Jake put the food in his pack, including the brownies, then handed her a high-protein energy bar. “You’ll need fuel for the climb.”
While he munched an apple, she forced down the energy bar and downed a bottle of water. Strength returned to her legs, but butterflies still danced in her stomach. “Why do I feel like we’re preparing to scale Mount Everest?”
“A mountain is a mountain. No matter how high it is, the first step is the hardest. Once you’re committed, the battle is half over.”
“I’m committed,” Mia said with more confidence than she felt. “But am I crazy for doing this?”
“Yes, but in a good way,” he assured her. “You can be crazy and careful at the same time.”
“How?”
“You’ll see.”
Jake stood and offered his hand. He was completely confident in his ability to lead Mia up the mountain, but he was equally certain the final twenty feet would test her trust in him to the max. Jake could scale the slanted wall on his own, but Mia would need help.
When she stood, he handed her a helmet, and she put it on. Determination glinted in her eyes, a little like a six-year-old about to ride her first bicycle. Jake put on a helmet too, though he didn’t usually bother, then looped the rope over his shoulder and indicated Mia should follow him.
A dirt path circled the edge of the basin below the waterfall, then veered to a staircase made of boulders. A giant could have climbed it with long strides, but he and Mia would need to move from boulder to boulder, sometimes jumping a short distance, at other times crawling around or between them. He didn’t tell her, but they only needed to go up the staircase. There was an easier way down.
When they reached the first rocks, Jake leapt easily from one slab of rock to the next. After a few jumps, he turned to check on Mia. Her eyes were on the rocks, her face knotted as she planned her next move.
Her hesitation worried him. Rock climbing required courage, skill, and intuition. Mia had plenty of courage, and he could coach her on the skill. But intuition was a kind of trust, a God-given sense of things a person couldn’t see or know. Overthinking would only feed her fear.
“How are you doing?” he called out.
She gave him a thumbs-up, jumped to the next rock, and caught up to him. “So far, so good.”
He indicated the next dozen or so boulders, some flat and others sloped to make jagged Vs. “Just follow me and you’ll be fine.”
They climbed as a team, with Jake offering his hand even before she needed it, and Mia gaining confidence. They climbed higher and higher, pausing occasionally to look back at the river cascading down the mountain.
The waterfall was slightly behind them now, but the mountain that formed it rose in front of them. Jake led Mia up the last couple of boulders, until they reached the three-foot ledge that butted against a jagged rock wall about twenty feet high. Old and eroded, the granite wall slanted at a steep angle and offered excellent hand- and toeholds.
He indicated a flat rock where she could rest. “Have a seat.”
“Gladly. My legs feel like overcooked spaghetti.” She glanced suspiciously at the last several feet of the climb. “What’s next?”
“This.” He slid the rope and climbing harness off his shoulder.
Mia cast a nervous glance at the top of the wall. “I take it we’re going straight up?”
“It’s not as steep as it looks.”
“Even so—” She muttered something to herself. “It’s so high.”
“Are you afraid of heights?”
“Not if I’m in a plane or on a balcony with a rail, but this is different.” She eyed the wall again. “Really different.”
“It’s worth it.” He sized up her expression and coloring. While he wanted her to rest her legs, he didn’t want to give her time to feed her anxiety. “Are you ready?”
She gulped. “Maybe.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” He helped her into the harness, narrated every step as he checked the buckles, then laid a hand on her shoulder. “I’m going up first. I’ll secure the belaying line, call down to you, and give the rope a tug. You’ll see it move, but I won’t pull hard enough for you to feel it. It’s just a signal. When you’re ready, call up to me.”
“Will you hear me?”
“Easily. We’re between the two waterfalls. Listen for yourself. What do you hear?”
She paused, then gave a nervous laugh. “It’s quiet. All I hear is my own heart pounding.”
“You’ll do great.” He gave her harness a final check.
“The view better be worth it,” she said, grumbling to work up some fight.
