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I really do hate these, and I’m not sure what possessed me to go along with this. Actually, I do. I wanted to see the views for myself.
All of a sudden, Jake is in front of me, dragging me into his arms. “Hey, it’s okay, everything will be all right. Just keep taking deep breaths and I promise, I won’t let you go until we get to the top.”
Burrowing into his coat, I hang on for dear life as we continue up the mountain.
With Jake’s arms around me, I feel secure, and eventually my breathing starts to return to normal, although I can’t quite get rid of the fear.
After the longest fifteen minutes of my life, Jake leads me out of the tram on wobbly legs. I so do not want to get off this mountain the same way.
“Can we go and sit down for a minute?”
“Yeah, sure, c’mon. We’ll go and have waffles. You can have a coffee to bring some life back into you. You look a bit pale.”
Once inside Corbet’s, I feel much better. Sitting down with Jake, I take in the view from the window while munching on a waffle Jake has ordered for me.
“You are right, these waffles are great! I just hope they stay in my stomach on the way back down.”
Seeing the panic on Jake’s face, I start laughing. “Just kidding.”
He’s so cute and I’m dying to know more about him. Although he’s been friendly toward me, this is the first time I’ve felt comfortable enough with him to ask a personal question.
“So tell me, why don’t you have a girlfriend?”
He’s momentarily stunned by my question, and then his lips start to twitch, showing me his dimples. No doubt the look usually gets him what—or who—he has in his sights. “I’m trying to remedy that.”
I smirk before becoming serious again. “No seriously, is there no one around here? You’re a nice, friendly, good-looking guy. I can’t believe you don’t have a girlfriend waiting in the wings for your safe return.”
Looking away for a few seconds, he turns back to me. “Not any more. I did have a girlfriend. Elise. From as young as I can remember, I wanted to be a Marine, so when the time came and I signed on the dotted line things started to . . . not go so well. Eventually, when I left for Paris Island, I broke up with her. Seven years ago.” He sighs. “I didn’t want her to be left alone if something happened to me.”
“You still love her, don’t you?”
His emotions are written all over his face.
“She’s the only girl that’s ever made it to my heart, and yeah, she’s still there.”
I reach out and touch his arm. “Why don’t you go and talk to her, and find out how she still feels?”
Sadness tightens his lips and he looks so heartbroken. I want to hug him and chase all the pain away. “It doesn’t matter. She’s getting married in a couple of months.”
I wasn’t expecting that, but I guess seven years is a long time.
“How long were you together?”
He starts to his feet and offers me a wry smile. “Close to three years.”
“Wow.”
“C’mon. I want to show you the view from here so you can take some photographs before we head back.” Jake changes the subject—a skill the Matthews men seem to have down well.
“Okay. I might as well make it worth my fear of cable cars.”
Jake leads me outside to a spot that has breathtaking views of the valley below and the snow-covered mountains in the distance. It’s beautiful. I take lots of photographs.
I can’t wait to get back to the house and load them onto my iPad via my MacBook Air for a larger view of the shots I’ve taken.
Cade
Sitting in the living room as I wait for Rona and Jake to arrive home is playing hell with my concentration. I must have read the same page repeatedly for the past hour. I managed to get what paperwork was waiting for me out of the way earlier, and instead of heading down to the stables, as I would normally have done, I decided to wait.
