Felix crossing the ladder. Luka hesitating. Bruce joking about death, not knowing those would be his last words.
If you fall and your harness fails, it will only kill you.
That terrible rumblingcrackas the serac collapsed.
Falling. Unconsciousness. Ice.
Gabby whimpered, licking Conrad’s chin.
His mind far away, he petted the puppy, stroking her soft fur, a dark chasm where his heart ought to have been.
* * *
An hour later,Conrad was contemplating getting drunk when his cellphone rang. He hoped to hell it wasn’t Candace.
Not Candace, but his mom.
He answered. “Hey, Mom.”
“I didn’t know you were back. Why didn’t you call?”
“I guess I didn’t want to year the ‘I told you so.’’
“You truly think I would have said that to you in these circumstances?”
“That’s what you said, more or less, when Dad died.”
“I was heartbroken and angry. God, Harrison, I’ve spent a year and a half worried out of my mind about you. I tried to reach that monastery, but I could never seem to get a connection. I wrote to you. Did you get my letters?”
“A few.”
“Why didn’t you write back?”
“I didn’t know what the hell to say.”
“How are you?”
“I’m okay, I guess.”
“The article I just read online said you’ve given up climbing.”
“You read an article online?”
“It was more of a video—some twit of a reporter harassing you in front of that dump of a house where you’re living. It reported that you’d given up climbing.”
Great. That video was already online.
“Yeah. I’m done.”
“I don’t believe it. You’ll go back to it. You just need some time. The wilderness is in your blood, just like it was in your father’s.”
“I don’t want to get into that again.”
“I’m not getting into anything. I’m just telling you I know you better than that.”
Whatever.
“Are you seeing anyone?”
