Read Online Seven Nights with Her Ex by Louisa Heaton - Free Book Online Page B

nature, with not a building, a towering spire nor a frantic cyclist in sight. Just clear blue skies, promising the heat of another day, the sun, a gentle warm breeze and the bright, cheery sounds of birdsong lighting up the morning.
    â€˜It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?’
    â€˜It certainly is.’
    Gray smiled down at her, making her jump. She sat up.
    â€˜What are we doing today?’
    â€˜Mack said we need to cover CPR, as we missed it last night, and then we’re heading higher up to cover altitude sickness.’
    She nodded. ‘Right. How far up do you think we already are?’
    â€˜Four or five thousand feet?’
    â€˜And altitude sickness sets in at...what? Eight thousand or more?’
    â€˜Depends on the climber. Could be now.’
    â€˜Mack won’t want to take us up that far, will he?’ she asked, feeling the pain in her calf muscles from yesterday’s climb.
    â€˜No, I won’t,’ Mack answered as he came out of his tent. ‘It’s a survival course, not a medical experiment.’
    She smiled at him. ‘Glad to hear it.’
    Barb gave the oatmeal a stir. ‘This is done. Everyone hungry?’
    Everyone nodded and grabbed their metal dishes to receive a small helping of breakfast before sitting down around the fire to eat quietly.
    Porridge wasn’t her thing, but Beau ate it anyway, and Justin and Claire offered to get everything washed up before they packed up camp.
    They soon covered the CPR training—how to do it effectively without defibrillators. Two breaths to thirty compressions in two rounds, before checking for signs of life—breathing, pulse rate, chest rise and fall. Mack showed them all how to find the right spot on the chest for compressions. How to place their hands. What sort of rhythm they needed and how fast. Showed them that even if they did it properly they might hear ribs break—which made everyone cringe at the thought!
    Then there was a short break before Mack showed them how to put out the fire safely, and once they’d packed up their tents and equipment, they all set off once again on the next hike.
    Gray fell into step beside Beau and she noticed that he was limping.
    â€˜Blisters?’
    He didn’t quite meet her gaze. ‘Er...no. Not really.’
    â€˜How did you sleep?’
    â€˜Well, thanks. The hammock was great.’
    â€˜Lucky you. I barely got forty winks before Mack’s alarm. The ground mat I bought felt as thin as tissue paper.’
    He smiled. ‘That’s why I brought a hammock. Off the ground is better. Even the most comfortable bed is on legs.’
    â€˜The voice of experience?’
    â€˜Most definitely.’
    Mack led them up a stony trail. Like a line of ants they began their ascent, and in the early-morning warmth they were all soon puffing and panting, stripping off layers as they got higher and higher. Beau focused on one point—the shirt of the person in front. Her mind was blank of everything as she simply concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. Plodding on, climbing bit by bit, until they reached a lookout high on the side of the mountain.
    Mack indicated a rest stop by dropping his backpack to the floor. ‘Let’s take an hour here. Get fluids on board, and then we’ll start our next lesson from this beautiful viewpoint.’
    Beau slipped off her backpack and used it as a seat as she took a drink of water from her bottle. She was hot and sweaty, totally out of breath, and the muscles in her legs burned . She stretched her legs out in front of her and counted her blessings.
    This was what she had come here for. To find nature. To escape the confines of the hospital. When had she last climbed anything? She didn’t even climb stairs any more—she changed floors at the hospital by using the lift, and the same at home. Her flat was on the sixth floor and the lift worked perfectly every time she needed it. She