One Summer in Santa Fe - By Molly Evans Page 0,16

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