I would have followed, but between boulders two and three was a gap I didn’t think I could make. For a second, I considered wading across the river, but that would have meant immersing my runners, and they were good runners—I actually ran in them. Getting them wet in the rain was one thing, but this was serious adventure stuff.

“You coming?” Josh called from the other side of the river-stream.

“Um, not sure.”

He looked at me like I’d grown another limb. “I think we’re close, Sarah. Can’t you hear the falls?”

I can hear the falls, yes, thank you, Joshua. Grrr.

I looked in the direction of the sound and I could see the top of the falls over the tree line. We were close. I looked back at the river-stream. Just as I contemplated ruining my shoes for the sake of the falls, a fellow hiker emerged from the bushes behind Josh. He looked a little older than me—in his forties—and super fit.

“Hi folks,” he said. Mid-westerner, I thought. “You wanting to cross?” he asked me.

“Uh, yeah, but not totally keen on soaking my shoes.”

“No problem. I helped someone across before, and I’ve got these.” He pointed to his shoes which looked like runners, only they were made of neoprene. Oh, thank god! He waded into the river-stream and stood between the second and third boulders. “Can you get to here?” he asked, pointing to boulder number two.

Yes, I can do that. I nodded and made the jump from the riverbed to boulder number one. I took a moment to steady myself and then jumped across to boulder number two. My landing was a little wobbly and the man reached out for my hand to steady me.

“Thank you.”

“No problem. I’ll keep hold of your hand while you jump across to the next rock, okay?” I nodded and bit my lip, unsure. I looked at the distance between the boulders, then envisioned missing boulder number three, slipping awkwardly into the river-stream and knocking my head on a rock. At times, I am quite a talented catastrophiser.

I pushed the ugly thoughts aside, took a deep breath, and leapt to boulder number three, gripping the man’s hand. From there it was just a short jump to the other side of the river-stream, where Josh was waiting for me. I made it! Oh, my god, I totally did it.

I jumped up and down and grinned madly, then called out an effusive, “Thank you!” to the man in the river-stream.

“Hey, no problem. You folks have a great day. And the waterfall is totally worth it!” He turned and climbed out of the water and went on his way. It didn’t even occur to me that I would have to get back across without his help. I was too excited that I’d done it.

Josh beamed at me. “My adventure chick,” he said, kissing me hard on the mouth.

I had once been an adventurous chick. I’d travelled incessantly, and I’d hiked, canoed, white-water rafted, abseiled, mountain biked—so many incredible adventures. But all before I immersed myself in a toxic relationship with Neil the cheating bastard and forgot who I was.