“After we climb,” Shabina said, “we can take a break and then take the bikes and go on the trail. I’ve mapped out some really great loops for us.”
“Bikes.” Zahra groaned dramatically again, this time louder. She folded her arms on the table and put her head down on her arms. “Why are you all so energetic? Did you bring my ebike?”
“No. You’re going to pedal just like the rest of us,” Stella said firmly. “Considering you can run rings around us most of the time with your short little legs, no one is going to let you get away with riding an electric bike.”
“I’m not going to be your best friend anymore, Stella. I’m giving up the position. In fact”—Zahra sat up and pulled out her phone—“I’m going to go on Instagram and see if anyone else wants the position. You’re a pain to keep up with. All this hiking and climbing and biking nonsense. Where is that app? What does it look like? I forget.”
Stella burst out laughing. “No one believes you’re going to give me away, Zahra. You can’t post anything on your Instagram account. I have to do it for you.”
Zahra groaned again. “Fine. I’ll keep you as a best friend. Just so you can do the social media crap I don’t want to do.”
“Don’t worry, Zahra, tomorrow we can lounge around the pool and rest,” Shabina said. “I’ll hand you drinks and fan you.”
“Thank you.” Zahra blew her kisses. “See, Stella, that’s what you’re supposed to do when you have a bridal shower. Not climb and bike and hike all over the country.”
“We’ve got the kayaking day after tomorrow,” Vienna said. “We meet the guide at the Hoover Dam Lodge parking lot at six a.m., and they’ll shuttle us to the launch site. We have to have our IDs and can’t be late or they won’t let us launch at the Hoover Dam, so make sure you don’t forget them and you get up on time. And yes, Zahra, we have to get up before it’s light again.”
“I suppose since I’m in a tandem kayak with Stella, I can make her do all the work for the first few hours while I sleep.”
“Like I’d let you get away with that. The kayak would suddenly turn over,” Stella said. “You’d find yourself in the water, dog-paddling around.”
“You’d be that mean,” Zahra said.
“Yes, I would,” Stella said.
Vienna’s phone vibrated and she dragged it out of her pocket, a little surprised. She’d taken her vacation and few people called or texted other than those in the room with her. “Zale sent me a text. He left his truck in the Blue Diamond overnight parking lot. He wants me to clean it up and get it back to the rental place for him.”
“I thought you broke all ties with him,” Shabina said.
Vienna heard the concern in her voice. The others looked at her the same way. She shrugged and studied Zale’s text. It was clear to her that something had happened to him and Rainier. She wanted to leap up and try to find him, but she knew it would be impossible. There was no doubt in her mind that he was hurt. That “clean it up” for him meant there was blood in the truck. She swore under her breath. This was going to be her life with him.
She looked up to meet Stella’s eyes. Stella knew. She was marrying Sam. This was Sam’s old life. He might not participate now, but he had in the past. He’d shared little pieces of what it had been like with Stella.
“I don’t mind driving his truck to the rental place for him if he doesn’t have anyone else to do it. I can Uber back to the Airbnb.”
“That’s silly, Vienna. I can drop everyone and then follow you in the 4Runner,” Stella said. “They’ll have dinner put together by the time we make it back.”
“Or we can all just go at the same time,” Shabina said. “Dinner will only take a few minutes. You won’t need to make the extra trip to take us to the Airbnb. That’s just more driving time for you, Stella.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Because you never mind going out of your way,” Harlow said. “But it’s only a few minutes. We can hang. On the way back we can talk about the hike to Tuolumne Meadows.”
“It’s such beautiful country,” Stella murmured. “I’m so looking forward to that hike.”
“We have the permits, of course,” Raine said. “We’ll park at Tuolumne Meadows and take the shuttle to White Wolf Trailhead. Hopefully, that’s what you wanted, Stella.”
“Exactly,” Stella confirmed. “I want to start at the White Wolf Trailhead and hike to Tuolumne Meadows. We have four days. I know it’s a steep downhill and then a long uphill climb going that way, but the scenery is fantastic, and this time of year there will be few people.”
“The river should be high and the waterfalls really running with the snowpack so dense this year,” Harlow offered.
Raine nodded. “It’s supposed to be perfect weather for us too. I’m really looking forward to it.”
“I am too,” Vienna said. “Just the thought of getting outdoors for a few days and clearing all the cobwebs out of my head makes me feel better.”
Their drinks were ready and they collected them before once again getting into the large 4Runner. Stella drove her rig out to Calico Basin, which was actually in a residential neighborhood. Used to driving in all kinds of weather, Stella was careful as she took the SUV slowly through the streets to the parking lot. They were early enough that they managed to park in the dirt parking lot, when often, they had been warned, there were so many visitors that parking had to be found on the road, and they had to be careful not to upset residents.
All the women were used to hiking distances with backpacks and thick crash pads on their backs, but the trail to the Kraft Boulders was only a five-minute approach on a fairly flat and well-marked path. There was also a long hiking trail that took off to the left of the parking lot and circled back through the boulders, which day hikers often used. The locals often walked their dogs along that left trail, but the path to the right of the parking lot led directly to the famous boulders. Since they weren’t worried about weight, they loaded their daypacks with lots of snacks, chalk bags, shoes and a guidebook for the area. They shoved what they could into the two thick crash pads they brought with them, and then made their way toward the boulders.
The very first boulder they could see was the massive twenty-five-foot one called the Cube. It was a beautiful but very intimidating boulder with several very hard routes on it. They knew from the beta—information—that Raine had collected for them ahead of time that the downclimb was sketchy and hard, so they had no intention of climbing that one today. Instead, they veered left toward a cluster of boulders along the trail that were all much shorter than the Cube.
Vienna inhaled deeply, grateful to be outdoors in the early morning sunrise with her friends, crash pads on their backs as they walked single-file along the trail through the red sandstone boulders until they arrived at the black warm-up boulder. Immediately there were a variety of routes nearby, including easier ones right along the trail that Shabina might find fun to climb. She was the least experienced, and all of them wanted her to enjoy climbing, not be afraid of it. They would all need to warm up, so convincing Shabina they weren’t doing easy climbs just for her as they put down their crash pads wasn’t difficult.
Vienna liked to climb. She liked puzzles and she liked any activity that allowed her brain to focus wholly on one problem and block out everything else. That way, she wasn’t all over the place. Climbing boulders kept her mind occupied with figuring out the best way up the surface of a rock. She wanted to center herself again after all the stressful time inside the hotel and casino.