Holly thought of Victoria, and imagined she’d do something like that too.
She clicked her mouse onto her calendar. The anniversary of Angel and David’s disappearance was seven months away.
Seven months. Could I have answers by then? It’d be wonderful to save Dorothy from another year of hell. Seven more months of training. She was already surprised with what she’d achieved in just one month.
May 25. Seven months. It was the perfect deadline to aim for.
Her dangling carrot.
She tugged the keyboard forward, searched Google until she found what she was looking for, then picked up her phone and dialed the number on the screen.
“Welcome to National Geographic, how may I direct your call?”
“Hello, I was wondering if you could help me. My name is Amber Hope, and I’m doing an article on the plane wreck one of your photographers, a Mr. Carter Logan, found in Canada. I’d like to interview him. Is it possible to obtain his contact details?” After being put through to five different people and explaining herself each time, she was given an email address for Carter.
It took her a good forty minutes to construct an email that she hoped would incite a response.
Amber glanced at her watch and was surprised that it was already quarter past six. After shutting down her computer, she devoured a quick quinoa salad, dressed for rock climbing, and dashed out her door.
She fell into the shadows outside Upper Limits and waited for the last of Oliver’s customers to leave. Two young women strolled up to Oliver. They stood close and openly flirted with him. He seemed to like their company and smiled and joked along with them.
The blonde said something to Oliver that Holly couldn’t hear, and he gave the women an interesting expression. It was a mixture of confidence and cheekiness, but there was also a touch of detachment too. Holly thought it was strange given that both women seemed to be toying with him.
The blonde woman kissed his cheek and the other slapped his bottom, and when he flashed them a cheeky grin, a bolt of jealousy flared across Amber’s mind. She smacked the ridiculous emotion aside. Oliver was well out of her league. To even consider that he may be interested was a rocky path to disappointment.
Amber studied the women as they ambled toward the exit. She guessed them to be about her age, but that’s where the similarity ended. Both were beautiful and confident, and both had stunning figures. They were giggling as they stepped outside and climbed into a red Volkswagen Beetle parked in front of the gym.
A few more people left, and Amber recognized the last man as one of Oliver’s regular customers. Because Oliver spoke so loudly when belaying for people on the wall, Amber had come to know a few of their names. This one was Neil, and based on how comfortable they were with each other, she believed he and Oliver were good friends.
Oliver walked Neil to the front door and said goodbye. But this time, after the customer had vanished from view, Oliver poked his head out the door. “You can come in now, Amber.”
She inwardly cringed as she stepped from the shadows.
“There you are.” Oliver’s smirk confirmed he’d enjoyed catching her out. “How’re you? Did you have a good weekend?”
He stepped aside and she walked through the front door. “Yes, thank you.” She headed toward the side wall.
“What’d you get into? Anything exciting?”
She hated that he asked this after every weekend. Her response each time had been that she’d done nothing and it made her sound pathetic. So, deciding there was no harm in it, she said, “I went skiing.”
“Skiing! Snow skiing?”
He seemed way too excited and she frowned. “Yes.”
“That’s excellent. I didn’t know you were a skier.”
She shifted her feet. “I’m learning.”
“Well, aren’t you Miss Adventurer.” The delight in his eyes made her happy she’d told him. Now she didn’t feel like a complete outsider.
“I haven’t been skiing in months. I should come up with you sometime.”
Her heart fluttered at his suggestion, but she quickly cast the foolish notion aside. He was just being nice. Oliver had young beautiful women falling all over him. He wouldn’t have any interest in a disfigured freak like her.
Forcing her brain to focus, she pulled her hair back. It had become second nature to do this now, and she barely had two thoughts about revealing her scar to Oliver. He seemed to have accepted it too, as his eyes had rarely wandered over it since that first time.
They had an efficient routine going now. While he fetched their harnesses, she prepared their ropes, and within five minutes of her arrival she was usually on the wall.
“I think you’re ready for the advanced climb.” He gave a half smile, maybe assessing her thoughts.
“Okay.” She didn’t hesitate. Now that she’d decided to have answers for Dorothy in seven months, she needed to set some more goals with her climbing. This seemed like the perfect place to start.
“Let’s do it then.” The green in his eyes was a luscious shade, the color of new mint leaves, and they dazzled with what she thought may’ve been a little pride. His gaze had her stomach fluttering, like it was filled with butterflies.
They moved to the front section of the warehouse. Amber glanced up the climbing wall and her tummy did a little vertigo flip. She smacked the queasiness away by stepping back and forcing herself to look at it more thoroughly. The fact that she’d progressed to this level was a miracle. Much of it had been a battle over her mind as well as her body. Doing both skiing and rock climbing had her body improving, but it didn’t stop her from feeling sore in nearly every muscle the day after each session.
Just like every Monday after her weekend skiing, she winced as she reached up to the first hold. But, ignoring the stiffness in her quads, she pushed on. With each grading progression she made along the climbing wall, the holds became smaller and farther apart. It required her to truly map out her route before committing to the next hold.
