by Laudat, Reon
Calling all Tarzans, Janes, and Cheetahs!
During a scenic hike, imagine yourself soaring over gulches, cliffs, and towering trees along the slopes of Haleakala, the world’s largest dormant volcano. You’ll ride five of the fastest and most amazing zips attached to swinging bridges.
Thrill-seeker, you are in for rides of a lifetime!
Kendra’s stomach lurched with all that extra bacon she’d eaten. While her discomfort with heights was hardly at phobia intensity, she hated that wobbly sensation that often seized her on Ferris wheels, glass elevators, ledges, and all bridges from the Golden Gate to the foot variety. She looked around. The rest of her group brimmed with anticipation. If they could do this, she could, too.
Chapter 10
The bus stopped near the bottom of Haleakala and a tourist rest station before they reached the fringe of a heavily wooded area. One of the three tour guides suggested a quick restroom run for everybody. There would be plenty of time to purchase memorabilia at the park’s official visitor center after the hike and zip-line rides, he promised. Kendra was in a state. During the bus ride through thick traffic, her fear had escalated, blinding her to the sights along the way. Perspiration trickled down her spine though it was sixty-two degrees.
Kendra raced to a restroom stall to put some distance between herself and the rest of the psyched-up bunch. Leaning against the door, she sucked in long, deep breaths to calm her jangled nerves. Plenty of stalls meant the line moved quickly so she could linger there away from curious eyes. Finally, she heard someone call out, “Ladies, five minutes until the weigh-in! The hike begins immediately after!”
“You can do this. You can do this. You can do this,” Kendra mouthed after she’d peeled herself off the door and stepped out of the stall. Alone, at last. She wasn’t ready to leave, but at least she didn’t feel like hurling her breakfast at any moment.
She splashed cold water on her face at the sink and then dried it and her hands. She moved toward the exit and then paused when she heard soft sobs coming from the stall on the far right end.
Kendra tapped on the door. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” a woman replied between sniffles. “Thanks, I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“I have a travel pack of extra soft Kleenex with aloe. I can slip them to you if that recycled sandpaper they call toilet paper is the problem.”
“No, I’m fine,” the woman replied with a light chuckle.
“If you’re part of the Haleakala Two tour you’d better get a move on,” Kendra said. Then she added, more for herself than the woman in the stall, “Actually, getting left behind might not be such a bad idea.”
When the stall door opened, Corinne Ostertag, whom Kendra had first met at the Dallas conference, stepped out.
“Ms. Porter!” Corinne shrieked, one hand flying her chest. She wore that daisy-printed jacket and cap Kendra had noticed when she’d boarded the motor coach.
“Hello! But call me Kendra. You’re on the Haleakala Two bus? I didn’t see you.”
“Yes, I got on, but I stepped off to make another quick trip to the ATM.” Corinne dabbed at her watery eyes. “I’m here for the craft workshops. I read you were attending, and I’d hoped to see you again. But I didn’t want to be a pest or anything. I appreciated how nice you were to me and Mother at the Romantic Wordsmith conference.”
Corinne had written the excellent Four Simple Wishes. Corinne and her mother had driven all the way from North Carolina to the Dallas romance novelists’ event hoping for the chance to meet Kendra.
Or so they’d told her.
“After I returned home, I appreciated the email you sent letting me know you’d received the full manuscript.”
“Yes, I’m still evaluating it. And thank you for the opportunity,” Kendra said, not wanting to express her strong interest in representing it until she’d completed her fourth read and made more notes. “Where’s your mother?” She slanted discreet glances under the stalls.
“Back at the hotel, lounging around a pool. Said she wasn’t feeling well. Funny how her gout always manages to flare up when she has to do anything the least bit physical. I was looking forward to the hike and the zip-lining. It’s the big weigh-in I’d like to skip. I didn’t read the brochure’s fine print until after I boarded the bus.” Corinne walked to the row of mirrors over the sinks.
Kendra removed tissue from her waist pack and passed it to Corinne, who checked her own reflection.
