Working It Out (A Romantic Comedy)

by Rachael Anderson

  Seth pulled her in for a quick kiss then said, “You’ll be a natural, trust me. And don’t worry. I’m starting you off with the easiest trail around. One ride, and I guarantee you’ll be hooked.”

  Grace wasn’t so sure about that. But she hadn’t been sure about paintballing either, and now she loved it. Maybe she’d feel the same about mountain biking. Maybe she might even come away with a better attitude about her brother wanting to give it a try.

  “Okay,” she reluctantly agreed. “Let me grab my shoes, and we can go.”

  Less than an hour later, Grace stood next to her bike while Seth tightened the strap on her helmet.

  “These are duel-suspension bikes,” Seth explained, “so they’ll absorb pretty much every bump you come across and keep the ride pretty smooth—even the large bumps. So don’t be afraid to take them head on.” He gave her a few additional pointers before mounting his own bike and clicking one of his shoes to the pedal.

  “Your feet are locked to the pedals?” Grace stared at his feet, horrified. She knew a lot of street bikes had pedals like that, but had no idea mountain bikes did too. It seemed so wrong. Possibly even suicidal. No wonder people broke or tore so many of their body parts.

  “It makes riding easier, but I definitely wouldn’t recommend it for a beginner.”

  Grace wouldn’t recommend it for anyone. “What if you hit something and lose your balance?”

  He grinned. “You either get out of the binding fast or you go down with the bike.”

  The nervous pit that had come and gone since Grace had first seen the bikes returned with a vengeance. What had she gotten herself into?

  “Ready?” he asked.

  No. Not now. Probably not ever. She swallowed. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  Seth pushed off and locked his second shoe into the pedal. Grace tentatively followed. The trail turned out to be pretty smooth, and before long, she found herself relaxing. The peace and beauty of the surrounding mountains breathed new life into her. It was nothing like riding on a trail through a crowded park. No wonder Seth loved this sport so much.

  They rounded a bend, and the terrain suddenly changed. It sloped downhill, and the once-smooth and flat trail became rough. Ruts, tree roots, and large rocks invaded the path and slowed their progress—or at least Grace’s progress. Her body tensed as she maneuvered her way through them, stopping every so often to walk her bike over a particularly large obstacle. Seth, on the other hand, only stopped to wait for her to catch up. He seemed so at ease, taking each bump with the fluidity of an expert.

  During one particularly tricky patch, Grace hopped off her bike yet again and lifted it over the large, protruding root of a massive pine. Before mounting again, she watched Seth with both admiration and envy as he surged ahead, climbing a steeper section of the trail with what looked like very little effort.

  His front tire suddenly jerked to the left, and Seth pitched forward over the handlebars, taking the bike with him. He hit the ground hard on his right shoulder before his bike finally broke free from the bindings. It bounced down the hill like a ping pong ball then clattered to the ground near Grace’s feet.

  “Seth!” she screamed. She dropped her bike and stumbled forward, leaping over his as she ran toward him. She was suddenly at the bottom of the ski run again, watching Alec over-rotate his jump and land on his back. Had Seth injured his spinal cord? Had he broken his neck? Back? The worries collided in her mind as she dropped down beside him.

  “Please tell me you’re okay,” she said with a shaky voice.

  Seth started to sit up, and Grace immediately pushed him back down. “Don’t move.”

  “Relax,” he breathed. “I just got the wind knocked out of me, that’s all. Look.” Seth raised one foot and wiggled it in the air. “I can move it just fine. My arms work too.” He grabbed Grace around the waist and tried to pull her toward him, but she resisted.

  “Oh c’mon,” he joked. “Don’t you want to kiss me better?”

  How could Seth joke at a time like this? Was he hiding some pain or injury that he didn’t want Grace to know about? “You promise you’re okay?”

  “Promise.” He rolled to a sitting position with a groan. “Just a little bruised, that’s all. No biggie. This isn’t the first time I’ve fallen, and I always walked away just fine.”

  Grace didn’t feel the least bit comforted. After all, Alec could have said the same thing before the day of his skiing accident. But not anymore. Grace couldn’t help but worry if the day would come when Seth couldn’t say the same either.

