Heartbroken Heights Read online

  Chloe glanced at her phone. Still another hour to wait. Should she cook something for dinner? No, there probably wasn’t time. Besides, none of the plastic containers, bags and cans she had bought struck her fancy.

  Taquería De La Esquina it is. The fresh apples on the counter mocked Chloe as she left them behind on her way to the living room. She tried to eat healthily, but sometimes she just wanted a good taco from her favorite corner taco joint. “Tacos can be healthy,” she told the couch pillows as she straightened them.

  Her roommate chose that moment to come out of her room, keys in hand. Megan stared at Chloe for a moment before shaking her head and disappearing through the apartment door.

  When Chloe had moved to Reno and decided to share an apartment with a roommate, she hoped her new roommate would become her friend. Very early in their coexistence, Megan had made it clear that she had no interest in being anything more than casual acquaintances. Chloe would like to say that she wasn’t been disappointed, but it would be a lie.

  Whatever. Chloe didn’t need Megan because she had Stacey, and she could always call her best friend and talk about anything. Plus, after David brought her the knife, she would go have those tacos that Megan found so amusing.

  Megan’s judgemental stares had done one good thing for Chloe. They helped her remember that it didn’t matter what other people thought of her, and she had no reason to be so nervous. This wasn’t like her. Making conversation and interacting with people were things Chloe was good at, even if she mostly used those skills at work and kept to herself the rest of the time.

  Chloe’s mental pep talk worked, and when the doorbell rang she just took a moment to compose herself and let a genuine smile stretch across her lips. “Hi!” she exclaimed as she opened the door to admit David. “How are you? And please, come in.” There. That wasn’t so hard.

  “Pretty good. And thanks.” He stepped inside so Chloe could shut the door on the chilly evening air that tried to creep through after him. She watched his gaze roam curiously around the comfortable apartment, taking in the TV stand with its flatscreen, the two mismatched couches and the open kitchen with granite countertops and tile floors.

  His eyes lingered on the couches, and Chloe spoke up to sate his curiosity. “I have a roommate and we both had a couch when we moved in, so… yeah.” She knew it annoyed Megan that her couch was sleek leather and Chloe’s was worn fabric, but there was no help for it.

  David just shrugged. “There can be just as much beauty and comfort in disorder as in order.”

  Chloe stared, wondering why she had never thought to put it that way to Megan. “Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel.”

  Their eyes met. David’s were deep blue, just like the sky he climbed toward… and just as distant, like the surroundings that were so familiar to Chloe had struck a chord within him. “Anyway,” David said finally, visibly pulling himself back to the present, “here’s your knife.” He held it out.

  Chloe took it, her fingertips brushing his rough calluses as her hand came away with her beloved knife. “Thanks for going to all this trouble.” With her father’s gift clutched safely in her hand, Chloe felt like she had to give David an idea of how much this meant to her. “I would’ve—and you still shouldn’t feel bad, because it’s not your fault I dropped it,” Chloe added hastily, “but I would’ve missed this.”

  “It was no—" David yawned so widely that his jaw cracked. “No problem. Sorry about that. We climbed all day, and I haven’t really eaten since lunch around noon.”

  The hollow pit in Chloe’s stomach reminded her of her own dinner plans. “There’s a good Mexican place just a block away. I was about to go, actually,” she added as an afterthought.

  The emptiness in her stomach grew at that last comment, and for a blissful moment Chloe thought it was food-related… then she replayed what she had just said.

  Oh no! Chloe groaned inwardly as David fixed those blue eyes on her, wondering if she could melt straight through her second-floor apartment’s carpet and end up in the unit underneath hers. She had been so close! A simple “I don’t want to keep you” combined with one last “thank you” would have drawn this meeting to a perfect, smooth close without a single awkward Chloe moment. Instead, she had basically just asked David if he wanted to get dinner with her.

