Page 122 of Valley Girls
Out of the first pool, they walked along the thin stream of water still flowing, deep in the heart of the falls, past the stacked shelves of white granite, being careful not to slip on the granite, to another set of anchors before a drop. It was like being on an amusement park ride. Rilla waited in line, laughing and talking and enjoying the scenery until it was her turn. Walker followed last of all and pulled the ropes.
Over the next edge, she followed a sheer, long drop to a pool of blue-green water.
A narrow stream of sunshine funneled through a long granite hallway, lighting it as if it were sun pouring into the open doors of a great granite cathedral, refracting off the pool of emerald-blue water at the bottom of the long cathedral walls.
In the shaded corner of the wall, the water rushed as a stream of white froth, and lower, it washed over her, cooling her sun-warmed skin with tiny droplets of icy mountain mist.
At the bottom, she pulled herself off the rope and stepped into the rush of the water, standing on the rocks and letting it gush over her head just to feel part of the whole thing that surrounded her.
Shivering, she slid back into the pool and swam down the narrow cathedral pathway, bobbing toward its wide-open doors and an unmitigated sliver of stunning green and empty space of the Valley. Like she was tucked into some secret, lush paradise. The water was clear and green and perfect. The sun was bright and warm. The breeze, clean. Flipping onto her back, she treaded water and watched as Walker lowered himself and slid into the water.
He pulled the rope, kicking and swimming backward. The water rushed in great sparkling droplets as his arms moved. She’d never wanted to touch someone so badly as she did right then. But she knew it would not be enough and she didn’t know what the answer was for that. It’d always been enough before. She hadn’t known it wouldn’t until he hadn’t said anything at breakfast. It felt like she’d betrayed herself.
They all arranged themselves, spread out on the rocks at the end of the pool, lying back in the sun and passing around the beer and the bag of chips and Adeena’s bag of apples she’d hauled up. They were a sweet treat. The light traveled across the granite and Walker’s arm was beside hers on the rocks, and it felt like the only thing in the entire world that mattered was his bare muscled arm brushing hers. She didn’t even feel guilty; the longing was so great and all-consuming. She could live with this. They were alone and above the crowds, and she needed nothing more from life than a handful of chips, a cold beer, and this afternoon in Yosemite Valley.
They moved farther down, loose-legged and dopey, as if they were all high, but still able to scramble over the massive, river-smoothed granite boulders to the top of the rounded boulder looking out over a twenty-foot drop into another pool.
Caroline tossed the rope first, and then jumped into the deep, clear water. The edge of this pool pushed up against the view of the open Valley and the haze of blue-emerald trees like a massive, natural infinity pool.
She jumped feet first into the blue pool, and felt the water rush past as Walker jumped beside her.
Above the surface, he grinned at her, gaze flickering ahead before he pulled her close and kissed her.
Rilla melted against his wet skin, against his hot mouth. It was wonderful, but when she pulled away a sick guilty feeling flooded her stomach—like when she’d message Curtis and sheknewshe shouldn’t. But this was Walker—and he wasn’t that at all. She looked at him, pulling the rope down with long stretches of his arms and it felt like everything they’d done together that summer was all in one feeling.She loved him.And he didn’t love her. He didn’t want anyone to know they were hooking up.
It felt like the rawness of her feelings was alive on her face, and she dipped under the surface to try and wash them off.
When she resurfaced, she was in control—but still with the echoes of it all in her chest. She loved him, and he didn’t love her.
He flipped his backpack over and held it toward her. “Hang on, I’ll tow you.”
She grabbed on to it and kicked easily as he swam them both for the rocks at the edge of the pool.She loved him.
What was she going to do? How could she make him love her?
They sat in the sun with easy smiles, drying off before beginning the next rappel over the next set of falls. Anywhere in the world these falls wouldn’t be little, and they’d be stunning all on their own; but here they were just another beautiful thing in a string of beautiful things. Water shot out in a graceful arc, crashing down the granite. Rilla hung back, waiting for Walker on a boulder above everyone else. She lay back and closed her eyes.
“Is Rilla planning to come?” Caroline asked.
Rilla’s ears perked up, suddenly awake and straining to listen over the sound of rushing water.
“No,” Petra said.
“I doubt it,” Adeena said. “She still doesn’t have a full rack.”
“I think she’s still messed up with school too.”
“Usually climbing helps people figure shit out. Rilla’s just ...” Petra trailed off and Rilla couldn’t hear if she said anything next.
“She’s young still,” Caroline said.
“Her home life is a disaster,” Petra said. “Like with jail and drugs and super white trash. Her mom was in a long-term relationship with two men, and one of them left. So, it was like a dad leaving. Except it wasn’t her dad, it was Thea’s. Walker told me.”
Rilla’s face burned.Walker told her?
“Oh, I didn’t realize,” Adeena said. “Like a polygamist?”
“That’s marriage,” Petra said. “She wasn’t married to either. It’s more like polyamory. Where you’re in love with more than one person at a time,” Petra explained.