“I noticed the no fatties-clause during the ride over here,” Corinne said.
“The what?”
“You know, the no ‘Fatty-Fatty-Two-By-Four. Can’t get through the bathroom door, so she did it on the floor.’ As in there’s a weight maximum. No exceptions, it says.”
“I don’t think it’s a public thing. They wouldn’t dare. I’m sure it’s just one person working with the tour group who checks this.”
“I’m not sure I want that person to see how much I weigh.”
“There’s a weight minimum, too.”
“Yes, no small children. I thought I had learned to love my full-figured fabulousness, but reading about the weigh-in brought back a lot of issues I thought I had dealt with already. I don’t think I can deal with failing to make the cut.”
“It’ll be okay,” Kendra said, thinking she was no waif herself. While she had her days when she believed dropping a few pounds couldn’t hurt, she appreciated her own voluptuousness. Though she’d grown up bombarded with images depicting the epitome of female beauty as blonde, ultra-lean, and leggy, she was particularly proud of her thick, espresso-colored hair and lavish bottom and breasts accentuated by her small waist.
Kendra also had little use for a scale, instead gauging whether or not to cut back on carbs or saturated fat based on the way her clothes fit. Nor was she efficient at guesstimating other people’s weight. Corinne had more generous curves, but she appeared to fall well within the weight requirements. “You’re immobilized by the weigh-in. For me, it’s the zip lines. I’m no good with heights.” Kendra could see Dominic and Zoe, maybe even Brody, having a good chuckle at her expense.
“Back home, I exercise. I power walk every day, and I try to eat right, with one cheat meal per week, when I eat whatever I want. Had I known about the weigh-in, I would not have overindulged at that luau last night.” Corinne shook her head. “What was I thinking? All that roasted pig!”
Kendra flapped her hand. “Who worries about portion sizes on vacation? Tedious, Type-A people, that’s who!”
The petite blonde tour guide stepped inside the restroom again. “Ladies, you don’t want to get left behind.” She must have noticed the reluctant expressions on their faces. “If you two are having second thoughts about the zips, it’s all right. You can do the hike and watch the zips.”
This ignited Corinne’s determination. “That’s the story of my life—always the big fat girl, standing on the sidelines watching everyone else have fun. I’m going to hop on the scale with the sureness of the heavyweight champion of the world—even if I break the damn thing.”
“I’m with you!” Kendra declared, shoring up her own resolve. “I won’t display the agility and moxie of a Cirque du Soleil performer on those zips, but I promise you I won’t pee my pants!”
“Yes!” Corinne cheered.
The two women raised their fists in solidarity.
Corinne and Kendra joined their group, which had formed a single file line to sign the tour company’s cover-its-ass waivers: If the line (or your neck) breaks, we ain’t liable!
After reading about all the things that could possibly go wrong, Kendra was hardly reassured by the tour company’s claim that no one had ever been seriously injured on its tour. After all, there was a first time for everything.
Corinne and Kendra brought up the rear as their group made its way up the sloping, uneven trail terrain toward the zip lines. Dominic, Brody, and Zoe stayed together. The guides took tur
ns wowing everyone with their knowledge of the famous silversword plant and other indigenous flora and fauna.
Kendra and her hike partner enjoyed a nice get-acquainted chat. Corinne, who had a bachelor’s degree in history and an MFA from a well-respected program, now worked for her father’s apparel and custom printing and embroidery company while she wrote on the side. Her mother Elnora, who taught high school English at a private school, encouraged her to continue pursuing a fiction-writing career.
“Is that who I think it is?” Corinne whispered and pointed.
“Dominic Tobias.” Kendra wasn’t so engrossed in her conversation with Corinne that she’d forgotten all about him. She glanced in his direction more than a few times, admiring his hunky back view. Nice wide shoulders, strong diamond calves, and the butt of a god. The man was truly a physical wonder to behold. Brody, carrying a small notebook to scribble notes, had pulled ahead to quiz their guides, leaving Zoe with Dominic, who’d been bumping his gums since the hike began. But whatever he was saying clearly enchanted Zoe.
