I guzzled my water, which was spiked with Gatorade powder. “It doesn’t help that you wore me out last night. I should have conserved my energy.”
Riley removed his hiking hat and smirked. “Do you really wish we had just slept last night?”
I couldn’t help but giggle. “No. Last night was amazing.”
“More fun than sitting up late with Bubba, hearing him talk about the best way to poach an egg,” Riley said.
“Or potatoes,” Harper added. “That man could give a week-long Ted Talk about all the ways to cook potatoes.”
“Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew,” Riley said. “Just like Frodo.”
“It was Samwise who said that, not Frodo,” Harper replied.
“Whatever. You know what I mean.”
But my mind was still on the previous topic. “Did you guys enjoy last night?” I asked hesitantly.
They looked at each other. “Are you kidding?” Riley asked.
“Why wouldn’t we enjoy it?” Harper asked.
“I don’t know. I was afraid it would be different all together…”
“We’ve been together before,” Riley pointed out. “Hell, the first time was with the three of us here.”
“I was afraid there would be a difference between three people and four,” I said.
Riley bobbed his head. “Oh, there was a difference alright. It was even better.”
“Much better,” Harper agreed. “Not just for us, but for you, too. Right?”
“It was the best sex I’d ever had,” I admitted. “I love being with each of you individually, but when you’re together… I don’t know. It’s different. In an amazing way. I’m glad you guys volunteered to help with my fundraiser. I’m glad Logan was forced into it thanks to a judge, too. But I really appreciate you guys volunteering.”
Riley looked down and blushed in the morning light. “We’re glad too.”
We continued hiking. The trail carried us up to the ridge which we followed toward the rest of the rim. I gazed behind us, then back ahead. It felt like we had been hiking all day, but we still had miles to go.
Our stops grew longer and more frequent. I removed my gloves and shed one of my layers, because sweat was collecting on the back of my sports bra. I finished my water bottle for the second time, refilled it from Riley’s pack, and then drained it again. We had been hiking for five hours and I hadn’t peed once.
“It’s dry,” Harper said when I commented on it. “You don’t realize how much moisture you’re losing in your breath and on your skin.”
I couldn’t imagine doing this in the heat of the summer. No wonder they called the lowest part of the canyon the death zone. My legs burned and my joints ached. Every step took tremendous effort.
But despite my struggles, the views were amazing. The way down yesterday on the Bright Angel Trail was confined to a narrow valley between two ridges on the plateau. The South Kaibab Trail was along the spine of a ridge for most of it, giving me a panoramic view to my right and to my left. Occasionally I found myself zoning out and admiring the sight.
I had to keep reminding myself to soak this in. I was doing something incredible, something I would remember for the rest of my life.
And I had my three men to thank for pushing me into it.
“One and a half miles to go!” Riley said as we stopped for another break. “Less than an hour at our current pace.”
“You’re assuming I don’t slow down even more,” I said. “I’m beat.”
“Forget about that.” Harper patted my knee. “You’re doing amazing.”
“You’re crushing it!” Riley said. “We can take two hours to finish if we want. But you’ll definitely make it out of here now.”
“Don’t jinx it!” I said. “Logan told me he’s rescued a lot of people within a mile from the top.”
“He’s not wrong. But those are usually tourists who don’t bring enough water,” Harper said.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. “Hey! I’ve got signal!”
“It’s inconsistent, but we usually get little flickers of signal about here,” Riley said.
I opened my phone. I had a voicemail from Bonny, sent about an hour ago. It wasn’t able to download until now. Grateful for the distraction while we waited, I hit play and listened to her voice.
“Christie. Got a problem. A check I wrote to the dog feed store bounced. The bank accounts where you’ve been depositing all the fundraising money? They’re empty. Someone wiped them clean.”
33
Harper
While Christie listened to her voicemail, Riley walked away from the path to take