Jon walked beside Stella as she led the way along a well-marked, zigzag path up the steep mountainside, while the others trailed behind. Mostly, the group remained quiet, lost in their own thoughts, the silence only occasionally broken by the girls’ voices or the jangling of goat bells.
The air was fairly cool and they needed their sweatshirts. However, the layers soon started to come off as they continued their climb through stony desert, past crippled old trees and wildflowers humming with bees collecting pollen.
After about an hour and a half, they came to an abandoned village with an ancient white church, which Stella had read about in her guidebook. It was built in the form of a crucifix with a hexagonal dome, and sat right on the edge of the canyon.
From here, it wasn’t too far to the famous, wooden-planked Aradena Bridge, which spanned the entire width of the yawning gorge. Stella didn’t dare glance into the seemingly bottomless void, fearing she might faint.
Up to now, they hadn’t seen another soul, but they spotted a few folk ahead when they began the slow descent into the canyon.
At first, the slope was fairly gentle, but before long, the ground shelved steeply, with slippery rocks underfoot. Stella had to keep her wits about her.
At times, she clung to small bushes for support, or slid on her bottom down boulders before clambering up the other side.
Soon, they were in complete shade, amidst towering walls of red stone. A golden eagle circled above them in the slim patch of sky visible overhead, before it landed on the craggy mountainside.
It remained there for quite some time, looking down on them haughtily from its throne-like perch. When Stella tried to take a picture, however, it flew off like a stroppy celebrity, tired of its irritating fans.
She was concentrating so hard on not falling, for quite some time, she forgot about Jon, who was a little way ahead. She was enjoying the physical challenge and her brain felt sharp and clear.
The fog of confusion rapidly descended again, though, when he stopped to wait for her. Glancing back, she could see the others were quite far behind and would take a while to catch up.
‘Wow! It’s pretty demanding,’ she said when she reached him. She was desperate to keep the conversation light. She took the water bottle out of her backpack and had a drink. ‘The scenery’s stunning. I thought it would be much more crowded but there’s hardly anyone else here.’
He didn’t reply and she noticed he no longer looked cheery, as he had first thing this morning, but intense and serious.
Her heart fluttered and she quickly replaced the water bottle and tried to walk past him, but he stood in her way.
‘Stella?’ he said with an urgency she couldn’t ignore.
‘Yes?’
‘Have you thought any more about what I said?’
The flutter in her chest became a wild beating of wings.
‘I meant it, you know. Every word. It’s torture, seeing you like this every day and not being able to show how I feel.’
Suddenly, Stella felt very alone. She glanced back again and the gap between her and the others had narrowed, but they were still too far away to be of any use.
Black vultures circled ominously above and she noticed a dead goat lying on the ground a little way ahead. Others were perched precariously on the mountainside; it wasn’t surprising if they sometimes fell off.
She remembered Louise, and realised she wouldn’t help anyway. Jon was Stella’s problem. Louise had made it quite clear.
‘Look,’ Stella said, her mouth turning dry, ‘I’ve told you I’m not interested. You’ve got to stop this. You mustn’t talk about it any more.’
Jon dropped the backpack he was holding and sank to the ground.
‘I can’t bear it.’ There was a catch in his voice and he shook his head desolately.
Her natural instinct was to reach out with a hug to anyone in pain, but she stopped herself.
‘You’ll get over it. Truly.’
‘I won’t.’
Stella’s eyes pricked and a hard lump, like a pebble, stuck in her throat. She tried to push past him again but he grabbed her arm and hot tears started to trickle down her cheeks.
‘Let me go,’ she said, roughly shaking him off. ‘Can’t you see I’ve had enough?’