  But David didn’t look awkward at all, and if he noticed Chloe’s embarrassment at her thoughtless comment, he didn’t acknowledge it. “Mexican does sound good, if you don’t mind me joining you.”

  “N-not at all,” Chloe managed, soaring from embarassed to triumphant in an instant. “But don’t you have groceries to get home—to get back to your campsite, I mean?”

  “Yeah, but they can wait in the car since it’s not hot.”

  “Okay, cool. Then let me just grab a jacket.” Chloe felt David’s eyes on her all the way to the short hall that led to her bedroom and bathroom doors. Her camel coat hung over the back of her office chair, readily available for a grab-and-go operation, but Chloe went first to her bathroom mirror. Hair, check. Eyebrows, check. Makeup is fine, I brushed my teeth, clothes… Chloe eyed her midnight-blue jeans and white top. If she had known David would be joining her for dinner, she would have worn a different top, but this would go with the camel coat well enough. She couldn’t change now. David would notice and she would look like she was trying too hard.

  David this, David that. Almost disgusted with herself, Chloe turned away from the mirror to slip on a pair of comfortable heeled boots. She needed to just settle down, take a breath and appreciate that she had gotten exactly what she wanted—a chance to spend a little more time with David.

  When she emerged in her camel coat and brown boots to match, her face showed David none of the mental struggles he had unwittingly put her through. “Ready?” she asked, slipping her phone, wallet and keys into her plentiful pockets.

  “Sure.” Was Chloe imagining things? Did David’s eyes linger on her for just a moment before he turned to lead the way to the apartment door?

  Cold air washed across Chloe’s face and helped put those unanswered questions out of her mind when they stepped out of the apartment building’s glass door to join the stream of foot traffic. She plunged her hands into the warmth of her pockets and led the way down the street, trying not to think about how often she walked this path to eat at this place.

  “‘Taquería De La Esquina’,” David read from the sign above the door. “It’s true,” he commented. “It is on the corner.”

  “Do you speak Spanish?” Chloe asked as a smiling waitress took two menus and led them to a round table which, amusingly, was located in the corner of the restaurant.

  “Well enough to be understood.” David reached the table first and pulled one of the chairs back a couple inches to make room to sit down, and Chloe turned toward the other chair… only to realize that he was waiting expectantly for her to sit there. She hoped the wind they had braved to reach the restaurant explained away the pink flush in her cheeks. David scooted the chair forward with perfect timing as she sat down, then seated himself. “My vocabulary isn’t very impressive, though.”

  “I only know the very basics. High school Spanish, basically. Did you learn in school?” David definitely wasn’t from a Spanish-speaking country, at least, not natively.

  “A little when I went to high school in North Carolina, but mostly from rock climbing friends. My friend Julian is Colombian, so I picked up a lot of what I know from him.”

  “I never really hung out with anyone who spoke it growing up, so I definitely just looked at it as a grade and not a useful skill when I took it in high school,” Chloe admitted a little regretfully. “Even though Spanish is the second most spoken language in California.”

  “Oh, you grew up in California? Where did you live? I spent a couple years in Sacramento.”

  “Los Angeles,” Chloe told him as she followed his lead and flipped through her menu, even though she already knew exactly what she wanted. “My mom still liv
es there, so I go back and visit sometimes. Did you work in Sacramento?” David sure was lucky to have a job that let him take enough time off to go on such long trips. She had met him on Sunday and today was Thursday, so he had already spent most of what constituted a normal work week camping in Red Rock Canyon. Chloe had to admit that she was curious what sort of job his might be.

  “Sort of. I was mostly climbing in Yosemite.”

  “Oh. Wow.” Chloe remembered the feel of his calluses. It must have taken a while to build up those. “You must really love to rock climb, then. Do you have a job that lets you work on the go?” Chloe couldn’t see how else he could sustain such a lifestyle.

  “Sort of,” David said again after a pause. “Climbing is my job. I compete and accept sponsors, mostly.”

