The Holiday Switch(41)

How did I not notice that he had a nice voice?

    “She can do it,” Mrs. Pruitt says, turning to me with a hopeful smile.

I blink back at her.

“Oh.” Teddy lifts a hand over his eyes, lips curling into a grin. “Oh, hello there. I know you.”

Girding myself unsuccessfully, I walk forward. Let’s just get this over with.

“You know my sister?” Graham calls out.

“I do. We work together at the Bookworm Inn. She trained me.” Then he adds, “But now it’s my turn to show you a thing or two.”

My face erupts into flames.

“Everyone, pay attention,” Teddy says. “I’m going to assist Lila into a harness. We’ll do this a step at a time with each of you, but I want you to know what to expect. So eyes up here, please.”

Twenty pairs of eyes lock on him.

Impressive. Where is this Teddy at the Bookworm Inn? In spite of my hesitance to help with this demonstration, I want to see more of this.

“This is a harness.” He raises the contraption and goes through its parts. But my focus shifts to the foreboding wall behind Teddy. Looking up, I trace the different-colored markers all the way up to the ceiling, to a pulley system and a bell.

“Now Lila is going to step into it.”

The sentence snaps me back to the present. “What?”

He shakes the harness in encouragement.

“Oh…oh no.” I realize this was the basis of my volunteering, but suddenly I want to be anywhere but here.

A chant begins from the audience, at first quiet. I hear my brothers’ voices rising above the rest. Seconds later, I make out the words.

    “Step in it. Step in it. Step in it.”

I’ve stepped in it, all right. I roll my eyes, though inside the peer pressure is real. I always do what’s expected.

The volume turns up from a three to an eight.

“Okay, fine.” I relent, because I don’t want to look like I’m scared, nor do I want to disappoint.

My decision sets off applause from the audience, and Teddy’s face brightens. He holds out the harness. The two holes for my legs are obvious, and I step in while he keeps hold. Still, I have to bend down as it snags on my joggers and have no choice but to lay both hands on his shoulders to keep steady.

“Easy does it,” he whispers.

This close, I can smell the hint of bar soap and mint. It’s pleasant in comparison to the rest of this gym.

“Now you’ll see that Teddy is pulling up the harness so that it’s at her waist,” Sarah says.

His fingers slide around the harness so it’s at my hip, his knuckle grazing against me.

I hold my breath to keep my heart from leaping out of my throat.

He gently turns me around so the buckle at my waist is visible to the group. “Then I’m going to make sure that this part is nice and secure.”

He really does have a nice voice, and all at once my heart retreats into my chest cavity and thumps a million times an hour. The way he moves his hands around me, at the buckle at my waist, to the ones at my legs to make sure I don’t fall out in the hypothetical event I flip upside down, though still respectful, has the same effect on me as the Christmas romance I just read.

    “Now I’m going to hook you onto the rope.”

And then those warm feelings hurtle to the ground. “No. No way.”

Understanding flits across his face. “You don’t have to go up the wall,” he says softly. “I’ll just hook you up. Is that okay?”

His expression is sincere, and when I look into his eyes, I find no hint of malintent. I believe him. It takes a beat for me to find my voice. “Okay.”

He walks me away from the group, and we stand next to the wall. He pulls a rope with a carabiner at the end. “This carabiner? It will be attached to the carabiner on your harness, but I’m attached to it too. I am what you call the belay. I’ll make sure you’re absolutely safe.”

“The carabiners on your key ring.” It’s the only thing I can think to say. “It makes sense.”

“It’s always handy to have one around. But also it’s a reminder.” His voice is steady, soothing.

“Of what?”

“What I love to do. It keeps me focused.”

Right then, Teddy has all my focus.

“I thought you were working tonight?”

“This is work, sort of.” A small smile graces his lips. “Truth now. You okay?”

“Yes. No. Not really.”

“It’s all right. You can trust me. You’re not going up unless you say you want to.”

His words are surprisingly comforting. I take a deep breath.

    The click of the carabiners startles me, and my gaze drops to my waist, where his hands are on the link.

“It’s as easy as that, folks,” he says, facing the crowd. “Then all you have to do is climb. I’ll be your belay on one of the ropes, and Sarah will be on the other. Whenever you’re done, all you have to do is say you’re ready to come down. Then you can simply do so, or let go and we’ll ease you from the wall.”

I reach up to touch one of the holds and shake it. Sure enough, it’s secure and solid. The red ones are especially prominent, sticking out at least a couple of inches. From here, it doesn’t look that bad. And yet, it’s not the going up that scares me, but the coming down. It’s the misstep, the feeling of not being able to catch myself.