“This seat taken?” I jumped, looking over at who the voice came from.Max.
“No.” I looked back out the window, briefly seeing the cable attendant closing the door to the car. We were the only two inhere.
“Why did you run?” I wasn’t expecting him to ask me that, but for some reason I wanted to answerhim.
“I’ve been to Atlanta a few times in my life.” I didn’t turn around to look at Max. I didn’t need to see the confusion or questions in his eyes. “This is only the second time I’ve been to StoneMountain.”
“It’s a beautiful place. You should come more often.” I tensed. My hand gripping the bottom to my seat. I thought I could. I thought I could get through this without anyone seeing how it affected me. It’s why I didn’t tell Lilly and Erica how much I was freaking out in the car ride on the way here. It was why I simply agreed to this on a whim, because if I didn’t overthink it, I thought I could doit.
“The last time I was on this mountain I was with my father.” I wiped away a tear that trickled down my cheek. “All I can remember about that day was that I was eating candy, taffy, to be exact, and it had been raining, so the mountain was slippery. I ate a few pieces and then tried to walk butslipped.”
A laugh bubbled from inside of me. I turned towards Max. He was listening intently, like the words coming from me were all that mattered rightnow.
“My dad thought it was because I was fooling around. When we tried to walk down the mountain he slipped. We laughed it off, slipping on and off all the way down until we hit dirt. It’s one of the funniest memories I have ofhim.”
I laughed to myself again and looked up to themountain.
“I don’t want to sound rude, but I’m confused.” Max’s statement forced me to look at him and he looked confused. “Are you happy orsad?”
“Both.” I said it with such certainty. I was happy and sad, but for the same reason. I was happy that I remembered the memory, period. Anything that had to do with my dad was always hard to remember, but I was also sad because I remembered it. It had been five years since my father’s death, and anytime I thought about him, I stopped functioning properly. Adam noticed instantly when it happened because he could never get me out of my slump. I had to come out of it on myown.
“I thought I could go down this mountain today and replace the memory.” I looked out toward the mountain, a flood of emotions clouding my mind. “But then I realized I didn’t want to ruin such an amazing memory. So, Ileft.”
I didn’t turn back to Max. We sat in silence as the cable car continued down the mountain. My phone came to life in my pocket with multiple vibrations. I looked down to see numerous texts fromAdam.
Hey.
Why did yougo?
Why won’t you haveservice?
Why aren’t youanswering?
Alexa.
Answer menow.
Fine.
I knew by the way my phone was angled that Max had read them all, too. His breathing increase beside me and then the cable car shook. I bumped into Max’s arms and they immediately went to steady me. His eyes met mine and I couldn’t lookaway.
“Thank you.” Then I moved. I moved as fast as I could out of the arms of my boss and out the door of the cable car that had just opened. I pushed the call button on my phone, hoping that Adam would answer, but nothing. I didn’t leave a message but called again. After two rings, it went to voicemail. The third call didn’t even register through, and the fourth, the same. Straight tovoicemail.
Max stood far enough away from me to give me space but close enough for me to know he was still there. I sent a text to Lilly, letting her know I was heading back to the apartment. I had my own key, so I didn’t have to worry. I could call for an Uber with no problem, and I did just that. I waited by myself as Max sat off to the side. When the Uber came up, I looked over to him. I could see confusion and understanding written on his face, but I entered and shut the door before he could make it to the car. I couldn’t look out the back window as we drove away, because I knew that Max was still standing there, watching meleave.
