Page 116 of Hooked
Dave was farther up and a little to Tayla’s right. “Can you see the hold he’s talking about?”
She tried to look. “Dude. My boob is genuinely blocking where I think he’s pointing. I am not joking about this.”
Dave couldn’t stop laughing. “Okay, you’re secure on your left foot and your right hand?”
“Yeah, I’m solid.”
“Okay, it’s no more than a crimp, but your feet are small. If you can get your toe on it, you should be able to boost yourself up to grab that jug with your left hand. Just remember to keep your weight in your legs.”
“Okay.” She felt for the hold Cary was yelling about. “I got it.”
“You feel it?”
“Yeah.” Glancing down at her harness, she checked the knot, just like she did every time she climbed this crazy wall. “You know, I told him I didn’t want to do this.”
“But you’re having fun, right?”
“I am trying new things!” Tayla shifted her weight.
“Then you’re home free.”
Holding her weight with her upper-body strength was always an issue, but her foothold on the right was solid. She lifted her left knee and brought it up to the flat edge. Then her right arm went up. Her right foot found a nice wide jug.
“You’re doing it!” Jeremy was going nuts. “You’ve got it, baby!”
Tayla ignored everyone. She could see the route in her mind now. She’d made it past the point she usually fell. She’d put her right foot there. Her left hand there. Up would go the left foot.
Within minutes, she was pulling herself up by her elbows and swinging her left knee over the top of the wall. She was panting. She was ecstatic.
“Holy shit!” She sat up and raised her hand, shouting down to Jeremy, Cary, and Ashley. “Big girls can fucking climb!”
“Whoo!” Jeremy was doing a dance. Ashley hugged him. Cary was holding her rope and nodding with a smile.
Dave was slapping her shoulder. “Fucking right they can. You killed it.”
Everyone in the climbing gym was clapping. It was her first time all the way up the wall, and she’d garnered more than a few skeptical looks the first time she’d tried. She’d fallen so many times she’d lost count, swinging from her harness while she tried to ignore the looks and smirks of the more experienced climbers.
Jeremy had never let her get discouraged. He’d been working slowly, starting with bouldering while his arm healed, taking things easy.
“Just come with me. I’ll only be doing easy stuff.”
Ah yes, that’s how she was lured in. Just theeasystuff.
Which led to slightly harder stuff.
Which led to Tayla being in a harness and weird ugly shoes, trying like hell not to make a fool of herself.
And finally she was up.
She stood and performed a graceful curtsy at the top of the wall. Then she turned around, checked with Cary, and carefully walked down the wall to the floor.
Where she was nearly tackled by Jeremy.
He grabbed her by the waist and spun her around before he kissed her. “I’m so proud of you,” he said when he let her up for air. “I am so, so proud of you. Amazing.”
She laughed. “I don’t know how you did it, but you managed to make a mountain girl out of me.”
“I love you like crazy.”
