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Are you in? He asked the question so casually. Almost as an aside, a formality. Of course she was in, because the paper wanted her to do it and she always said yes.
Veronica stared at him.
“Hey,” Gerald said, snapping his fingers. “Are you in? The manager wants to announce it before everyone leaves.”
She nodded, meaning that she understood what the manager wanted, but Gerald took it as an agreement. “Great. I’ll let him know. Good job out there.” And then he was gone, and Veronica had to come back and do this all over again next week.
The black spots swarmed again, descending on her like flies on a carcass. Could you die of regret and terror and stage fright? Veronica lowered her head to the desk and let the coolness of the fake wood seep into her face.
She’d succeeded and become a disaster in one fell swoop. The same fucking magic trick she’d been pulling off her entire life. But there was no running from it now. Jackson was home. She had nowhere else to go. She’d have to keep this charade going for a long while. And it had only felt as if everyone was watching before. Now they really were.
***
CHAPTER THREE
GABESTRETCHEDOUTon the sun-warmed surface of the rock and let his sore muscles absorb the heat. The sky was a pale, pure blue above him and the breeze dried his sweat. His fingertips ached from bracing himself in a vertical crack after a misstep, but even that was perfect. He closed his eyes and melted into the mountain.
“Water?” his climbing partner asked.
Gabe opened his hand and felt a bottle hit his palm. “Thanks.”
“You’re out of shape, man.”
“Fuck you,” Gabe said, opening one eye just so he could glare at Benton. “You try living in Cincinnati and see how rusty your climbing skills get.”
“We’ll work on it,” Benton said.
“Hell, yeah, we will,” Gabe sighed. “Sunday?”
“You got it. Are you up for climbing Exum?”
Gabe sat up and stretched his left arm. “Jesus Christ, what is that? Eight hundred feet?”
“Sure, but it’s six pitches. And I’ll lower you down if you get too tired.”
“You’re an arrogant ass, you know that?”
Benton grinned. “That’s why you love me.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Gabe muttered. “Hell, I’m not even sure I love you.”
“Don’t tell me you’re just using me as a route leader?”
Gabe shrugged. “You come at the right price. Free.”
“Yet again, I’m just a cheap piece of ass.” Benton adjusted the tie holding back his dreadlocks and slipped on the shades that Gabe’s sister had once said made him look just like Lenny Kravitz. He tipped his head toward the cliff edge. “Ready?” he asked.
“Just give me another minute. I’m enjoying the hell out of this.” He closed his eyes again and let the silence wash over him. It wasn’t completely quiet, of course. Trees below them rustled in the breeze and Benton’s equipment clinked when he moved. But it was more profoundly quiet on the rock than it was when hiking or camping. There was no rustle of chipmunks through brush, no chorus of birds singing, no crackle of dead leaves under boots.
He stretched and pulled himself up. “I’ll see you Saturday morning, too.”
“No shit?” Benton asked. “You’re in?”
“I’m in,” Gabe answered. He’d just gotten word that his application for Technical Search and Rescue had been approved. After a couple months of training, there was a good chance he’d be out there helping with mountain rescues during the summer months.
Benton clapped him on the arm. “I never doubted it for a second.” He gestured toward the edge of the cliff. “After you.”
Gabe hooked back into the line and stood at the edge, but before he leaned out, he took the chance to look around one last time. This was his first solid climb since getting settled in Jackson a week before, and it was the perfect day. Sixty degrees and unlimited visibility. Valleys and peaks stretched out beneath him, the trees looking like stunted bushes from this height.
