Climbing High (23 page)

He had no contact with Siree, though he knew Josh and Sam continued to see her and Sharon. Sometimes jealousy flared before he smothered it in reason. He took solace from knowing Siree had them to lean on. They never spoke about her and he didn’t ask. What was the point? Any info acted like a splinter in his brain, causing pain and inflaming his thoughts.

He buttoned the striped dress shirt he’d chosen and tied his tie. Not until he shrugged an unstructured navy jacket, did he realize he’d dressed for the party on autopilot. He pushed on the painting of a sled racing through the snow centered on his tie. A tinny rendition of Jingle Bells spliced the quiet of his dressing room. He refused to play Santa for the firm. However, he did try to get into the spirit of Christmas for his people. “Lighten up,” he counseled the somber man in the mirror. He pushed his tie and listened to the song jangle out again. “These are your people. They’ve worked well for you all year and they deserve to know you appreciate them.” He slid his feet into loafers. They showcased the bright red socks he wore. A wristwatch with a Santa picture on the face finished his look. He would give it his best.

He joked with several of the reporters waiting outside the hotel booked for the party. Serious journalists now outnumbered the freelance shit disturbers, he noted with a quiet sense of accomplishment. He’d shed his playboy image and aimed them in the direction of a few new up-and-comers who wanted the attention. His PR man packaged the publicity they sought for business in a more serious direction. Plans put in place in order to have Siree in his life, now bore plentiful fruit. If only he’d had more time to work his way out of the limelight, to identify the stalker.

He succumbed to the memory of Siree’s beautiful face glowing up at him. He felt again the ecstasy of kissing her, the urgent need to meld with her completely. For a moment he allowed the pain to burn through him. Then he buried it deep to survive.

Chapter Eleven

Siree arranged to fly into Mexico two days ahead of the men. She wanted the extra time to acclimate. She also thought it best to avoid any chance of meeting Jake before they were committed to the climb. With all her gear, she didn’t bother to wait for the bus that would take her from the airport to Mexico City, but splurged on a taxi.

The small hotel Josh recommended was clean and had plenty of hot water. A shower, followed by a great cup of coffee, gave her the energy she needed to go after the red tape permit required to make the climb. The process went smoothly, leaving her with extra time on her hands to worry.

She spent a restless night with one relentless question pounding through her head:
What will Jake do when he sees me?
She rose early, lingered over the egg empanada she ordered for breakfast. Sunlight tempted her out to explore. The hotel receptionist urged her to visit the market and, thinking it the perfect place to pick up the fruit she wanted, Siree followed the flow of people to the center of town. Stalls and carts of every type circled the square. The scent of coffee beans and chilies hung in the air. Woven fabrics fluttered in a light breeze. While she hovered over the mangos, a group of three stepped up to the stall. In minutes they’d established they too were climbers. They had rented a vehicle and planned to leave after lunch for the lodge at La Joya, the base camp for Iztaccihuatl. They offered her a ride and she seized the opportunity.

Lauren just out of a bad relationship, her friend Lisa and her boyfriend Bruce proved good company. As they, too, planned to rest over the next day to adjust to the higher altitudes, they spent considerable time together, touring the area and playing a “take no prisoners” form of gin rummy through the evening. They headed out behind their guide at dawn the second day while Siree waited for her party. Josh texted to expect them midafternoon. They would rent a vehicle and come straight to La Joya rather than staying in Mexico City overnight.

A light lunch of beef tacos sat heavily on Siree’s stomach. Shadows on the adobe walls deepened from lavender to purple. From her vantage point in front of the adobe building, affectionately named the Hut, by the climbers it housed, she could see the parking lot where vehicles waited the return of the climbers. A rugged Jeep Cherokee parked and three men emerged. Her breath caught in her throat. While they circled the vehicle, pulling out equipment and shrugging into packs, she tried to calm the rapid beating of her heart.
Jake. In minutes I’ll speak to Jake.
Nausea climbed onto the shoulders of her altitude headache.

Jake took the lead on the short hike up to the lodge. He spoke over his shoulder to Sam and Josh, who seemed to be holding back. “You two old women going to make it?”

