together. Or as together as they ever were. Her mother was on the chaise near the bar, and her father was impatiently steaming in a wingback chair.

  “Tayla, what is this about?”

  “I have been offered a job at SOKA, the international trading company I was interviewing with.”

  Her father was mollified. “That’s excellent. I’m glad you’re finally putting your degree to proper use.”

  “I’m also excited about it. However, I’m not thrilled about moving back to San Francisco. Partly, to be frank, because of you two.”

  Bianca put on her best wounded face while Aaron looked bored.

  “Darling, I don’t know why you’re—”

  “Mom, I don’t want us to be this way.” She waited until her father met her eyes. “I really don’t. And I don’t think you want us to be this way either. We’re not a family. Not even close.”

  “I suppose your friends down in that little town have something to do with this.” Aaron sighed. “Tayla, I’m not going to justify my work or the life I’ve provided for you.”

  “Fine.” She clapped her hands. “Don’t justify it. But also don’t pretend you have to work as hard now as when I was a kid. You don’t. You’re at the point where you could be semiretired if you wanted to be. You and mom could travel. You could pursue… I have no idea what you like other than being at the office.”

  “Sailing,” Bianca said.

  Aaron picked at a piece of lint on his pants. “I haven’t sailed in years.”

  “But you liked it. That’s why I wanted to get a membership at the yacht club, Aaron. You were happy when you were on a boat.”

  “I thought you liked the brunches.”

  Bianca rolled her eyes. “Those people are so boring. I always assumed you’d eventually get a boat. God knows we have enough money for it.”