  She wanted to tell him to stop mountain biking, that he couldn’t do this anymore, no matter how much he enjoyed it. But the words lodged in her throat as if they knew they had no right to be spoken.

  “I’m okay, Grace, really.” Seth’s hand rubbed up and down her arm as his eyes pleaded with her to not worry.

  From the looks of things, he was okay—this time. But that didn’t mean Grace could turn off the worry, especially now that she’d witnessed firsthand what could happen on a mountain bike. And Seth had called this trail “easy.” What were the more difficult trails like? She shuddered at the thought.

  “Would it be okay if we turned back now?” she finally said, more than a little shaken. Suddenly, a crowded park trail seemed like a wonderful thing.

  With concern etched across his brow, Seth nodded slowly. “Yeah, okay. You’ve already seen the best part of this trail anyway.”

  It was then that Grace realized something. Once the terrain had become more challenging, she hadn’t noticed the scenery at all. She’d been too focused on not falling, and where was the fun in that? Nowhere.

  Keeping the thought to herself, Grace stood and held out her hand to help Seth up. In no time, they were back on the trail with Grace taking the lead. Their progress was even slower than before, with more uphill climbs, but they eventually made their way back to the car. As Seth finished strapping the bikes to the roof of his car, Grace sat in the passenger seat and stared through the windshield at a cluster of dark green pines. While the beauty still surrounded her, the peace was absent, replaced by an almost haunting foreboding. What if something bad happened to Seth? How would she handle it?

  When Seth slid in next to her, he reached over and laced his fingers through hers, inadvertently reminding her of how well they fit together. Grace squeezed his hand and pushed the worries to the back of her mind.

  GRACE RAPPED LIGHTLY on her brother’s door and stood back, tapping her foot against his concrete front porch as she waited impatiently for someone to answer. Normally, she’d let herself in, but Lanna’s car was parked out front, and Grace wasn’t about to barge in on them.

  Only thirty minutes earlier, Seth had dropped her off at her apartment, where she’d quickly cleaned herself up before jumping in her car and driving straight here. She had a small window of time before Seth returned to pick her up for dinner, so she needed to get back soon. They planned to take the ferry over to Bainbridge Island in a few hours.

  Grace should have waited until the next day, but she couldn’t bring herself to be patient. She needed to talk to someone. Now. Although she’d originally come to for Alec, seeing Lanna’s car made Grace realize that the person she really needed was Lanna.

  The door opened, and Lanna appeared. She wore an apron, held a wooden mixing spoon, and had a smudge of something gooey on her cheek. “It’s Grace,” Lanna called over her shoulder before turning back to Grace with a bright smile. “So glad you’re here. You’re just in time for caramel popcorn.”

  Grace laughed. “Who eats caramel popcorn at three o’clock in the afternoon?” Her stomach growled as she said it, and Grace realized she hadn’t eaten lunch. Only a couple of granola bars Seth had given her after their mountain biking fiasco.

  “We do.” Lanna pulled Grace inside and shut the door. “Just wait until you try it. It’s my own special mixture of marshmallows, brown sugar, and butter. You’ll love it.”

  Grace’s st
omach growled again, louder this time, and Lanna pointed a finger. “See? You know you want some.”

  Alec sat on the couch, watching a How It’s Made episode on TV. A large machine pressed down, cutting circles from large black leather sheets for who knew what. Grace shook her head. Her brother had always loved that show.

  “Hey, Grace, long time no see,” Alec said dryly. He still came to her clinic twice a week to work out, so it had only been two days since she’d seen him.

  “I’m here for Lanna, not you,” Grace quipped, biting her tongue so she wouldn’t add, “so there.”

  “Really? You came to see me?” Lanna grinned as she drew Grace into the kitchen and filled a bowl with delicious-smelling caramel popcorn. She pushed it toward Grace. “I know we just saw each other at Seth’s party the other day, but we didn’t really get to talk much. How are the wedding plans coming along?”

