Page 116 of Valley Girls
“Thanks for belaying me,” Celine said.
Rilla looked her in the eyes and nodded.
“Want to take a turn?” Celine wiggled the rope.
Rilla looked to the wall and to Celine. This was life, she realized. From now on there would be no final resolution that led her into truth. It would be a series of this—shadows she had not seen and gods who were less bright, less high. Finish one pitch and another remained ahead.
“Yes,” Rilla said, stepping forward to tie-in.
In some magic of early morning light, when she climbed the route, she felt her breathing and her body sync into a place she didn’t know existed—where everything worked and sang together beautifully, and the world existed in that moment just for her and the glory she felt.
Thirty Five
After the photography crew left and the circus subsided, Celine and Andy’s wedding became the thing everyone talked about at the Grove and in Camp 4. They’d been given things to do at the event—treated like family as an honor to the community of climbers who became family everywhere.
Two days before the ceremony, Rilla told Thea she was going on a camping trip, and just didn’t tell her it was camping on a wall. The climbing was easy. Rilla wasn’t there to learn the climbing. She was there to learn the logistics in preparation for The Nose.
Adeena and Petra taught her to pee into the air, or into a container to pour out away from the belay, and shit into a container, while in a harness. Rilla learned how to set up a portaledge and sleep in her sleeping bag on the small nylon cot hanging off the side of the wall, while still in a harness.
No one was on her period, but Adeena showed her the easiest way to change a tampon or menstrual cup—which some climbers used, apparently—midair. It was a task much simpler than she’d expected.
It was not glamorous or cool, but if Rilla wanted to climb The Nose—if she wanted to climb like them—she’d have to learn to live on the rock. They made it easy though. The two girls somehow made Rilla laugh as she hung ass out in the air, trying to relax enough to pee. And when she learned where to lash the waste container in the anchors or pack it in the pig, so she wouldn’t drop it, and it wouldn’t touch anything else.
They spent the night, not far off the ground, talking as they stared into the Milky Way and watched the tiny dots of lights moving on the valley floor below.
In the end, it all was less gross and less fuss than she’d imagined. But she returned to Thea’s house eager for a shower, and trying hard not to pester her sister about the prospect of getting her GED.
The afternoon of the wedding, Rilla felt like she spent at least an hour scrubbing dirt out of her nails and feet and slathering her sun-and wind-dried hair with conditioner. The hot water ran out, but she clenched her chattering teeth and cursed the goose bumps on her legs as she finished shaving. Her stomach trembled with anticipation and excitement and she tried not to let herself dream up a thousand different ways Walker could fall to his knees and worship her, but she couldn’t help a few. She hadn’t seen him in a few days, between climbing and his work, and she missed him. Missed him like she hadn’t even known was possible.
Grateful for the warmth of her attic bedroom, she toweled off, smeared lotion into her suntanned limbs, and spent a long time sitting on the floor half-naked, brushing out the snarls of her hair.
Outside, the afternoon sunbeams lengthened. The air sizzled. The chill from the shower faded and she was starting to sweat again as she blow-dried her hair and carefully smoothed it out with a brush.
She had brought three dresses from West Virginia. One was white, so she put it back right away, hearing her grandmother in her head about never wearing white to a wedding. One was an Easter dress an aunt had given her when she was fifteen. It was pink with darker flowers. Perfect wedding attire. She picked it up and began putting it on, but as soon as she pulled it over her head she broke out in more sweat, and her stomach cramped. She paused, stuck in the polyester lining, the dark pink flowers wrinkling like a bad metaphor. It wouldn’t go any farther. She was fitter, tighter, and leaner than when she’d arrived. But also bigger. Well-fed and healthy and bigger. She only wore stretchy pants or the new things Thea had bought her to replace what she’d outgrown.
She took a deep breath and clawed the dress back up over her head. What was she going to do? This was the dress for the wedding. The last dress was a blue sundress. Cute for putting over a swimsuit. Cute for a long day with her legs up on the dashboard of a jeep. Not for a wedding.
Hands on her hips, she took a deep breath and glanced out her window. The sun was deep and golden, and she was definitely late. She tried to make the pink flowered prison work, forcing it somehow over her hips and trying not to sweat as she put her makeup on and smoothed oil on her hair. Finally, she was ready.
And ready to die.
With a groan, she peeled herself out of the dress again and wiggled out of her bra like she was escaping a spider. She grabbed the blue sundress and pulled it over her head, pausing only to add big, dangly earrings and a bracelet to dress it up before scurrying downstairs. The right thing be damned.
Even with rushing, she got to the road just in time to see Walker, waiting with white ribbons hanging out of his pocket, looking worried. He wore a pair of light pants. A white dress shirt. His hair was combed, and his shirtsleeves rolled up. The ribbon trailed along beside him. He caught sight of her, and his chest lifted for a brief enough moment that it made everything worth it. She had to duck her head; her smile was so big.
“You’re late.”
“I know! I’m sorry.”
“They’re almost here.” He pulled the ribbon out of his pocket and shoved one end in her direction.
“What are we doing?”
“Stay there. We’re stretching it across the path. They’re walking from Camp 4 to the chapel, and we’ll join when they come on through. It’s a local custom where Celine grew up.”
She grasped her end and tried to slow her heartbeat, watching his big body as he moved to the other side of the path. The ribbon fluttered between them.
He smiled. A slow, liquid smile. “Hey,” he said, his voice deep and sexy.
