Finally, his mom set her hand on Ollie’s knee. “He would have been so proud, Ollie. I am. I’m so proud of you.”
Ollie nodded weakly and let himself lean into his mom as her arm came around his shoulders again. “He and Sam would have gotten along really well,” Ollie said after another moment. “Pizza night every Friday.”
“That sriracha pizza! Ugh. Every time.”
“Every time!” Ollie agreed, shaking his head as he smiled. “And the terrible jokes. And—”
“—Queen. Dancing in the kitchen, singing to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’—”
“—really loud, but also really off-key.”
The silence returned, but it was a bit lighter this time, and Ollie found himself smiling again as he pictured it—his dad, James Arthur Ellison, meeting Sam, the two of them sharing random facts about something obscure that no one should probably know, smiling and dancing and just finding all the joy in life...
“Did Dad...” Ollie turned slightly to face his mom, his expression suddenly turning serious. He blinked as his eyes met hers. “Did he... know?”
“We both knew, sweetie. I know you never got to tell him. But he knew, like I did. He knew, and he was just waiting for you to be ready to tell us. I should have... told you that sooner.”
Ollie shook his head and pulled his mom into a tight hug. When they parted a moment later, her expression was wistful but also full of love. He smiled gently. “I honestly hadn’t really thought about it much until now. I mean... I guess I always just knew he loved me, and that was... all that mattered.”
“He did. And it was. But I also understand having that little uncertainty. Especially since it was so long ago. Gosh, coming up on fifteen years now,” his mom said, her voice trembling. She shifted to stretch her legs out in front of her, and JoJo crawled up to rest herself halfway on his mom’s thighs.
“He would have climbed the Haystack,” Ollie said, twisting his head slightly to watch as the two men who’d been near the base of the rocks were now partway up the scramble.
“I don’t think I ever told you about the time...”
His mom trailed off, and Ollie turned his attention back to her. She was smiling again, and she’d turned to watch the men scaling the cliffs, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
“The first time we brought you up here, your father—” She stopped to laugh and shake her head. “You were just about a year old. Really. It was about this same time of year, late summer. You actually walked some of the way yourself, which was incredible. But you did almost everything much earlier than any of the books I read said you should. Your father carried you most of the way, though, in one of those silly little backpack things. You wanted down the whole time. Youneversat still. Anyways, when we got up here, he literally begged me to let him take you up there with him. To do that scramblewith you on his back. I threatened to divorce him if he ever tried, so he handed you off to me and went for his little climb.”
She turned back to him, still shaking her head lightly, and Ollie just returned her smile.
“I miss him, Mom.”
“Me too, sweetie.”
“Stupid cancer.”
His mom was quiet, but this time, she leaned into him, and he hugged her again. After a few more minutes, several more hiking groups arrived, and their nice quiet spot started to get much more crowded. Together, they stood, and Ollie dusted off his pants while his mom packed up JoJo’s water bowl.
A little over two hours later, his mom navigated her car through the bustling main street in Issaquah, ignoring Ollie’s protests as she slipped into an open parking spot in front of a small Mexican restaurant that had several open outdoor tables.
“It’s too early for lunch and too late for breakfast, Mom. And I’m not hungry,” Ollie said, even as he followed her and JoJo up to the hostess waiting in the doorway to greet them.
“I can’t believe you’re not hungry after that hike, and so I can only conclude that you’re tired of spending time with your mother, in which case, I’m going to force you to. And I can do that because I’m your mother,” she argued, smiling.
“It’s just that...” Ollie trailed off, grimacing as his stomach growled.
His mom glanced over her shoulder at him. “That’s what I thought.” She turned to the hostess. “There’s just two of us. Can we get one of these outdoor tables, please?”
The hostess nodded and told them they could have their pick of tables, and so Ollie followed his mom to the small table still protected from the sunlight by the building’s awning. JoJo immediately curled up under the table and rested her head on her paws. The hostess then handed them each menus and said their server would be out to take their orders in a few minutes.
Ollie pretended to look over the menu, but he already knew what to order. He also knew he wouldn’t be able to eat much, despite what his stomach was trying to tell him he needed. But he’d try, for his mom. After all, she was just worried about him, like Sam was.
And really, they both had pretty good reason to be worried, didn’t they?
He’d been not sleeping well for weeks now, and his appetite had been basically nonexistent for about the same length of time. Even now, when heshouldbe starving—after their strenuous hike and not having eaten much the day before—Ollie still didn’t feel like he’d be able to stomach a full meal. And both of those things—not sleeping well and losing his appetite—were much too reminiscent of the struggles he’d had in the weeks and months after his assault.
A server came after a few minutes, and he ordered his usual—a chicken tostada—while his mom ordered some breakfast burrito special that he didn’t remember having been on the menu the last time he’d been here. They both ordered plain black coffee, and his mom also got an orange juice for herself and a side of plain grilled chicken for JoJo.
