Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Vienna towered over both women. That didn’t seem to matter. They aided her to the bedroom, took her shoes off and helped her lie down.
“You didn’t get any sleep last night,” Shabina said. “We stayed up way too late talking. Why don’t you rest for a little while? I’ll finish packing your things. Congratulations on the big win. Lots of money.”
“For the hospital and our search team’s equipment,” Vienna said. It felt so good to lie down. The weakness was beginning to invade. “I can’t wait to get out of here. I’m so done with hotels.”
“Even this lovely suite?” Shabina looked around her.
“Yes. I need to go camping,” Vienna said decisively. Her lashes were getting heavy. “I’m getting pins and needles in my legs. I think I sat too long.” The memory of Zale massaging the blood back into her legs and arms, helping to overcome the paralysis, came to her, and she hoped if Shabina or Raine did the same, it would counter the coming immobility.
“Are you really that ready to leave that hot guy you told us about?” Shabina asked, perching on the edge of the bed and massaging Vienna’s left leg.
Vienna tried waving her hand. It was too difficult to bother. “So ready. Men are ultimately far too bossy for me to deal with for very long. They want to change your entire life for you. He was fun for a while, though. I’ll miss certain things.”
Raine laughed. “I’ll just bet you will. Stella, Harlow and Zahra will meet us at the Airbnb with all the equipment. We can scope out the best rock to climb tomorrow. I looked up Red Rock online and found all sorts of great sources for the best bouldering. I think Stella will be happy. The hiking looks easy enough for all of us. Zahra won’t complain.”
“She’ll complain,” Shabina said.
All three laughed. Vienna couldn’t help it. Zahra could run rings around all of them if she chose, but she did it grumbling every step of the way, as if it were a chore for her to hike a trail or boulder or trad climb. She only ran if she had a dog that was high energy. She’d lost her companion dog some time ago and hadn’t gotten another one. Her friends were conspiring to find her the perfect pet to make her happy again.
Raine sank down on the bed on the opposite side of Shabina to massage Vienna’s other leg. Both women had strong fingers, most likely from all the bouldering they did. They had to use their fingers in the small cracks to pull their bodies up at times as they moved up the rock. Vienna could tell the massage was really making a difference. Why hadn’t she known this? She was a nurse. She should have figured it out.
“She will,” Raine agreed. “But she’ll out-hike us all. I don’t know how she does it when she never trains.”
“I think she trains secretly. Maybe in the middle of the night,” Shabina said. “I asked her once if she did. She gave me that haughty little look she gets that drives all men wild and said maybe she does.”
Vienna found herself laughing again. She could picture Zahra responding just that way. She had the cutest accent, and she did have snooty little looks that were too darling to take seriously, nor did she ever mean anyone to take them seriously. Zahra was one of the kindest people Vienna knew. She was flirty, and men fell all over themselves to help her with any little thing, but she didn’t date. She had been born in Azerbaijan and raised in a strict environment in a small village in Uzbekistan. She was actually quite careful around men.
“Do you want me to massage your arm?” Shabina offered.
Vienna nodded. “Thank you. I can’t believe how good that feels. I haven’t taken advantage of the spa here, and I probably should have. Everything in the hotel is first class.”
“You could still do that, Vienna. They’ll come up to the suite,” Raine said. “I’ve looked over all the amenities, mostly to look at the food choices. You know me, I’m all about eating.”
She was the slenderest of all of them and could eat an entire pizza if she was working and not paying attention. She liked food. Shabina loved to cook, but she wasn’t as much into eating as Raine. They often teased Raine about how much food she could actually eat at a meal. She just told them they were jealous, which Vienna thought could have some truth to it.
“Unless you two want to avail yourselves of the spa facilities, I’d rather check out tonight,” Vienna said. “I need to breathe fresh air.”
“If Zahra were here, no way would she allow any of us to pass up the spa,” Shabina said. “She’ll be ashamed of us for doing so.”