“My mother and I have read great things about him and his agency. I knew he was going to attend this conference, but I didn’t expect to see him on a tourist outing,” Corinne said as if she’d spotted a unicorn.
“Did you send Four Simple Wishes to him, too?” Kendra asked airily, though she’d felt somewhat uneasy about Corinne’s starstruck reaction to Dominic.
“No, I’m giving you an exclusive,” Corinne said with a big smile. “I like you.”
“I like you, too. But that’s not required at this stage, you know,” Kendra said, though she was pleased Corinne was committed to working with Porter Literary Agency. “Why my agency?”
“I read Dunston’s Pass and The Orchid Keeper’s Secret.”
“Books I acquired and edited when I was at Winn-Aster.”
“Yes, brilliant,” she rhapsodized. “The lyricism, structures, and elegance. These complex tapestries were pure perfection, in my humble opinion. After taking in the last pages, I rushed to read the acknowledgments and saw your name in both. Right then, I knew when I was ready, I wanted to submit to you. Those are two of my all-time favorite modern novels. When I started researching agents, I discovered you’d left Winn-Aster to open your own agency. I had to track you down.”
“I’m flattered.” After all these years, Kendra still blushed when hearing such praise.
“I’m so happy we had this time to talk and get better acquainted,” Corinne said. I’m even more certain I want to work with you, that is, if you decide to take me on.”
“We’ll see. I’m hopeful. I’ll contact you as soon as I complete my evaluation.”
“Not to rush you or anything, but do you think you, um, could let me know what you think. Share your first impression, I mean, before we leave Maui?”
“Yes.”
“Mother criticizes me for not speaking up more, but it’s difficult when she’s around. She’s like one of those automatic flush toilets, always cutting me off before I’ve finished my business. But I love her. And her heart is in the right place, though she can be overbearing at times.”
I’ll say! But Kendra only offered an empathetic smile.
When Zoe lost her footing on a buried piece of rock, she tumbled into Dominic’s arms. Oldest trick in the book, but still a decent move, Kendra thought. And she’d executed it flawlessly, holding on to Dominic much longer than necessary. Kendra silently cheered Zoe on, though her heart squeezed just a bit. But she had no right to be… jealous? Hadn’t Dominic invited Kendra to spend time with him? She’d declined several times. You can’t have it both ways, girl.
Kendra had willed Dominic to turn his attention to pretty, vivacious Zoe who was clearly in his thrall. He hadn’t looked in Kendra’s direction since the hike began. Mission accomplished.
After a two-mile trek along fern-covered cliffs and slopes, the group arrived at the first zip station, where Corinne passed the weigh-in.
Corinne and Kendra high-fived. The happiness blooming on Corinne’s face almost made Kendra forget her own terror. The guides provided step-by-step instructions about the way zipping works, breaking down the anatomy of the seatbelt-like harness attached to a clip-on pulley fastened to a cable.
Group members stepped up to form a line to the first launching pad. Everyone—including a boy who looked no more than twelve and a much older woman with poufy blue-rinsed hair—appeared eager to begin. After zip operators fitted helmets, distributed safety gloves, and secured harnesses, each member of their group whooped and hollered while taking off, one-by-one zipping across the first line. This “practice” line, as the tour guides referred to it, stretched a hundred and twenty-five feet long and hung thirty feet above ground. Then Kendra’s turn rolled around. She stalled, taking her gloves off, putting them back on, and taking them off again to stuff her sunglasses inside her waist pack. The guide hooked the line from her harness to the cable overhead. Her smile and knees wobbled.
Kendra put the safety gloves on again, tipped forward on the platform, took a deep breath, and squeezed her eyes shut.
“Don’t forget to enjoy the majestic view!” someone called out to her.
Next thing Kendra knew, there was nothing solid beneath her feet. Airborne, she zoomed across with the wind rushing in her face, roaring in her ears, and whipping through the hair streaming out of the helmet.
