One Summer in Santa Fe (5 page)

J
UST
after she arrived home from work the next day, Piper’s phone rang and she groaned, hoping it wasn’t the night nurse calling about something she’d forgotten.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Piper. This is Alex, Dr. Jenkins’s nephew. Remember me?”

Pleasure filled her at the sound of the young voice on the phone. “Well, sure, I remember you. How could I forget?”

“Anyway, Uncle T. and I are going climbing on Saturday, and I want you to come with us. Can you come?”

Hesitation filled her. Although she’d love to go, she wasn’t sure about climbing. Her feet rarely left the ground and when they did for airplane transportation, sedation was usually involved. “Does Taylor know you’re calling me?”

“Yeah. I told him. I mean, I asked him if I could invite you.”

She smiled at that. “And what did he say? It was okay?”

“He really wants you to come, too,” Alex said.

At that, a bubble of pleasure burst over Piper and the fatigue from the workday evaporated. Although she doubted Alex’s sentiment was completely accurate, the
idea of it still pleased her. What else did she have to do on a beautiful summer Saturday except watch two men risk their lives climbing a big dangerous rock? “Is he there? Can I talk to him a minute?”

“Hold on.”

Seconds later, Taylor’s voice came through the phone into her ear. “Piper?”

Heat suffused her at the sound of her name, and she shivered involuntarily. The phone lent an intimacy that wasn’t real, but Piper clutched the phone to her ear as if it were. Intimacy had been almost forgotten in her life, and the sound of his voice breathed a memory of it through her.

“Hi. Alex tells me you’re going climbing, and he wants me to go along. Are you okay with that?” she asked, hoping that he was. For some unknown reason, she wanted to be with him, even if it was on such an expedition.

“Absolutely. We can take a picnic or something, make a day of it.”

“You’re not going to the Alps, are you?”

The sound of his deep laugh sent a thrill of pleasure through her. “No. No Alps this weekend.”

“Okay, then. I’ll come.” Whether she was going to regret this or not, she didn’t know, but she was going to go climbing for the first time in her life.

“Are you kidding?” Piper exclaimed. “I’m not climbing that.” She pointed to the huge rock formation they stood in front of. She looked up and up and up at the giant craggy brown rock and felt her stomach slide all the way to her feet.

“It’s not that big,” Taylor said, and laughed at her reaction. “Besides, we’re not climbing that one.” He pointed to a much smaller rock nestled up against the larger one. “We’re going on that one.”

“Uncle T.! That’s only ten feet high. I climb higher than that at camp,” Alex said, protest in every syllable.

“I’m not taking you up 500 feet the first time out. You gotta show me what you got first, kiddo. Learn to trust each other as a team, and we go from there.”

Alex nodded, bounced around lightly on his feet and shadow-boxed. “I’ll show you what I got. Just you wait and see.”

“Alex, are you sure you want to do this?” Piper swallowed, trying not to be intimidated by a rock. It was just a rock. Right? A really big one.

“It’s okay, Piper. I’ll climb up first and show you how it’s done,” Alex said, cinching on his gear.

Taylor checked Alex’s rigging and gave it a firm tug, then pulled his gear from a bag. “I hadn’t had this stuff out for a year, so I checked everything last night.” He looked at Piper and the serious doubt etched on her face. “Look, you can stay down here and watch us. Might be pretty boring, though.”

“I’ll take my chances,” she said, sarcasm heavy in her voice, then she smiled. “It’s okay. I would rather watch with my feet planted on the ground.”

“Well, if you’re climbing, your feet are planted on the ground, it’s just vertical.”

“Your logic eludes me, Taylor. Go. I’ll stay here and guard the picnic basket or something.” The way things were going she wasn’t going to have an appetite for a picnic. Just watching them made her anxious, and they were still beside her. Every spark in her that was an ER nurse went on full alert. This was a disaster waiting to happen, and she just knew she was going to watch them splatter themselves on the ground below.

“Okay. Promise you’ll catch me if I fall?” he asked, his eyes full of mischief as he buckled on a helmet.

“You aren’t going to fall, are you?” she asked, her heart racing at the thought.

“No.”

“Then I won’t have to worry about catching you, will I?” She stepped back from them and found a seat on the ledge. “I’d rather catch some sun and watch you two.” Yep. Staying right there on solid ground. Of course, watching Taylor was pretty easy on the eyes.