He looked up toward the wide, low building and saw a lone woman sitting at a picnic table in front. The first rays of the setting sun limned her slight figure in gold. He stopped dead, causing Sam to run into him.

“Geezuz, Jake, what the—” Sam tracked Jake’s gaze and closed his mouth.

“Siree?” Jake cleared his throat and tried again. “Siree’s here?”

“Does kind of look like her.” Sam tried to sound innocent.

Josh punched him on the arm. “It is her. And before you go all ape on us, take a moment to hear us out. You invited her on this climb if you remember. She’s clung to the hope of it, used it to get back her strength and keep on going all these months. She needed it. She asked us to keep it a surprise for you, thinks you’ll see she’s back to normal and relent. How could we say no to her, when you’ve stressed her well-being is a priority for you?”

Jake almost headed back to the Jeep. He needed time to absorb this, make some sense of it. But she stood and stared in his direction. He had to move forward.
One step at a time. You can do this one step at a time.

“Bad idea, guys. Really bad idea. Nothing’s changed. We can’t be together and now I have to put us both through the hell of me walking away again.” His hands fisted. He wanted to punch something hard.

“God, Jake, can’t you just let go? You’re not the darling of the media anymore. Take a chance that you two can make it work.”

“Take a chance.” He swung on Sam. “I did take a chance and who paid for it? Siree! My stalker is still out there. I will never expose Siree to that kind of danger again. For all we know that bitch followed us here and could see us together and have another go at her. You guys let your hearts rule your brains on this one. And guess who’s going to pay?”

“Shit,” Josh muttered. “What the hell did we do, Sam? What the hell did we do?”

Jake turned and continued upward, closing the distance to Siree in minutes. “What a surprise,” he said, holding out his hand.

She looked at it, bewildered, then searched the closed planes of his face, the cool look in his eyes, and crumpled onto the bench. “Not a good one, I take it.” Joy fled her face. A polite veneer replaced it. She turned to Sam and Josh. “Hi, you two. Any trouble getting here? You’re going to be sorry you didn’t get an extra few days to ditch the altitude headache.”

“You’re right there.” Sam dumped his pack on the ground and dug through it to get his camera. “My head’s already thumping like a bongo drum at a reggae festival.” He paced away, looking for a good shot.

“Should have taken those painkillers I offered you in Mexico City,” Josh chided, dropping onto the bench beside Siree, his back to the table.

“Yeah, yeah. Nobody likes a know it all.” Sam turned back to her. “So what are our digs like?”

“The Hut? Unisex all the way. Clean though. The food’s decent.”

Jake settled himself across from her at the table. Tension thrummed the air like strings on a guitar.

“Say cheese,” Sam called from twenty feet down the slope.

Ignoring him, Josh crossed his arms and looked up at the mountain. “So there she lies, the Sleeping Woman, and all her parts.” Josh traced the outline of the mountain. It looked like a woman asleep on her back.

“Have you spoken with our guide yet?” If his handshake instead of a hug hadn’t done the trick, Jake knew his impersonal tone would kick in the teeth any hopes she had of them getting back together.

“Yes, I met him yesterday. He says he holds the record for reaching Las Rodillas.”

“Breast man, is he?” Josh grinned at her. “That’s the name for the highest peak on the sleeping woman. Makes sense.”

“He’s taking us up the most common route from the feet to the knees, then across her stomach to her breast. You can easily do it in a day once you’re acclimated, but he thinks we should trek El Portillo tomorrow to get you guys ready and then the next day move to the high camp below Las Rodillas at fifteen thousand feet. Day two we’re to climb to Las Rodillas, negotiating the crevices in the upper reaches and summiting at sixteen thousand feet. We’ll get back to base before dark. Or you can do the climb in a long day and return here tomorrow night. It’s up to you what you decide. I’m game for either plan.”

Sam snapped a few more shots with his camera. Josh looked at Jake. They both shrugged.

“Well, the way my head’s pounding now, I’m all for slow and easy,” Sam interjected, moving toward the hut. “I’m going to find my bunk and get horizontal for a while.”

“Let’s get ourselves sorted out before dark.” Jake stood and strode after him.

“Guess this wasn’t such a good idea.” Josh squeezed her arm and bent to peer into her face.