She couldn’t see a thing because she refused to open her eyes as she hurtled toward the next platform, knocking over the zip operator stationed there. What a rush! She’d done it! She’d actually done it! She leaped at the operator as he came to his feet and gave him a big smooch on the cheeks. Mwah!
Dominic, Brody, and Zoe showed off, curling their bodies into cannonballs for the next two lines. This maneuver allowed for maximum speed. Meanwhile, Kendra challenged herself to make it across the next line with her eyes open, but couldn’t nail it as the zip lines got longer and higher. Kendra clutched the rope railing and took baby steps across the swinging bridge with her head tilted to the sky. As long as she didn’t look down she wouldn’t freeze.
The final line was called The Big Kahuna at seven hundred and ten feet long and two hundred feet above ground. Misting rain now falling between zips did not deter their group.
Kendra watched Zoe take off. Brody followed. Because this last line was unique and specially designed so two people could ride in tandem, an elderly husband and wife team zipped together, in a newfangled contraption that positioned them side by side.
Corinne clearly noticed the fresh splash of fear on Kendra’s face. “I can go with you if you like.”
Kendra managed to speak, or rather, squeak, “No, er, you go on ahead. I can see how much fun you’re having performing your little tricks and all. You can’t do that if you’re busy holding my hand. I’m good.”
Dominic moved behind Kendra. “You okay?”
Kendra turned, tipping her head back to look up at him. It was difficult maintaining a warrior woman stance with knees shaking like maracas. “Of course! I’m fine!”
Casually peering over the edge, Dominic whistled. “Wow. That’s some drop there. The other lines were child’s play in comparison.”
“Next!” one of the tour guides called out.
“That’s me!” Corinne rushed ahead to the platform. That left Dominic and Kendra. The guide signaled for them to approach.
“You go next,” Kendra said to Dominic.
“No, ladies first, always,” he replied.
“No, I insist. Save the best for last.”
“And you’re the best?” Dominic scoffed. “Have you actually seen anything? Couldn’t have pried your eyelids open with a crowbar during that last zip.”
“Something flew in my eye,” Kendra replied cheekily.
“If you say so.” Dominic grinned, only temporarily distracting her with that brilliant smile.
“C’mon, you two,” the guide called out to them again. “We’re running behind. We need to catch up with the grou
p. Why don’t you do tandem to make up a little time.”
“I’m game if you are,” Dominic said to Kendra.
Kendra considered declining, until she peeked over the ledge again. Vertigo slammed her. Her heart went on a tear and her belly yo-yoed as she surveyed the drop. More flop sweat. Gulp.
“Or you can sit this one out,” the guide said. “You all right? You don’t look so good.”
“Isn’t she a pretty shade of green or is it honeydew?” Dominic teased.
“I’m good,” Kendra squeaked again.
“What was that?” Dominic asked.
“I’m, er, good to go.” Her feet felt bolted to the platform.
“We’re doing tandem,” Dominic said, taking charge. He stepped beside Kendra and took her trembling hand as the zip operator reached for the contraption that secured their cables and harnesses and then tethered Dominic to Kendra, side by side.
“Put one arm around me,” Dominic said.
“Huh?” Kendra replied, still in a daze.
“You’ll feel more secure.” Dominic reached out, positioned her arm around his waist, and then put one arm around her.
Her fists unclenched. She wasn’t too frightened or thickly gloved to notice how solid and good he felt. If she ultimately plunged to her death, this was definitely the way to go, embracing a beautiful, exceptionally fit man. They used one hand to hold onto the horizontal bar attached to the cable.
The guide did the countdown. “Five, four, three, two, one!” The momentum of Dominic’s weight bulleted the pair forward, and then they were off.
Flying! Together!
Again, the wind whipped Kendra’s face and roared inside her ears, but she saw nothing with her eyes pinched closed.
“Yeeeeeeaaaah!” Dominic boomed as he held her tight. “Open your eyes! You don’t want to miss this!”
“I can’t!” she whimpered.