Halfway up, she reached a dead end. There didn’t seem to be another anchor point.
“It’s the pink one, to your right. You can do it, Amber.” Oliver’s encouragement floated up to her.
She loved and hated it.
Amber eyed the next hold. It was a pinch hold, which required her to squeeze the colorful lump between her thumb and fingers to keep her in position. To get to it, she had to stand on her right toes and counter her weight by extending her left leg out to correct her center of balance. Every muscle in her right leg trembled as she stretched her arm, her fingers, reaching… reaching. “Shit!”
She fell. As she swung back and forth on the rope, she clenched her jaw until her teeth hurt.
When she reached the mat, she stepped back to steady herself on the cushioning.
“It’s okay.” Oliver touched her shoulder. “You’ll get there.”
She glanced back up the wall and guessed it to be about forty feet to the top. That was farther than the fall she’d made into the frozen crevice. She shuddered at the memory.
“Hey.” He touched her arm. “You’ve made excellent progress.”
She shook her head. “It’s not fast enough.”
He frowned, and she instantly regretted her statement. “What’s not fast enough?”
“Nothing,” she snapped.
“I can tell it’s something. Amber, remember my rule: you must be honest with me.”
She glared into his green irises, silently pleading that he’d drop it. But Oliver wasn’t like that. Something about him left her battling the urge to reveal her darkest secrets.
She’d managed to avoid catastrophe so far, but she wondered if it was only a matter of time before her ruse was over. It was a double-edged sword. As much as she stressed over her secret identity being revealed, she ached with the desire to divulge her true self.
“Amber…” Oliver’s gentle squeeze on her shoulder lured her from her tumbling thoughts. “What is it? You can te
ll me.”
She shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
“Does it have anything to do with your scar?”
She covered her cheek with her hand and a sob caught in her throat. The pity in his eyes cut like a thousand knives. She had to get out of there. Snapping the belt clips open, she let the harness fall to her feet.
“Hey, what’re you doing? Don’t go.”
She stepped from the brace and kicked it aside.
“I’m sorry. Amber, please.”
He reached for her arm but she yanked it away. “Don’t.” She blinked back tears, gathered her bag, and strode for the door.
“Amber, I’m sorry. It’s none of my business. I shouldn’t have asked.”
Tears tumbled down her cheeks, and with each step toward her apartment she was torn between running home and running back to him, falling into his arms, and telling him every sordid detail about her wretched life.
Chapter Fourteen
Oliver waved at his mother, who was walking toward him from the opposite side of the field. The way she was holding her elbows and her slight limp confirmed her arthritis was giving her trouble again. In the last couple of years, the cruel disease had taken its toll and she’d given up her two favorite loves: golf and tennis. That, in turn, had her putting on weight that she couldn’t shift, which only placed more pressure on her already crippling knees. It was a vicious cycle that looked to have no recovery point.
She opened her arms as she neared and Oliver squeezed her in a bear hug. Her breathing was ragged and he hated listening to the rattle in her chest.
“Is Dad coming?” Oliver’s father wasn’t as committed as his mother to watching Kurt practice his baseball, but he’d never missed a game.
“No, he’s trying to fix the stupid dishwasher.”
Oliver’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh no.” His father was well-known for his handyman mishaps.
“Yeah, so be ready to come to the rescue later.”
Oliver chuckled. “Sure. Just give me a call. Okay, let me go sort this bunch out.” He thumbed over his shoulder at the team of rowdy teenage boys gathering at home plate.
“Alright, you guys, let’s go for a run.” There were as many groans as there were kids who took off at a sprint. “Last ten boys to reach the fence will do ten more push-ups.” That got them moving, and they roared together as they collectively ran toward the opposite end of the field. Oliver kept up with them, giving them as much gentle encouragement as assertiveness.
His brother Kurt was one of the stronger boys. Kurt had shot right past his mother in height before he was twelve and was already nearly up to Oliver’s shoulders. He wouldn’t be surprised if Kurt was the tallest in the family by the time he finished growing.
Oliver was sixteen when his mother sat him and Dane down and told them she was having another baby. He’d been horrified at the time. The concept of having a snotty screaming baby in the house was his worst nightmare. But right from the moment Kurt was born, Oliver had felt a special bond to his kid brother. Despite the seventeen years between them, they were best friends. And each year only got better.
Oliver went through the regular drills, working the kids into a sweat and improving their batting and fielding skills. But most of all it was about exercise, fun, and camaraderie. Oliver’s philosophy was that developing lifelong friendships was just as important as hitting a home run.
He separated the boys into two teams and put half on the field and the other half into a batting order. Oliver was adamant about letting all the kids have a turn, regardless of their ability. Some of the parents didn’t agree, but it was always the ones who thought their boys were better than the others. But Oliver stood his ground, and in his four years of coaching he’d only had five kids removed by parents who didn’t support his coaching style.