She levered herself up from the table and stepped over the seat. “We’ll all get a couple of terrific climbs and check two new mountains off our to do list. That’s good enough.” She gave him the best smile she could come up with at the moment.

Josh stared at her, lifted his palms in a helpless shrug. “You better be right that the food’s decent, because we can’t use alcohol to numb the pain.” He strode after Jake.

She settled back onto the bench after he disappeared.
So there go my hopes. But no regrets. I had to give it a try. Jake’s shown me that he doesn’t want me in his life and I have to accept it and move on.
No way did she want to appear clingy. Jake didn’t want her. Fine. She wouldn’t focus on the humiliation of his rejection. She would manage the climb and exit his life with her dignity intact. She hammered the thought home, until her brain wrestled her heart to the mat.

The Hut consisted of one big room, divided by two partitions into four spaces, with a middle aisle. Each of the spaces held two bunk beds. There were never more climbers on the mountain at one time than there were beds in the Hut. She had taken one of the bunks in the space allotted to their group. But her dream of cuddling up next to Jake through the night now took on nightmarish proportions. She couldn’t imagine lying feet away from him without falling to pieces.

Searching for a solution, she followed her team over to the building that housed the offices and café and sat through another session with their guide, while he went over the climb path again. You could never have too much information. Through the small window of the café she saw her new friends coming into camp and excused herself. They surrounded her, talking over each other as they shared the excitement of the climb. Once they’d settled down and filed into the Hut, she asked if they would mind if she took their extra bunk. No one had a problem with it, and after she brushed aside Lauren’s first inquisitive question, they left her in peace. She moved her gear to the other side of the partition and took the upper bunk over Lauren.

They headed over to dinner together. The camp cook had outdone himself, serving them from a great pot of spicy
pazole rojo
, hearty pork and hominy soup accompanied by the inevitable tortillas and Mexican cheese. They washed it down with smoky tea. She introduced her friends to her guys.

“They just finished the climb we’re making tomorrow. We can pick their brains,” she said, thinking a few more people would create distraction and help numb the pain of Jake’s rejection.

“Let’s pull two tables together.” Josh picked up her hint that more people would make it easier.

Siree, Sam, and Josh kept things lively. They dug what information they could out of Lisa and Bruce. Lauren flirted outrageously. Sam offered to take photos of Lauren’s group with her camera, and snapped off a few more of his friends at dinner.

Jake nursed a cup of the strong blend of organic coffee grown locally. They served it spiced and it smelled delicious, but caffeine worsened altitude sickness, so the rest of them stuck to tea. Jake had no problem with caffeine. Instead, Siree fever owned him, speeding his heart rate and soaking his T-shirt with perspiration. He felt like a man in a war zone. Every cell in his body wanted to leap from the table, grab her and press her so close to him they became one being. Every brain cell told him to keep his distance. If he softened his stance, he put her back in danger.

Her scent tantalized him, though they’d selected opposite sides of the table. She slipped in amongst her new friends, while Josh and Sam forming a buffer for him. Her hands wove magic. Her smile entranced. Siree, sunlight on satin. His heart groaned at the loss of her. He drank coffee and answered the odd question thrown at him. He’d noted her missing equipment the minute he stepped into their sleeping area after talking with the guide. He’d chosen the upper bunk, opposite her lower choice, the furthest he could get from her. Memories of her body softened in sleep, the sound of her light breathing from the shelter of his arms almost unmanned him. He didn’t know how he’d get through the nights with her that close and so far out of reach. He blessed her for finding a solution, and cursed himself for the new pain he must be causing her. If she hurt even an iota as much as he did, she’d feel like somebody was peeling her skin off in inches.

By 9:00 p.m. Lauren, Lisa, and Bruce felt the effects of their long climb and wanted their beds. Siree left with them. Sam swallowed one of Josh’s pain pills and went looking for his pillow. Josh curved his palms around a mug of tea and eyed Jake. “You going to make it, son?”

Jake’s lips stretched in a dry smile. Josh assumed this grandfatherly role whenever he thought Jake needed to talk. “
No hay problema
,” he answered. “
Paso el paso loc adv
.”