  Climbing competitions? Chloe had never heard of such a thing, and immediately she found herself intrigued. “Really? Are there like… rock climbing teams? Like in football or soccer? Sorry,” she apologized when David scraped at the leather corner of the menu with his fingernail, clearly searching for an answer. “You’re the first person I’ve met who rock climbs.”

  “No, it’s fine. I was just thinking how to explain. There are national teams, but I’m not part of one. There are a lot of open competitions around the country.”

  The waitress chose that moment to return for their orders, and Chloe thought she caught a flash of relief cross David’s face. For someone who loved climbing so much that he had turned it into his livelihood, he didn’t seem to want to talk about it much. Maybe Chloe should just drop it.

  She did so, choosing a new subject to pursue: camping. Immediately, she found that David’s words were freer, his voice and face animated as he and Chloe shared stories. From one of his stories, Chloe learned that he also loved to read, so they jumped from nights spent far from civilization to their favorite authors. Then, David mentioned that building his presence on social media platforms had been key to turning rock climbing into something that paid the bills. Social media and marketing herself were things that also interested Chloe, since she would need both if she ever planned to go back to blogging, so they spent several minutes talking about those subjects.

  They found many different topics to cover over dinner, but every time one began to lead back to climbing, David either changed the subject or suddenly became interested in his food.

  The euphoria that had elated Chloe at the prospect of this dinner with David drained away and she picked at her food, listening to him talk about the process of building up his social media… while managing not to mention climbing at all. He… he’s trying to be polite, Chloe realized miserably. He’s trying to be polite and not talk about it because he doesn’t think I could ever climb. It was just like when Stacey had asked if Chloe needed to take a break on their hike.

  Chloe managed to pull herself together and jump back into the conversation, but she could feel that their time together had nearly come to an end. Only a couple bites of food remained on each plate, and the waitress came up shortly after those disappeared, asking, “Together or separate?”

  “Together,” David said.

  “Separate,” Chloe said at the same time.

  “Together,” David repeated. “Thank you.” The waitress smiled, nodded and walked away with David’s card before Chloe could argue.

  That didn’t stop her from arguing anyway, though. “You already drove all the way here to give me the knife,” she pointed out.

  “Yeah, but you wouldn’t have dropped the knife if I hadn’t bumped into you. This is an apology for that.”

  “You already apologized! Multiple times! And you didn’t bump into me. I tripped.”

  “Well… think of it as a thank-you for the chat, then.” The waitress returned with David’s card and they both stood to free the table for other customers of the packed restaurant. “But seriously.” David reached out and caught Chloe’s arm as they stepped outside, turning her into the wind so that her brunette hair whipped behind her in tangled locks. “It was no problem, and I’m not saying that just to be a nice guy. I had fun. Besides, you pointed me to some pretty great food.”

  Chloe swiped away the stray hairs that tickled her lips as she smiled. “Then let’s stop apologizing, okay? I think it’s time to call things even.”

  “Agreed.” David took a step closer to shake her hand. She could make out every eyelash that rimmed his warm, happy eyes, the V-shaped lines that formed around the corners of his lips when he smiled and the telltale shine of chapstick on those lips. If he would just lean a little closer, she could have just a little taste—

  But he stepped away, releasing Chloe’s hand. “I should get going. Gotta get those groceries back,” he added. “But thanks for showing me this place. Can I walk you home?”

  “Y-yeah.” The fantasy world melted away and left Chloe standing on a freezing sidewalk during a dark night with a man just passing through town.

  David walked her to the apartment building and Chloe hesitated before going inside, still half-hoping that something, anything would happen, but… nothing did. David just thanked her one more time, headed across the street and waved when he noticed that she was still standing there, arms crossed against the cold. Then he was gone, and so was Chloe’s chance.

  She knew he didn’t live in Nevada. She knew that “her chance” was no real chance at all. That didn’t stop her hands from digging her fingers into her crossed arms, wishing they could hold something else—someone else. It didn’t stop her tongue from gliding over her lips, wetting them with imagination.