Smiling at her response, he finished rigging while an impatient Alex danced beside him. “Gloves and helmet on, kiddo,” Taylor said, and applied his own, which covered most of his hands, but left half the fingers exposed. The gloves were of worn and scarred leather and had seen better days.

“But—”

“No buts. No safety, no climbing.” On this, for Taylor, there were no compromises. “Safety equipment has saved my life more than once over the years. I’ll never, ever sacrifice safety for fun. Especially when I’m responsible for another person.”

“Aw, man,” Alex said, but complied. “That’s what they say in camp, too.”

“I’ll go up first,” Taylor said as he fastened Alex’s harness to him.

“What’s that for?” Alex asked.

“If you slip, I can stop you with it.”

“Okay. I guess we haven’t gotten that far in camp yet.”

From the ground, Piper watched as the two inched their way up the side of the rock. Now that she knew she wasn’t going to be climbing up its rough surface, she didn’t think it was as big as she had imagined at first. It didn’t mean she wanted to be up there with them, but her fears were forgotten as she remained safely on the ground.

A profound measure of serenity folded itself around
Taylor as he focused on each precise movement. He loved climbing. Sharing that love with his nephew, teaching him a sport that they could share together, somehow made it that much more important to him. The protection of the secluded canyon placed the three of them in a quiet bubble away from the city, crowds and the stress of the job. A warm desert breeze lifted their hair.

Taylor lived for times like this and allowed himself to sink deeper into that place where he could just think and live in the moment. There was nothing as important as the next handhold, the next foothold, the next move up.

“Uncle T.?” Alex asked, his breath panting just a little.

“Yeah?”

“How high are we going to go?”

“I don’t know—why? Are you tired already?” He grinned down at the boy who gave him a look of disgust.

“No. We’re only ten feet up. I just want to tell my class I climbed a thousand feet high.”

With a laugh, Taylor dispelled that notion. “The big rock’s only 500 feet high. This one’s about fifty. We’ll go ’til we’re tired, then come down, okay?”

“Okay.”

“We’ll figure out the height later.” Taylor moved up again and waited for Alex to catch up. He gave instructions and alerted him which handholds to use and which to avoid. After half an hour of climb and wait, climb and wait, Taylor thought that Alex had probably had enough. The sun was warm on his back and he reached into his waist pack for a water bottle. “Stop and have a drink of water. Your muscles probably need it about now.”

Alex stopped, panted. “Okay.” Alex sipped his water and then returned it to his pack. “Let’s go.”

“Let’s just rest a minute, then we’ll head back down.”

“I want to go to the top,” he said, his dark eyes imploring Taylor.

“Sorry. I think we’re high enough, and going down is a whole different skill set to work on. Your muscles will be too tired if we go any more.”

Nodding, Alex looked down for his first foothold and reached for it. Taylor moved down in sync with Alex. As he watched, he noticed Alex’s leg trembling as he held his weight.

“Are you okay?” Concern flooded him. Now was not the time to have a muscle spasm, but it often happened to inexperienced climbers who pressed themselves beyond their abilities. Taylor would have to take extra care to get the boy down safely.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Alex said, and Taylor could hear the false bravado in his voice.

“Alex,” Taylor said, his voice firm, but calm, and Alex looked up.

His face was too red and his breathing was too fast. The exertion was getting to him.

“Piper!” Taylor yelled for her. If anything happened, he wanted her to be on the alert.

She rose to her feet and shaded her eyes as she looked up. “I’m here. How’s it going? You look great up there.”

“Alex is tiring.”

“I am not!”

“I’m going to lower him with the rope, and I want you to help guide him to the ground.” If anything went wrong, he’d never forgive himself.

“Okay. Will do.”

“Uncle T.! I can do it.”

“No arguments right now.”

As Taylor readied the extra rope and rigging, the canyon winds stirred, tugging at his clothing and pulling
at his hair. What had started out as a soft breeze had turned ugly. Gusting canyon winds were going to make this more difficult, but there was no help for it. Summer storms whipped up unexpected winds, even when the weather looked calm. Clenching his jaw, he hurried with the rope and climbed down closer to Alex.

“I’m going to tie this to your harness so I can lower you down.”

“This is so embarrassing,” he said in a hot whisper.

“Why, because it’s safe?”

