Page 149 of Free Heart
Buck nods his agreement.
Peggy Jo leans against his side and lowers her head to his shoulder. He tilts his head slightly sideways, resting his cheek onher hair. He lets out a breath, takes in another, and he lets Lisa go again.
INTERLUDE 8
Jeremiah
One hour earlier
“Sejinie loves Dan,”Jeremiah says, burrowing down into his bed.
“That’s right, bud,” his father agrees, tucking him in.
“I love Sejinie.”
“Mm.”
“But Dan married him first.” Jeremiah pulls his teddy bear close. “Dan says I’ll find someone else to love when I’m grown up. Someone just like Sejinie.”
“You’ll find someone, bud.” His father tousles his hair and stands up to turn out the light. As he pulls the door almost closed, he says, “We’ll be happy with whoever you love.”
“Mommy will be happy too?”
His mother’s voice drifts in from the hallway. “Yes, baby. Mommy too.”
She comes into the room, pushes his hair off his face, and gives him a forehead kiss. “I love you. And I love who you’re going to be, and I love who you’re going to love.”
“I love you too, Mommy.”
Jeremiah closes his eyes and falls asleep thinking of a day when he might meet a boy with long, dark hair, and a big smile. He almost can’t wait to grow up so he can. But he can’t wait to start kindergarten in the fall too. He guesses he’ll do that first.
Growing up can wait a little longer.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
Dan
May
Ican’t believemy ears. It’s nearly too good to be true.
“The timeline’s the sticky point,” Sailor is saying, her eyes aglow, and her hands shaking with excitement. “The money, the budget, the expectations, the end-game buyer, all of the rest of it is—” She kisses her fingertips. “Couldn’t be better. This can solve every problem for you and Sejin. We’re talking cash to set up a home base here in Mariposa County. Rent or buy. Whatever you want.”
I force myself to take a long sip of boba, chewing on the tapioca beads before giving her an answer. I want to say yes. Of course I do. But she’s right that the required timeline puts pressure on me to be ready by the end of May to not only free solo Heart Route, but do it while being tracked by drones and climbers with cameras. They want to film every last second of what will hopefullynotbe a fateful or fatal climb.
I promised Sejin on our wedding day—and many times before and since—that I’d consider him first and foremost. So I do that now.
Sailor, in a rare show for her, is patient with me. She doesn’t push or cajole or even try to convince me one way or another. Instead, she steadies her hands by wrapping them around her latte, gazing down into the milky depths of it, and holding her peace.
I cast my mind back to the day before. Me and Jory up on Heart Route. The roof. The triumph of making it over and thedizzying elation of following it up with a near-perfect haul up the nickle-sized holds above, and the exultant climb of Golden Gate to the finish.
It took seven hours, but it’d been flawless.
“Your uncle can’t give us an extra week?”
Sailor shakes her head and bites her lip. I can sense that she wants to say more, likely encourage me to take this opportunity, but she says nothing. Sejin will be grateful to her. Or he might have been—if I was going to make a different choice, but I’ve already made up my mind.
“Let’s do it.”
