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“Did I make it? Did I get through it?”
She was propped up against the wall in a corner of his kitchen, bruised apples littered around her feet. Erik was pointing a fan in her direction.
“How long was I out?”
“Not long.”
Suddenly Trixie had an idea. A simple one, but it just might work.
“You need to exhaust me.”
“Uh, Trixie, you’re pretty exhausted right now. I don’t think you’ve ever released that quickly before.”
“No, not right now. I mean something extracurricular. You need to push me harder than I’ve ever been pushed in my life. No holding back because I’m a girl or because you think I can’t take it. I can. I can take a lot more than most people think. I can take more than most men. I don’t care what it is. I can push through this threshold with my wits intact, but I need to have my physical limits challenged right beforehand, like they were at your boot camp, but even harder.”
Erik smiled. “I can think of something that might do the trick, but it will take a bit of planning. If you give me your next weekend, I’ll put something together for us.”
She placed a hand on his chiseled European face.
“Why do you put up with me?” she asked.
“Because it’s much better than not putting up with you,” he said.
“You sir are a masochist.”
“Ha! That’s what I was going to call you, especially for leaving your fate in my hands.”
A week later and Trixie found herself holding onto the side of a mountain, strapped into a harness, and suspended by carabineers and lead lines high above the ground. Erik had been excited all week about the surprise. He kept checking back with Trixie to make sure she was still game for whatever he had in mind. Trixie cockily assured him that she could handle anything he could throw at her, no matter how daunting.
Turns out that mountaineering -- or alpining as he called it -- had been a lifelong hobby for Erik, but not one he ever talked about or even shared with most people. He did it for personal pleasure and used the activity to get away from the work, people, and the city in general. That he was involving her in this very private form of escapism was a big deal, even if he didn’t say as much.
The hike leading up to their climb had been arduous. Erik had prepared two backpacks, one for him and one for her, which she wasn’t permitted to open. Trixie reckoned she was carrying twenty pounds in weight, which was tiring, but she didn’t complain. The burden was miniscule compared to the one-hundred pound backpack Erik hefted. Trixie began to suspect what was in store for them only after they arrived at a sheer rock face.
Camping gear was the least of it. They had been hauling all the equipment necessary to both ascend the mountain and repel down afterwa
rd. Erik took the lead in every way. He assured Trixie that he knew the climb intimately. So long as she did exactly what he said, they were safe. They would be climbing several hundred feet of vertical ground, but they would always be bound to the cliffside by his mountaineering gear.
Trixie couldn’t say she was afraid of heights, but despite all the precautions Erik took, her heart was racing. Every time they cleared a few more feet, she couldn’t help but look down at their progress. The view was frightening at first, but as she adjusted to the dizzying height it became exhilarating. Then after the exhilaration wore off, it became exhausting, and there were still hundreds -- plural -- of feet left. To hear Erik sing the praises of rock climbing, it made him truly feel alive. He could be honest with himself, especially during a long climb.
Trixie found herself reflecting on the past week. She managed to balance both men, but without telling Erik that she was seeing somebody else at the same time. Trixie had only seen him once after Monday, but that was no excuse. She had to tell him soon, today if she could, before he began to make even more special exceptions for her in his life. She was developing a tendency to bring these subjects up while doing extracurricular activities, and today felt like it would be the same.
“Trixie, there’s something I need to get off my chest,” Erik said in a resigned tone of voice.
Okay, that was unexpected. Did he already know that she was seeing somebody else? They were both in a locked leg position, resting on their skeletons rather than using their muscles. She crossed her arms and leaned back against a bearing rope.
“Sure Erik, what is it?” she said, happy for any distraction.
“After you came to see me at Bare All Fitness that first time, Vanessa and I got to talking. We weren’t exactly a couple, but our relationship was at a point where it could go either way. She pushed for an answer, but I didn’t give her one.”
That certainly explained why Vanessa had been so covetous about Erik during the boot camp weekend.
“I hope you don’t feel guilty about that," Trixie said, trying to take the high road. "I had just walked back into your life after all. You have a right to consider every option.”
He looked up at Trixie for a moment, and then down again.
“That wasn’t the only time she came at me aggressively. Vanessa tried to make something happen between us after boot camp as well.”
Trixie wasn’t surprised. She lowered her eyes warily and continued listening as Erik kept talking.