Good. She’s thinking ahead, not looking back. Before she could point out that maybe he needed a safety rope, he climbed the first five feet. “Can you see what I’m doing?”
“It’s like climbing a ladder.”
“Exactly. Take it one step at a time.” He scaled the rest of the slanted wall like a billy goat and hauled himself over the edge. Twenty yards away, the top half of Echo Falls, wider and gentler than the lower falls, spewed from a mossy cliff. To his left, a calm blue pool reflected the sky and clouds, and to his right a trail wound back through a shady forest. Captivated as always, he paused to drink in the beauty.
“Jake!”
“I’m here.”
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I’m at the top now. How are you?”
“Okay, but . . .” She paused. “I just want to get this over with. Waiting is awful.”
“That’s part of the challenge,” he called down to her. “Give me another minute.”
He secured the safety rope to a piton mounted permanently in the rock. This was a popular hike in the summer, another reason he’d chosen it. It offered just the right amount of challenge for someone new to the experience. If Mia needed his help at all, it would be at the top of the climb.
“Mia?” He gave the rope a tug to signal her. “Are you ready?”
No! This is insane. I want to go home right now.
What if Jake fell? How would she get him down? Would her phone work? How long would it take for a helicopter to arrive and lift them off the mountain?
She stared intently at the niches and clefts scattered twenty feet above her head. Don’t look down. But she did. Her body swayed and her stomach rebelled. She couldn’t imagine climbing higher—with nothing at her back.
The rope attached to her harness jiggled. Knowing she wouldn’t fall more than a few feet should have reassured her, but what if the piton or pin—whatever it was—gave way? The waterfall tumbled to her left, the roar distant and terrifying.
She could still go back; Jake would understand. But if she quit now, how could she face the mystery challenge from Mission Medical? It wasn’t in Mia’s nature to retreat from a challenge, and she refused to start now. She took a deep breath, blew it out, then placed her hand on the exact hold Jake had used. Next she used her toe to find a niche. With her body slanted, she pulled herself up and felt almost secure.
The first step is the hardest. She made the second step, and the third.
“Hey, Mia,” Jake called down, his voice as calm as if they were in the Tanner kitchen. “How’s it going?”
That calm tone! Instead of soothing her, his ease rankled her. “Easy as pie—not!” In a burst of anger, she made three more moves, but she stepped too fast and her left foot slipped.
“Jake!”
“Take it slow, Mia. I’ve got you.”
Did he really? Could she trust Jake, the rope, the pins and hooks and things she didn’t even know the names of? No. She couldn’t. He was human. Accidents happened.
But where else could she go but up? Forcing air into her lungs, she dug her gloved fingers into the next cleft in the rock. Cleft . . . rock. The old Fanny Crosby hymn played through her mind, the part about God hiding her soul in the cleft of a rock. Mia couldn’t fully trust Jake or anyone else, but she could trust God.
Clearing her mind of everything except
the rock and her body, she climbed steadily, calling out her progress to Jake until she reached a ledge about ten feet below the lip of the canyon. The wall was almost vertical here.
She pictured Jake scaling the wall. Taller and stronger, he had climbed the last stretch and hauled himself over the edge by brute strength. No way could Mia leverage herself over the top the way he had. She would need to find hand- and footholds of her own.
She placed one foot in a niche, fixed her hands as best as she could, and started the most treacherous part of the climb. One move. Two moves. Her muscles strained against her own weight, but the wall was less vertical than it first appeared, enabling her to keep her weight forward.
Just a few more moves. But then the rock crumbled and her right foot slipped. Her left leg buckled, leaving her hanging by her hands. In front of her eyes, the rope remained slack, offering a silent promise that she wouldn’t fall far, but also a warning that she would still fall.
“Jake!”
“You can do this, Mia.”
“I lost my footing. I’m stuck—”
“Stay calm and search for a fresh hold.”
