Alice is the first to sit up, pulling herself into a cross-legged position. A smile spreads across the whole of her face, eyes bright with the effort.
‘That was incredible! Sorry I swore at you a lot.’
‘Did you?’
‘You didn’t hear?’
‘Nope.’
‘Right. Well I definitely didn’t call you a dastardly bastard or anything,’ she grins. ‘Only dainty words of love fell from my lips as I feared for my life.’
Dainty words oflove?
I’m not sure if today could get any better. She definitely just used the ‘l’ word. I know well enough by now not to make a big deal about it so I carry on watching the sky, my heart quietly on fire. For her to even talk about that kind of stuff is a massive deal and it gives me hope that one day,one day, she might feel that way about me. I watch Alice jump up to survey the peaks around us, looking like a conqueror with her legs stretched wide, her hair whipping madly in the wind.
‘Top of the morning to ya!’ she calls over to the couple in their fifties who’ve reached the top of the next crag along. They wave their Thermos flasks at her.
‘Are you Irish now?’ I hoot.
‘I do not know where that came from,’ she giggles, pulling me up to stand and wrapping her arms around my waist. ‘It’s invigorating up here.’
‘I think so too.’
‘There’s just one small problem,’ she says, biting her lip and looking up at me.
‘I brought snacks, don’t worry.’
‘Not that,’ she laughs. ‘Though, thank god, I’m starving. The problem I’m talking about is our descent. I’m not sure I’m brave enough to climb back down again.’
‘Then I have good news for you.’ I spin us both round, away from the edge, towards a gently sloping path.
‘THERE’S A PATH? Why didn’t we just walk up that in the first place?!’
‘Because that wouldn’t have been rock climbing, would it? Besides, I very much enjoyed the view as I climbed up behind you,’ I wink.
She places both hands on my chest and gives me a playful push back towards the edge.
‘So what you’re saying is, we’ve spent the morning risking my life scaling the world’s second highest mountain …’
‘Still just a crag …’
‘Scaling this behemoth,’ she presses on. ‘And all because you wanted to admire my ass?’
‘It wasn’t theonlyreason,’ I grin.
‘I’m afraid that puts you right at the top of my hitlist, Zach Moretti. Your entire life now hinges on the calibre of those snacks you mentioned.’
Unzipping my backpack, I pull out a bottle of water, a couple of Snickers and some Real McCoys.
She bites her lip as she considers the offerings.
‘You’re safe,’ she grins, ripping open the crisps.
Reaching out to hold her hand, we fall into the kind of comfortable silence that reassures me that she’s feeling at ease with me again, just like I am with her. All I can think about is how happy I am to be here with her. Not long ago, I spent most of my time hunting for the next thing as if they were targets to hit. Girlfriend, house, marriage, kids. It strikes me that right now, I’m content to just be. How could I not enjoy the simple pleasures of eating a Snickers out in the wild with my girlfriend?
‘You looked a bit like Tarzan climbing up that rock after me,’ Alice points out.
‘I’ll take that,’ I laugh, giving her a squeeze.
