Page 75 of Free Heart
“Will Sejin go camping with you?”
Of course.
“But he doesn’t climb with you, right?”
He’s not a big wall person, no.
“How did you meet Sejin?”
Would you believe me if I said I met him at the coffee shop where he works?
“But that’s not true, is it?”
No. I used an app to summon him to my van for a hookup.
“And you got hooked?”
Right in the heart.
“What do you think about the rumors that Sejin is the reason you fell?”
I haven’t heard those rumors. He wasn’t with me on the climb, and he didn’t even know I was going that day. How could he be responsible?
“By tying you down.”
We both know I was up there without ropes.
“Clever. But many have suggested your relationship has been a distraction to your training.”
No doubt about it. But I didn’t fall because of him. I was ready. I was dialed in. I had every single inch of that route memorized. My body knew every move by heart. Whatever happened up there was on me.
“What do you say to people who claim they knew you’d fail?”
I’d say I haven’t failed yet. I’m breathing, aren’t I?
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Sejin
Six weeks since free solo attempt
Ever since Dan’sinterview went up on Sailor’s channels, I can’t get any peace at Papa Bear. There’s always a climber or a climbing fanatic who recognizes me and wants to ask me about Dan. Or about me and Dan. Or about the fateful climb. It’s almost as bad as it was in the early days right after the accident.
“Is he really going to try again?” the guy at the counter asks, eyes wide, like he didn’t hear Dan say exactly that in the interview itself.
“Your non-fat latte with extra caramel syrup, sir,” I say, pushing the coffee cup across the counter, hoping that he’ll take it up and go.
But I should have known better.
“I mean, he’s crazy, isn’t he? How do you sleep at night knowing he’s going to go up there and risk it again? He’ll probably die this time. Won’t he?”
“Excuse me,” Pete says, appearing at my shoulder. “My employee’s got work to do. Enjoy your coffee.”
He steers me away from the counter and toward the back room, leaving Gage and Celli to handle the front. We aren’t too busy, but we’re not empty either. I shoot them both an apologetic look.
“Kid,” Pete says, when we get into the back. “You’ve got to learn how to shut these folks down. They don’t deserve your energy.”
“I don’t want to be rude.”
