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you know what I mean. I always felt sorry for the guys. It must be awful to be dating someone and all of a sudden they decide they don’t like you anymore, or you bug them in some way, or whatever other excuse you get handed when you get dumped.
    â€œWell, it’s usually best to just go ahead and get it over with,” I said, like I was offering advice from the vast wealth of my own experiences.
    â€œI know,” she sighed. “Anyway, I’d better get back to work. I have to change the dinner specials in the menus or Lisa will wonder what I’ve been doing the whole time she was gone.”

CHAPTER SIX
    The next Saturday was one of my days off, and I was eager to do something that didn’t involve scrubbing or peeling. Mainly, I wanted to do something
outside
, so I was excited when Betts and Derek and Greg and I made plans for an afternoon hike.
    Greg got the loan of his dad’s car and we went to Catbird Cove, a place with really cool walking trails. There are even a couple of places where rope bridges hang suspended high over streams that pulse through deep, wide crevices in the land.
    I’ve never been afraid of that sort of thing, but Betts is a bit nervous of heights. Actually, that’s putting it pretty mildly. Terrified would be a more accurate description. She can’t even look over the balcony from the second floor without getting woozy!
    I don’t quite understand her fear, but I sure don’tmake fun of it. When I was a little girl, I was scared of anyone wearing a toque with a face in it. You know the kind, where you can just see the eyes and mouth. Anyway, any time someone happened along with one of those on, I’d just totally freak — screeching and crying like you wouldn’t believe. I can remember not being able to catch my breath because I was so upset.
    It seems ridiculous looking back. I mean, it’s not like my parents didn’t explain that they were just people with hats on. Once, trying to help, my dad even put one on in a department store. He did it real slow, talking to me as he slid it down over his face, telling me that it was okay, it was just Daddy. Even so, the second his face disappeared under the mask I nearly hollered my lungs out. People around us were probably thinking he was doing something mean to me, the way I carried on!
    The thing is, even at that age, I’m pretty sure I
understood
that it was just a hat. Knowing that didn’t seem to matter — there was something about the sight of it that got my heart pounding like crazy. I couldn’t be talked out of it, and it wasn’t until I got older that I stopped being nervous of that kind of toque.
    I don’t know much about phobias, so I don’t know if that’s what I had, but I’m almost certain that Betts’s fear of heights is a phobia. Luckily, Derek isn’t the type to try to force her to overcome it, like some guys might do. He’s pretty patient and understanding of the whole thing.
    So, anyway, like I was saying, we were at Catbird Cove and we wanted to climb over one of the rope bridges to get to Swallow Peak, which has an awesome view of a waterfall. Or, actually, three of us wanted to. Betts wasn’t what you could call keen on the idea. Still, after taking a few moments to build up her courage, she said she thought she could do it.
    It started out okay, her holding onto Derek’s hand and looking straight ahead.
    â€œDon’t look down,” Derek said in a soothing voice. “You’re doing great. Just don’t look down.”
    Betts looked down. And, of course, the second she did, she shrieked and panicked. That wasn’t good, because she let go of the rope railing and grabbed Derek, which threw his balance off and made the whole thing sway like crazy. That did nothing to calm Betts, who started crying and screaming all at once.
    Greg and I were a few feet behind them, and I can tell you, it’s a