  Most of all, it didn’t stop Chloe from thinking of all the times he had gone to so much trouble for her, his gaze had lingered on her and his laugh had followed her words and asking one, all-important question.

  Was this a date?

  Chapter Four: David

  Yes, the wind moaned with cold as it tugged at the rain fly of David’s tent. Yes, his sleeping bag and pillow enveloped him in a warm and comfortable embrace. And yes, he couldn’t yet hear any of his fellow campers and rock climbers up and about this early in the morning.

  Not one of those facts was the reason that David continued to remain wrapped up like a burrito, listening to the call of the outdoors and ignoring it. An early riser by nature, David was often first to emerge from his tent in the morning, and he had no problem with that. Many were the times that he had enjoyed a beautiful sunrise and a cup of coffee by himself, reveling in the peace of the great outdoors.

  Not this morning. This morning, David wanted to lie here and wonder what he had been thinking last night.

  He had almost kissed Chloe. He had come so close at that moment outside the restaurant when she stood in front of him, her pink lips parted slightly and her sparkling eyes just inches away.

  David’s groan drowned out the wind’s howling and he flipped over, burying his face in his pillow until the need to breathe prompted him to turn his head sideways. He had no idea what he regretted more, almost kissing her or not kissing her.

  Almost kissing her, he told himself firmly. A couple chance encounters and one dinner weren’t nearly enough time to get to know someone. For all David knew, Chloe had a boyfriend—there was no way a girl as beautiful as Chloe would stay single for long—and besides, his time in Nevada was limited. He was here to explore this popular climbing destination, not go on impromptu dates.

  Dates. David hadn’t intended dinner to be a date. His group didn’t have a communal meal planned for that evening, so it made sense to grab his own dinner while he already had the car parked somewhere easy and legal. David didn’t spend much time in cities, so not having to search for a drive-thru place or figure out parking for a dine-in only had been nice.

  David had asked to join Chloe with these perfectly innocent reasons in mind, but over dinner, something in their dynamic had changed. Something in the way he looked at the woman sitting across the table from him had changed. They liked and valued so many of the same things, things that could be hard to
find in people sometimes.

  Chloe had asked a lot of questions about climbing, though. A lot. Most of them just implied curiosity for a sport she had never given much thought before, but David knew how quickly curiosity could turn into the desire to try it. He refused to put himself through that—not again.

  The sun bathed the side of David’s tent by now, and he could see shadows flitting back and forth across the warm rays and hear muffled voices outside. Soon, no matter how sharp the wind, the sun would make the air inside this tent feel like a furnace. There would be no repeat of last night, so David needed to stop overthinking things and get his butt out of bed.

  “Wow, I almost wondered if you were even in there,” Julian said when David finally stepped out of his tent, adjusting the tight long-sleeved shirt he had tugged over his shoulders. “I don’t think I’ve ever gotten up before you. Want coffee?”

  David didn’t deign to answer that question, instead grabbing one of his collapsible cups and popping it open so Julian could pour him some from the French press. “Guess I was just more tired than usual.”

  “Yeah, I bet. You got back pretty late. Were all the grocery stores closed or something?"

  David sighed inwardly. Last night, he had gotten back to the campsite after everyone had retired to their tents for the evening. His best attempts to be quiet hadn't helped him escape Julian's notice, apparently. "No, I just took a bit longer than I meant to."

  "Chloe had nothing to do with it?"

  Luckily, David had his back turned to Julian while he rooted around in a grocery bag for a granola bar, so his friend didn't get to see his reaction to that name. "I ended up getting something to eat before I came back, that's all. Yes, Chloe was there," David added, seeing there was no way out of admitting that fact.

  "I knew it. You should invite her out to watch us climb! Maybe she could even give it a try on something easy."

  The sweet-and-salty granola bar turned into ashes in David's mouth. "She wouldn't want to," he said as soon as he could speak.