Gridwall’s expression was so grave Mitch might have laughed. “Yeah.”
Megs glared at Gridwall. “You won’t have to kill them.I’lldo it.”
Gridwall chuckled. “Yeah, you probably would.”
Now that they’d settled that…
The hike back to Camp 4 was hell, anger at his parents making Mitch’s pulse pound, Megs doing all she could to talk him into telling his father to shove it.
“You could do what Gridwall does and hide. Gridwall can tell him we didn’t find you, that you’re off somewhere climbing. He’s good at lying, right? If your dad can’t get a hold of you, he can’t threaten to take away your tuition money.”
Gridwall nodded emphatically. “Good idea. Yeah, I can do that.”
Oh, Mitch was tempted.
“I need to graduate. When I’ve got my degree, I’m moving out.” He would do what Megs did—hold a string of seasonal jobs that enabled him to buy gear and gas and keep climbing.
Then it hit him.
What if she didn’t wait for him? What if she found some other man, one who didn’t care about consent laws who was willing to do what he hadn’t? What if she fell in love with someone else and forgot about him entirely?
He stopped. “Gridwall, you go on ahead, tell them we’re coming—and deliver my message. I’m dead serious, man.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’ll kill us. Got it.”
When Gridwall had gone, he took Megs’ hands. “Megs, I know ten months is a long time, especially when you’re only sixteen. But I’m making you a promise, okay? Are you listening?”
“Yes.”
“On my honor, I promise that I won’t date or sleep with any other woman while we’re apart. The next time I have sex, it will be withyou—if you still want me on your eighteenth birthday.”
“If I still want you? You’re all I think about—well, you and climbing.”
That made him laugh.
“I promise I won’t sleep with anyone, either. You’re the only man I want, and you’re leaving.” She looked like she might cry.
“You’re going to be okay.”
“Are you sure you’ll come back? You won’t fall in love with some pretty co-ed?”
He wanted to tell her that he couldn’t fall in love with anyone else because he was already in love with her, but something stopped him. “I’ve never met anyone like you, Megs. You’re the freshest breath of fresh air on this planet. You have nothing to fear from any other girl. Any chick who wants to bemygirl has to free climb Half Dome.”
That made her smile.
He held her hand all the way back to camp, stopping before they reached the clearing to hold her tight and give her one last deep, slow kiss. “I’ll see you in ten months. You be here in camp by the end of May next year, and I’ll see you then.”
“I’ll be here.”
His father and Uncle Frank were waiting by his father’s black Buick, looking comically out of place. While Megs went to sit with Gridwall and the dirtbags, Mitch broke down his tent, packed his gear, and said one last goodbye.
“See you next summer. Until then, climb on!”
Cheers, fists in the air.
“You know it, man!”
“Right on!”
