TWENTY
By halfway up the final hill, Gaia was so breathless she could barely speak. Hadn't she spent enough time in her private gym lately? Was that why she was so unfit? Or was it the heat and the dust combined that made the steep slope such a challenge?
She glanced at Jay, who powered past her with a grin on his face. "C'mon, slowpoke. You want to see what's at the top, don't you?"
Her grandfather's villa, now the whale observatory.
"I need to catch my breath," she wheezed.
"C'mon." Jay stretched out his hand.
Gaia glanced back, satisfied to see the pilot raising her phone to photograph them. She grasped Jay's hand and trudged up to his side. He'd continued on, so she clung tighter to his fingers as with each panting breath she climbed higher up to the peak of this b****y rock.
