“Let her go ahead,” Sam huffs. “It’s safe enough for her to wait for us at the top.”
Susannah is breathing heavily and her face is beet red. I ask her if she wants to stop, but she shakes her head.
“Are we almost to the top,” she manages to sputter.
“Yep,” Sam says. “Less than five minutes.”
Just when I think I can’t possibly push my lungs any further; there is a sharp increase in elevation. Susannah looks at it and says, “I can’t possibly do that.”
“You can,” Sam says. “This part is the shortest yet. It’s the last push.”
We all take deep breaths and bend into the last leg. Susannah leans on her stick with one hand and grabs for a tree branch with the other. From behind, I put my hand on her butt and push her up the last couple of steps. The ground flattens out and we are looking at almost the entire island from the highest point. Olivia is standing in the middle of the field, close to the lighthouse, staring out to sea. Looking over her shoulder at us as we stumble, panting and sweating into the open, she laughs. “This was so worth it.”
Sam bends over for a second until she’s breathing normally again. “Don’t sit down, Susannah. Walk around slowly a bit until you catch your breath.”
“This is unbelievable,” Susannah says, after she can breathe again. “I can’t believe I’ve never seen this before.”
“It’s kind of a pain to get here, that’s for sure,” I reply.
“We love it, though,” Sam says. “Dana and I used to make a point of doing this hike twice a week. We need to get back into that.”
“Agreed,” I say. My breathing has returned to normal, so I spread out on the ground in the sun. It’s windy up here, but it’s hot and sunny, so the wind just serves to cool me off a bit. Susannah plops onto the ground next to me and rummages in her bag for some trail mix. Olivia is still wandering around, checking out the view. She actually looks kind of pretty right now. With her cheeks a bit flushed from the climb and her hair hanging loose around her shoulders instead of teased into a hair sprayed helmet, she doesn’t look as phony as she usually looks. I like her face much better without the layers of makeup. And the outfit, ridiculous though it is, looks cute on her petite frame. Susannah catches me checking her out and elbows me. “Stop it.”
“Stop what?” Sam looks around, smiling. She loves it up here. I think the only thing that would make it better would be if we could get some kind of pulley hook up so we could load up on beer and food. She would never want to leave.
“Dana is giving Olivia the eye,” Susannah says, smugly.
Shocked, Olivia turns around, raising her eyebrow at me. “Really?”
“Well, you look really pretty today,” I say.
She makes a disbelieving noise and turns back to look at the water.
“It’s true, though,” Sam says. “You do look pretty with your face all natural and your hair down like that.”
“Well, anyway, I want to go climb into the lighthouse.”
“Give me a fucking break, we just got here,” Sam says, flopping down on the grass on the other side of Susannah.
“Fine, I’ll wait.” Olivia walks over to the other side of Sam and sits down next to her. “I didn’t realize you were still recovering from the hard hike up here.”
“Your false pity and harsh sarcasm haven’t gone unnoticed,” Sam replies.
Olivia laughs and again I’m struck by how pretty she is. Sam has obviously seen it too, as she leans close to Olivia for a moment, and pulls a leaf out of her hair.
“Olivia,” Susannah says. “How the hell are you in such great shape? You don’t hike, you don’t swim, you don’t dive, and you work in an office all day.”
“Yes, but I do Jillian Michaels videos every morning,” she answers. “There’s not a single thing these two yahoos could have put me through that can compete with that evil bitch.”
“Maybe I should start doing that,” Sam says.
“Maybe,” Olivia answers. “It would help you get rid of that beer belly.”
“What beer belly?”
Laughing, I close my eyes, half-listening to their bickering. The wind blows across me, keeping me cool at the same time that the sun is warming my skin. I can’t believe how happy I feel at this moment. Susannah and Olivia are both laughing at something Sam has said. Letting their voices flow across me without actually picking up the words, I close my eyes and soak in the warmth of the sun. If I could bottle this feeling from this moment, I could be happy for the rest of my life.