Free Caching In by Tracy Krimmer Page A

head slowly, aware too much movement may send me propelling to my death. Splattered on the floor of a wall climbing facility wasn’t exactly how I wanted Seth to remember me.
    “You’re fine,” Mike, I think it was Mike, anyway, called up to me. “Don’t worry about us down here. Remember, you’re attached to a rope. Even if you do fall, you won’t get hurt.”
    Even if I fell. I didn’t care if I’d be fine. I didn’t want to fall. Despite being attached to the rope, I’d still hurt myself somehow, and my pride wouldn’t recover. The only way through this would be deep, cleansing breaths. I needed to focus on finding my way down the wall where my feet could be firmly planted on the ground. Heels to the Earth. Safe. I pushed my feet against the wall while holding onto the rope tight, refusing to even peek below me. As I turned my head to the side, I witnessed a kid, probably not older than ten, whipping past me in a fury of defeat. Man, I was a wuss. Fine. I wasn’t going any higher, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to complain anymore about falling to the ground. One last, deep breath, and I shot myself off the wall, landing a few feet down, and kept at it until my feet hit the ground, all of me in one piece.
    I covered my face with my hands, not wanting to lock eyes with either Seth or Mike. Seth immediately helped to unhook me, and I still shook. “Sorry I was such a goof-off up there. I kind of have a little thing with heights. We don’t get along too well.”
    The smile I loved so much took over his face. “I can see that. Maybe we should stick with the geocaching.”
    “You’re still doing that, Seth? Good for you. Is your cache still hidden, or did you deactivate it?” Apparently this guy knew all about the cache, and he could tell from the expression on my face I didn’t. “Have you found Seth’s yet? It’s so wonderful how he-”
    “No, she hasn’t, Mike. We didn’t discuss it yet.”
    “Oh, sorry. Well, either way, I’m glad you’re still doing that.” He stumbled on his words. “Seth, you’re up next.”
    As Seth climbed up the wall, his fingers gripped the rocks like they were molded just for him. I ran his conversation with Mike through my mind. So wonderful how he what? Designed the container? Found the perfect hiding spot? Used his expert skills to create the greatest geocache of all time, and he did it with his girlfriend? Shoot, he never even told me if he had a girlfriend. Josh jumped into my mind and I virtually punched him in the face and myself in the gut as I realized I was destined for heartbreak again. This was the reason I didn’t put myself too much into the dating pool yet. Josh’s indiscretions were unforgivable, but what if that didn’t matter? Maybe all men were like that. Maybe no matter who I ended up with, he’d cheat on me. Take Chelsea and Daniel as an example. Did they have the ideal relationship? So help me, if they were the standard other relationships measured themselves by, I’d rather be alone.
    While I drowned in a fog of my own thoughts, Seth made his way back down the wall. “It’s so freeing. I love doing this.” He unhooked himself and handed his items to Mike. “Thanks, Mike, but I think it’s enough for today. I don’t think Ally plans on going back up there.”
    I shook my head. “You’ve got that right. I should really get home.”
    “Oh? So soon?” He waved to Mike and put his arm around me as we walked back to the car, and I was sure he could feel the tension in my shoulders. “Let’s get a bite to eat.”
    “I’m not too hungry. Sorry. I should see how my friend Chelsea is doing, too. She’s pregnant, and her boyfriend just broke up with her.” Not to mention inside I died of utter embarrassment.
    “That’s horrible!” He exclaimed as we got into the car.
    “It’s fine. He was a cheating asshole, anyway. He’s engaged.” This way, he’d know where I stood on these things. A warning, perhaps.
    “That’s shitty