Page 114 of Just One Night Together
Kyle pulled himself up to the summit beside Nate, his breath coming quickly and his hair damp. “Damn, you’re fast,” he said.
“What took you so long?” Nate asked with a grin.
They laughed together and called to their belayers, then rappelled down the wall, Nate going first. Thom supervising the wall gave him a high five, not flinching one bit from The Hook. The redhead was applauding, her eyes shining. “Are you a Marine?” she asked, her approval of that more than clear.
“Was. I’m retired from active service.”
She didn’t even look at his hand, but offered her own. “I’m Melanie.”
“Nate.”
She shook his prosthesis as if it was no big deal, but her next words pretty much eliminated his optimism. “Have you ever heard of the Human Library?”
Nate shook his head.
“It’s a program in which people are the resources shared. It’s designed to overcome prejudices and assumptions. I teach grade six at a school in New Jersey and we try to have a human library day every couple of months. The idea is that someone comes and answers questions about whatever makes them different. It’s great for the kids. They move around and talk to each person.”
Nate lifted The Hook. “You want me to talk about living with this?” He really didn’t want to be in a freak show. He felt like he lived in one every day of his life.
But she was cute.
“No! I want you to come and talk about being a Marine,” Melanie said, her gaze locking with his. “What made you choose to enlist? What was it like? What was the best part? I think it would be great.”
“Sure,” Nate said, reassured. “I could do that.” She pulled out her phone to exchange numbers with him and Cassie appeared at Nate’s side.
“I’m so glad you beat Kyle,” she said. “It’s good for him to be humbled once in a while.”
“Maybe he let me win.”
Cassie laughed. “No. You are fast, and awesome.”
“Spider-Man,” Melanie agreed.
Nate guessed that all his commando training was good for something.
“Hi, I’m Meesha,” the woman in pink said with a bright smile. She offered her hand and also shook The Hook.
“Social media goddess for F5F,” Cassie whispered and Nate nodded understanding.
“Do you mind if we use some images of you in our social media?” Meesha asked “People were really into this and I’d love to share that.”
“Sure.”
She gestured to the dark-haired woman with the other camera. “Shannyn has a bunch of shots, too. You can pick and choose what you want us to show.”
“Do whatever you want,” Nate said. “I’m good with it.”
Meesha’s smile flashed. “Get ready to be famous,” she said, offering him a fist-bump. “You are going to get so shipped.”
Nate looked at Melanie who smiled and nodded. “Oh yeah,” she said, giving him an appreciative survey and blushing a bit.
It was official. He was in heaven.
“Can we talk about you posing for an F5F ad for our new discount for military service people?” Cassie asked.
“Me? Twenty stories high?”
“Absolutely,” Cassie said. “Scaling that wall, looking cocky as hell.”