Don’t think. Just do it. She crawled another six inches. Then three. Panting now, she paused to catch her breath but couldn’t. If she wasn’t careful, she’d hyperventilate. Every muscle in her body trembled, and the top was still two feet away. She didn’t have the strength to make another move. Terrified of sliding, she opened her mouth to call for help.
Before the words scraped over her dry lips, the rope tightened. The next thing she knew, she was being lifted. When her hands found purchase on the edge of the cliff, she pulled herself over the rim. Oddly weightless, she sprawled face first in the dirt. Her panicked lungs gulped for air. Dust dried her nostrils and throat, and when she dared to open her eyes, she saw a single, trampled blade of grass defiantly reaching for the sky.
Turning her head, she saw Jake’s boots inches from her nose, heels up to indicate he was in a crouch.
He laid a hand on her back between the harness straps and rubbed gently. “Mia?”
The warmth of his touch seeped through her shirt and all the way to her heart. She couldn’t seem to find her voice, even air. She was alive. Blessedly alive!
“Mia.” The word was a command, his tone the same one Mia used to pull patients out of a drugged sleep. “Mia. Are you all right?”
“I’m—I’m—” Fine. Unbridled laughter billowed from her belly to her chest and out of her mouth. Rolling to her back, she raised both fists to the sky and let out a rebel yell. “I did it!”
She yelled again, just because she could.
Grinning, Jake stood and offered his hand. She took it, and he pulled her upright and into a hug so tight she thought her ribs would crack. Or she would crack his.
She buried her face in the crook of his neck. “We did it.” We. The word tumbled and spun in her mind.
Jake loosened his arms. “I want to show you something.” Keeping her close, he turned her around to face the postcard view of the river spilling down the canyon. Dark water splashed around jutting boulders, and from this angle she saw the silvery white plume of the lower falls glistening in the sun like a thousand tumbling stars.
Tears of joy rushed to her eyes. This was God’s handiwork, His magnificent creation. The work of the Father who gave His Son for the redemption of all mankind. Love burned in her chest, both for the Creator and the creation. “It’s stunning.”
“Now turn around.” Keeping her close, he guided her in a half circle.
Her gaze skimmed the calm pool rimmed by coarse sand, then the foamy water directly below the second falls, and finally the crystalline curtain spilling from a lip of rock about ten feet wide. Where the bottom waterfall crashed and roared, the upper one splashed like rain. The music of it calmed her even as she took in the mossy wall of rock.
Confident, she turned to Jake and pointed at it. “Are we going up that one too?”
“No. We’re done climbing.” He moved to face her and unhooked the harness.
Mia covered his hands with hers to stop him. “What about the trip down? Won’t I need it?”
“We’ll take the long way back.”
The long way? “You mean we didn’t need to climb the wall to get here?”
“No, but we needed to climb the wall.” He went back to working the harness buckles. “Now you’re ready for skydiving or car racing—whatever Mission Medical throws at you.”
“I guess I am,” she admitted as she stepped out of the harness. “But I’m very glad I don’t have to climb back down. That last part was terrifying.”
Jake dropped the harness on the ground and gripped both her hands. “But you did it, Mia.”
“We did it.”
“That was the point.” His eyes bored into hers. “Trust, remember?”
“I’ll never forget it. Jake, I—” I love you. But the words froze on her tongue.
Confused, she stared down at the ground. If she could trust Jake with her physical safety, surely she could trust him with her heart. But once she said those three words, there would be no going back. What about Mission Medical? She believed with her whole heart that God had opened that door. How could she go back on the promise she had made to Him?
Jake waited, patient as always, until she found the right words.
“Something deep inside me changed today. I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m seeing my life in a new light.”
“New possibilities?”
“Yes.” The word whispered over her lips, a confession that could change everything between them. “I’m having second thoughts about Mission Medical.”