He blew the whistle. “Batter up.”
Joshua stepped forward, swinging the bat back and forth. He was a little kid, one of the smallest on the team. Joshua had a nervous stutter and preferred to slink into the shadows rather than get involved. But put a baseball bat in his hands and he could belt that ball better than some of the boys twice his size.
The pitcher wound up and let the ball fly. Joshua released his fury, connecting to the ball in the sweet spot. The batting team cheered as the ball sailed over the top of the center fielder. As Oliver followed the ball’s trajectory his eyes fell on a jogger making slow progress across the darkened paddock in the distance. He squinted, blinked, and then frowned. The jogger looked like Amber.
As Joshua skipped to home plate, already cheering his home run, Oliver made up his mind to go investigate the jogger for himself. He removed his whistle from around his neck and handed it to Joshua. “Great hit, buddy. You did so well, you’re in charge for the next four batters.”
Joshua’s eyes lit up. “Me?”
“Yep. Don’t take any crap from them, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Let me hear you blow the whistle.”
Joshua inhaled a deep breath and made the whistle screech. “Listen up, boys. Joshua’s in charge for next four batters. I don’t want to hear any trouble. Got it?”
There was a mumble around the field.
“I can’t hear you.”
“Yes, coach,” most of them yelled in unison.
Oliver didn’t explain where he was going, he just took off at full pace, trying to catch up to the mysterious jogger before he missed her. He left the field, crossed beneath a row of oak trees, and reached the walking path that stretched from one end of Brambleton to the other. He spied the jogger in the distance. Their gait was rough, as if they’d hit absolute exhaustion, yet they kept right on going. As he neared, he convinced himself that it was indeed Amber.
She didn’t strike him as the jogging type.
When he was close enough, he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “Amber!”
The person continued on and he wondered if she had music buds in her ears.
He called again, closer this time, but again she didn’t stop.
Oliver was barely sixty feet away when he called her name the third time. She jumped and looked over her shoulder.
He waved, and as she slowed to a stop and bent over, resting her hands on her knees, he strode right up to her. “Hey. I didn’t know you were a jogger.”
She shook her head. “Not.” She huffed a few breaths. “See?”
Recognizing that she’d truly pushed herself to the limit, he rested his hand on her shoulder. “Deep breaths, nice and slow. Good for you. How long have you been doing this?”
She swallowed and inhaled a few deep breaths. “First time.”
“You’re doing so well.” As she tried to catch her breath, he saw a woman who was drawing on some kind of dogged determination, but beneath that was an equally strong veil of insecurity. Not for the first time, Oliver wondered if Amber was in a situation she was trying to claw out of.
“Not really.” Again, she shook her head, and he noticed her burn scar was flushed even redder than usual.
“Well, I think you are.”
Amber released her clasp on her knees and gradually stood up.
When she seemed to be coping better, he said, “You didn’t come to rock climbing yesterday.”
She gave a little shrug and looked to the ground in a way that hid her scarred cheek.
“I’m really sorry about what I said. It’s none of my business.” He placed his hand on her arm and for the first time she didn’t pull back. His heart skipped a beat and he had to resist the urge to pull her to his chest and hold her tight enough to extinguish her troubles.
For Amber’s sake, he had to be patient.
She puffed out her cheeks and, with a roll of her eyes, let out a long slow breath. “It’s okay. I overreacted.”
Despite the dimmed light, he was once again captured by the color of her eyes. He’d never seen such an intense shade of blue. “So, do we have a truce?” He held out his hand.
When
she placed her palm in his, a wave of relief swept through him. When she kept it there, he recognized it as a huge step forward for her.
“We have a truce.”
“Does this mean you’ll be back tomorrow night?”
When she released his grip, it was like a piece of him had been torn away. “As long as I can move I will.”
“You’ll be able to move so well, I think you’ll smack that bell at the top in no time.”
She smiled, and the transformation was spectacular. An unexpected warmth flooded him and the desire to hug her had his heart thumping.
Their eyes met, and for once she seemed to let her guard down. For a couple of heartbeats, he had a feeling she wanted say something. He waited, holding his breath, urging the moment to linger. But as quickly as it appeared, the cloud of sadness crossed her stunning irises and she lowered her gaze.
“Okay… well…” She pointed at the path.
“Yeah, I’ve gotta get back to Middle League. I’m so glad I saw you.”
A small frown rippled her forehead but swiftly dissolved. “See you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” he agreed. “Don’t be late.”
“Never.”
He took one last glance at her before he set a pace back toward the baseball field. Just before he crossed the line of trees, he turned to jog backwards and noticed Amber was still watching him. He waved, and his heart skipped a beat when she waved back. Spinning on his heel, he picked up his pace and sprinted to his position behind home plate.
He spent the next half hour with one eye on the baseball action and one eye looking for Amber’s return jog. But either he missed her or she took a different route.
After the training session, he curled his arm over his little brother’s shoulder and walked him back to their mother, who was chatting with some of the other women.
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