  “Slow.” Grace pulled up a chair and sat down, eating a handful of some of the best caramel corn she’d ever had. “You know Seth. Deciding on invitations, food, and photographers isn’t his thing. If it were up to him, he’d take me to the courthouse tomorrow and seal the deal.”

  “Don’t you dare,” said Lanna. “You need a proper wedding so I can be a proper bridesmaid. Speaking of which, we’re still on for shopping Monday night, right? I’ve already told Seth and Alec that they’re on their own for the night.”

  “Definitely.” With her mom living across the country, Grace would have had to shop for wedding dresses alone if it weren’t for Lanna. Besides, a girls’ night out with Lanna was exactly what Grace needed right now. No extreme sports, no stress about her future husband—just a fun evening out.

  “Have you scheduled the church yet?” Lanna asked.

  “Yeah. For October seventeenth.”

  “So soon?” Lanna’s smile widened. She clapped her hands and gave an excited hop. “Yay! But oh my goodness, we have so much to do before then. Order flowers, schedule a caterer and a band, pick invitations, find a good photographer . . .”

  Lanna continued with her list while Grace fought to push away the unsettled feelings in her gut. When the scheduler for the church had said the soonest available date was mid October, Grace thought it sounded too far away. But not anymore. Now, two months felt more like a blink of an eye. Was Grace ready to walk down the aisle toward a guy who loved to risk his neck on a daily basis? After this morning, she wasn’t so sure.

  “Earth to Grace,” Lanna cooed, her eyes sharp and speculative. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, I, uh—” Grace stopped. This was why she’d come, wasn’t it? To lay her fears on the table and pray that someone could smash them to pieces? “Actually, I need to talk to you.”

  Lanna’s eyes filled with worry. “Oh no, what’s wrong?”

  Grace went on to explain about the morning’s events—how Seth had taken her on a “mild” ride then proceeded to pitch himself over his handlebars. Grace explained her fears, worries, and reasons behind her hesitation. With each sentence, the pit in her stomach grew.

  “I just don’t understand why Seth likes mountain biking, heli-skiing, or any other sport that could land him in the hospital with a broken neck or worse,” Grace finished, her eyes pleading with Lanna to make the pit go away.

  Lanna let out a breath and offered a sympathetic smile. She pulled up a barstool next to Grace and sat down, leaning her elbow on the counter. “There’s a reason he’s like that, you know.”

  “Why?” Maybe if Grace understood that aspect of him a little better, she’d come to accept him for who he was and not worry so much.

  “He’s told you about my brother, Mike, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  Lanna nodded. “The two of them were so close, like brothers. When Mike found out he had an advanced form of stomach cancer and there was nothing to be done but try to slow it down, they decided to live life to the fullest for whatever time Mike had left. They went sky-diving, heli-skiing, got into mountain biking and bungee jumping, and even flew to Myrtle Beach to race cars. You name it, they tried it. It was almost like Mike wanted something else to get him first, and Seth went along with it because he’s incredibly loyal—almost to a fault.

  Lanna let out a breath and dropped her gaze to the table. “After Mike finally passed away, I thought Seth would tone it down, but he didn’t. Instead, he found new friends—ones that loved the adrenalin rush as much as him. At first I was angry, because it seemed like he didn’t mourn at all for my brother, but then I realized he was just mourning in his own way, by doing those things that reminded him of Mike. I think that’s partly why he still loves that kind of stuff. In a way, it keeps Mike alive.”

  Lanna leaned closer and placed her hand over Grace’s. “When Seth loves, he loves deeply. Look at the way he never gave up trying to help me with my program or the way he never gave up with you. He’s there for the people he loves and always will be.” She paused, meeting Grace’s eyes once again. “He adores you, Grace. He’s always had a pretty upbeat personality, but I’ve never seen him as happy as he’s been these past couple of months. If anyone can tone him down, it’s you.”

  As Lanna talked, the pit in Grace’s stomach gradually dissolved, leaving her feeling relieved. Lanna’s honest and heartfelt words not only soothed Grace’s worries, but it made her see Seth in a new light. She understood him better and admired him even more. And with that understanding came the knowledge that she needed to embrace the adventurous side of him because it was part of what made Seth Seth. A big part.

