“Climbing.”
“Climb on.”
With a deep breath, Sarah took her first step and began to climb. Beckett said little other than offering up praise here and there. She kept her focus on the mountain, on the next handhold and foot placement. It was, she thought, a kind of moving meditation. There was no room for anything else, and she loved it.
Halfway up the rock face, she realized she’d miscalculated. The shelf that had looked minimal from the ground jutted out far more than she’d thought. The crevice she needed to reach was a foot beyond her fingers. Legs beginning to cramp, she clung to her position.
Now what?
“You okay?” Beckett called.
“There’s no handhold I can reach. I can’t go forward.”
“So you adjust. Work with what’s around you. There are more directions than up and down.”
Sarah widened her view, shifting to check out her options to either side. If she made it about fifteen feet to the left, it looked like the overhang was minimal, with ready handholds for her to get up and over. But she couldn’t see what came next.
Either way, you can’t stay here.
“Slack!” she called.
“Slacking.”
“Watch me.”
“Go ahead.”
Decision made, she began edging her way to the side.
“Good call. Keep your focus.”
Sweat trickled between her shoulder blades, but Sarah barely noticed. She kept her attention on just what was in front of her, shoving up with her legs, stretching out. Her muscles trembled with fatigue as she hauled herself over the shelf and kept on going.
Finish what you start, Meadows. Get to the end.
When she pulled herself over the lip at the top, she shrugged out of the small pack and simply rolled to her back and lay there, staring up at the wide expanse of cloud-dotted blue as her heart rate began to slow and her breath evened out.
Beckett wasn’t far behind, flopping down beside her. “You’re missing the best part.”
“I’m thinking breathing is the best part. Or maybe the not supporting my weight part.”
He reached over to haul her up to sitting and gestured to the view she hadn’t even stopped to see. “That is the best part.”
The world opened up, a panorama of greens stretching as far as the eye could see. “Wow. It’s beautiful. And worth every aching muscle.”
“I’ll rub your back, if you’ll rub mine.”
Sarah bumped her shoulder against Beckett’s. “That’s a deal. Thanks for bringing me up here.”
This was not a view she got in the city. The thought of it made her throat ache, even as she pulled out her camera. Central Park was nice and all, but there were people—constantly people—everywhere. Could she really go back to that? Could she endure it for another four years? Maybe more?
“Hey, you did that climb all on your own. I was just here for backup.”
“I thought I was going to have to use you for backup when I got to that shelf.”
“So you ended up on a path that wasn’t what you intended. You still got to the destination you needed in the end.”
Sarah gave him the side-eye. “Are you getting philosophical on me, Beckett?”