“Because it’s like I’m a baby.”

Taylor heard the shame in Alex’s voice, and he was sorry he’d put it there. “Alex, you’re no baby. This is safety, pure and simple. If you were any other climbing partner who was fatigued, I’d do the same thing, as they would do for me. We’re still fifty feet up and your muscles are too tired to continue as we were.” Taylor shook his head in disgust at himself. “I’m sorry.” He should never have taken Alex so far up, should have watched him closer. After climbing at camp all week, his muscles needed a break to recover.

He knew better. But he’d allowed Alex to talk him into something he shouldn’t have. He’d also wanted to climb, get a little exercise and leave the city behind for a few hours. And he had been looking forward to spending more time with Piper, if he was honest with himself.

Piper watched from below, her heart racing as she watched Taylor move down to Alex and make adjustments to his harness. Anxiety shot through her, reinforcing her decision to stay on the ground. “Everything okay?”

“He’s coming now,” Taylor shouted over the wind that seemed to have a mind to force them into the rock.

Taylor braced himself and even from the ground Piper could see the muscles in his arms and legs strain
ing against Alex’s weight. Her own heart racing and muscles tense, Piper waited helplessly from the ground below. Watching. Waiting. Praying.

“I’ll help you, Alex. Don’t worry.” Taylor would see him safely down. She knew that. But, still, she worried that any number of things could go wrong with the wind crashing around them.

The rope slipped through Taylor’s hands as he eased the boy down. Five, ten, fifteen feet, twenty to go. The strain was getting to him and in the next instant ten feet of rope sizzled through his hands before he could stop it. “Alex!”

Looking down, he watched as Alex slid roughly down the rock before catching a foothold. “I’m okay. I’m okay.”

“Taylor!” Piper’s voice cried over the wind, and he watched as she hurried forward, arms raised, as if to catch Alex.

Damn. This was all his fault. He clenched his teeth, cursing himself silently. If anything happened to either one of them, he’d never forgive himself. Trying to control the fear that shot through him, he took a deep breath and pushed down the voice of his father that tried to berate him. Now was not the time to listen to that voice. Now was the time to keep his nephew safe.

“Piper, can you climb up to the ledge?” he shouted down. If she could get to the ledge just a few feet off the ground, there was a better chance of Alex getting down unscathed.

“Yes. I’ll do it.” He watched a moment as she scrambled up and then waved at him. “Go ahead.”

Wind whipped at them, increasing in its intensity with every passing moment. Each time he lowered Alex, he became a pendulum on a string, succumbing to the fate of the canyon winds trying to crush him against the
rock. Muscles screaming, Taylor focused on lowering Alex one inch at a time. He was just a few feet from the security of Piper’s arms. Relief shot through Taylor. Safety was just a few feet away.

The rigging snapped.

Piper’s scream echoed in his mind as Alex plunged the last few feet.

Powerless, helpless, Taylor could only watch as the two tumbled from the ledge down to the bottom of the cliff face. Without hesitation, he released the rest of the rigging and climbed the rest of the way down.

In minutes that passed like hours, he dropped the last few feet to the ledge and leaped down beside them, his muscles screaming from the exertion.

“Are you okay?” He reached for Alex who sat up and rubbed his face. Overcome with emotions he couldn’t name, Taylor grabbed his nephew and folded him into a hug. “Are you hurt, are you okay?” he asked, and pulled back, running his hands over Alex’s neck and shoulders.

Scratches and a few bumps were all he found.

“I’m okay, Uncle T. That was awesome. Did you see Piper? She caught me.”

Taylor turned his attention to Piper, who had taken the brunt of the fall.

“Piper, are you hurt?” he asked as she sat on the ground, slow to get up. He ran his hands over her arms and legs. Nothing broken there.

“My back is gonna feel this tomorrow,” she said, and sat up with Taylor’s assistance. Moving gingerly, she took in a few deep breaths. “Everything feels okay, except…” She moved a hand to the back of her head. “Ow.” She pulled her hand back and grimaced at the blood on her fingers. “Guess I hit my head harder than I thought.”

“Let me see.” Taylor turned her away from him and pressed his fingers into her hair. Moving it aside, he felt the lump and inspected it, but it appeared to be a small laceration. “It looks okay. Maybe needs an ice pack, but doesn’t look like you need stitches.”