  Grace pulled her hand free and wrapped her arms around Lanna. “Thank you,” she said. “For being such a great sister to Seth and to me. You have no idea how much I needed to hear that.”

  When Lanna pulled back there were tears in her eyes. “I’ve never had a sister before.”

  Grace smiled and hugged her one last time. “You do now.”

  FOLLOWING HER TALK with Lanna, Grace’s doubts all but vanished. On Monday, they went shopping as planned and found the perfect wedding dress: A Bateau sheath gown that hugged Grace’s body from its elegant capped sleeves to her waist. But her favorite part was the way it fanned out in a beautiful A-line skirt that swished as she moved. Grace fell in love with it instantly and looked forward to the wedding more than ever, especially after Lanna introduced her to an incredibly talented photographer.

  Everything was back on track.

  Saturday morning, Seth took her wakeboarding. Normally Grace loved riding on the boat and waterskiing, but every time Seth dove in the water to take his turn, she felt the stirrings of another pit in her stomach. He pulled stunt after stunt after stunt—everything from something he called a heelside raley to a back roll. Grace stiffened when his board left the water then let out a breath when he landed safely or came up for air. But then he attempted something called The Whirlybird, lost his balance mid-air, and landed hard on the side of his head. Even above the noise of the engine Grace could still hear the thwack. Her heart beat a million times a second until he resurfaced and slowly made his way toward the boat with a bleeding nose.

  Owen joked and teased, Seth joked back, and Grace remained tense and worried for the duration of the ride. And a doubt crept back in.

  A few days later, Seth took her to a rock gym. As she tightened her harness, Seth explained that it was the perfect place to learn the basics before they went for a “real” climb in the mountains. Grace pictured the IMAX movie she’d once seen of some crazy climber scaling a two-hundred foot cliff in Zion National Park, and the doubts came rushing back like a wave breaking on the beach.

  But when she and Seth took a walk through the park, taste-tested food for their wedding, started coaching fall soccer, and went kayaking, the doubts subsided, and Grace was never more sure that Seth was the person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Why couldn’t all their dates be like that—fun, adventurous, and romantic?

  If only.

  About a month before their wedding, Seth drove Grace to an
unknown destination, telling her it was a surprise. Normally, she loved surprises, but with Seth, they’d sort of lost their appeal. Would today be the day they climbed a real mountain? She hoped not, although Seth was headed away from the mountains, not toward them, so that couldn’t be it. Her stomach twisted into knots as they continued to drive.

  This is who Seth is. You can’t change him, nor do you want to. Which was true. His loyalty and love of life were two of the reasons Grace had fallen for him in the first place. She needed to remember that.

  Seth finally turned into a parking lot with a sign that read Harvey’s Airfield and cut the engine. He twisted toward her and grinned. “Ready?”

  Butterflies whipped around in Grace’s stomach. An airfield. Somehow, she knew they weren’t here to take a nice, calm scenic flight over the beautiful Seattle area.

  “For what?” she mustered. Don’t say skydiving. Please don’t say skydiving.

  “We’re going skydiving.”

  The butterflies turned into large angry bats, beating against her insides. Lanna’s once-comforting words dissolved into a pile of ash as the pit returned with a vengeance. If Seth wanted to jump out of a plane at who knew what altitude to careen through the skies so he could keep Mike’s memory alive, he’d have to do it without her.

  Grace stared at the small airplane hanger, still not moving to release her seatbelt. “Correction,” she finally said. “You’re going skydiving. I’m staying right here.”

  Silence. Grace could practically feel his eyes burning into her profile.

  “You don’t want to go?” he asked.

  Wasn’t it obvious? Of course she didn’t. All of her pent-up emotions that had been slowly building for the past several weeks broke loose. Grace clenched her fingers into fists as she turned to face him. “No, I don’t. Just like I don’t want to rock climb for real, and I don’t want to go mountain biking again. Or heli-skiing, for that matter, just in case you get any ideas come winter. Seth, this is getting out of control. Actually, it got out of control the day your surgeon and I said you could resume normal activity. Then suddenly it’s like you have a death wish or something. I mean, you don’t, do you?”