One corner of his mouth lifted, but he schooled it into a gentle line. “I won’t lie, Mia. I want you to stay in Echo Falls, but more than anything, I want you to live the life God made just for you.”
“Thank you.”
“I know you, and you don’t like loose ends.”
She laughed. “Very true.”
“So you need to finish what you started with the job application. If they turn you down, the decision is made.”
“And if they don’t?”
“Maybe you could go on a one-time mission trip instead,” he suggested. “Live your dream.”
“Maybe.” But was Mission Medical really her dream? Or was she using it to fill the gap left by Brad? God had opened the door—at least so far—but He had also opened doors here in Echo Falls. Mia shook her head. “It’s too much to think about right now.”
“We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.” He paused. “Or you will. That’s a decision only you can make.”
Her heart ached and soared at the same time. No one understood her the way Jake did. But even better, they understood each other.
“Now”—he flashed a grin—“I have one more surprise for you.”
“A good one?”
“The best one yet.”
Mia walked at his side toward the waterfall, trusting him every step of the way. When they reached the bottom, she saw a gap between two vertical rocks. Jake led her between them, angling his wide shoulders to fit in the narrow space.
A gloomy darkness enveloped them until they stepped into a cave hidden by the waterfall. Sunlight gleamed through the tumbling water, turning it into dancing ribbons of silver and white. The damp air rushed into her lungs. Supercharged with oxygen, that first breath heightened her senses to an exquisite tingle. She smelled the earthy rock, the pure mountain water, and finally Jake’s skin as he cupped her face in his hands.
He brought his mouth down to hers in a kiss that burned away whatever doubts remained about trusting him. How could she not love this strong, generous man who put the needs of others before his own? Was it too much to say that he loved her like God did? Maybe. After all, he was human. But at that moment, with the water tumbling and washing away her hurt, she decided Jake was right about surprises. Some of them were good. But others, like falling in love with the right man, were spectacular
.
Chapter
23
Jake considered the hike to Echo Falls a huge success. A week later, when he drove Mia to the airport for her flight to Dallas, she glowed with confidence. Even better was the hint that she couldn’t wait to get home.
“It’s just a week,” he said to her at the security gate, “but I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too.” She glanced at the x-ray machines, saw only a few people in line, and turned back to him. “I really hate to skip out on the zoning meeting. I can’t even call to find out what happened.”
Nor could Jake call her to be sure she wasn’t half-drowned in a river. As part of the team-building exercise, Mia was under what Mission Medical called radio silence. No cell phones. No computers. Her only link to the outside world was a phone number Jake, Lucy, or Kelsey could call in case of an emergency.
Mia glanced again at the empty security area. “You’ll keep an eye on Lucy, won’t you?”
“Of course.”
“If anything at all happens—”
“I’ll call the emergency line. I promise.”
“Jake, I just don’t know—”
“So go,” he said. “Go and find your answers.”
When her eyes misted, he gripped the handle of her carry-on and walked her to the guide ropes for the security check. “You’ll do great, Mia. Call as soon as you can, okay?”
“I will.”
After a final kiss, he watched until she passed through the checkpoint and disappeared from his sight.
With Mia out of his life for the next week, Jake gave his dad extra help with the vending business to keep from missing her so much. He was checking the candy inventory on Tuesday afternoon when his cell phone rang and he saw the caller ID from the local sheriff’s office.
Deputy Brian Ross offered a friendly hello, then got down to business. “About the vandalism at Mia’s clinic—I know she’s gone, so I’m calling you.”
“Any progress?” Jake hoped so, because he was tired of the rumors. He couldn’t go anywhere without someone bringing up the vandalism—either to support him or to warn him.
“We have a suspect,” Brian said, “and a confession. The girl Mia suspected of drug seeking turned out to be the seventeen-year-old girlfriend of one of the boys who broke into the pharmacy. The kids live in the Springs, but the boy’s family owns a weekend place here in Echo Falls.”
The Two of Us Page 23