Page 47 of Mountain Struggle

“She did,” Tess confirmed, laughing.

I want to hear her laugh more.

Damien felt a tug on his conscience. “I feel kind of bad. I should have let Sarah know I knew who she was from the moment I lay eyes on her.”

“Don’t worry about it. I told you she likes you.”

Damien went down on one knee to tie his bootlaces.

“I wish we could spend the day together today, but I need to head up to the Majestic—there’s a Climate Change event.”

“I’m taking Jamie to his friend Xavier’s house this afternoon. Apparently he has two pools—an outdoor one and an indoor one.”

Damien nodded. Xavier was the son of one of France’s top snowboarders. The guy was the face of countless brands. He’d be surprised if they only had two pools in their house.

“Let me cook you dinner, then, when Jamie’s in bed. Something spicy.”

Tess laughed. “Spicy, huh? You forget I grew up with Friday night curry. You’re going to have trouble shocking me.”

Damien headed off to work, torn between feelings of happiness, and a nagging worry that this couldn’t be real, that at some point the other shoe would drop.

The conference was a small affair—much smaller than Chamonix’s conference center, known locally just as the Majestic, could hold. There would be little press and no corporates showing up to make great claims, and for this Damien was glad—just scientists, looking to exchange ideas and make science-based proposals to governments and administrations.

This was a topic close to Damien’s heart. He and this team spent all day every day out in the mountains—they were seeing the changes up close, though nowhere was the footprint of climate change more evident than in Mer de Glace, their local glacier. Two years ago they’d had to add an extra eighty steps so visitors could get closer to the glacier. If things kept going this way, soon there might be no glacier left for people to visit. It’d become a long-lost memory.

Damien and his team were there to support the local teams and reinforce security, but he couldn’t help listening to the scientists’ analyses and discussions. As the day went on, he was filled with a sense of dread—not for himself, this time, but rather for Jamie and the children yet to come—the ones who might end up growing in a world so different from this one through no fault of their own.

“Damien Gray,” said a voice behind him. Damien turned to see Diana Granger walking towards him. They’d grown up together in Chamonix—it was difficult to predict, back then, that she’d grow up to become one of the world’s leading glaciologists.

“Diana!” he said. It’d been years since he’d seen her, but she still looked the same, except for her hair, which she’d dyed a pale silvery color.

“How long are you in town for?”

“Just two days, then I’m going back to Grenoble. They always manage to make these things clash with exam time,” she grumbled good-naturedly.

Damien laughed, turning to his team. “Gael, Kat, meet Diana Granger. She is—”

Kat nodded enthusiastically. “We know who you are, Dr. Granger. It’s a real honor to meet you.” It was strange to see Kat acting like a groupie—she looked seconds away from asking Diana for her autograph.

Gael, on the other hand, was uncharacteristically quiet as he shook Diana’s hand. His dark green eyes, so distinctive on his tan, golden face, were hooded.

“Call me Diana, please.”

“So no time to head up to the mountains? For the good old days?” Damien asked. He and Diana had spent all their free time when they were children up in the mountains.

Diana looked longingly at the horizon. “I’ll take a rain-check on that for sure, Damien. It was good to get the chance to speak. Kat, Gael, it was a pleasure to meet you.”

“Wow,” Gael finally said, as soon as Diana was out of earshot.

“She’s gone, I think you can close your mouth now, Gael,” Kat laughed.

“We don’t all love the sound of our own voice as much as you do, Miss it’s-a-real-honor-to-meet-you,” Gael pushed back.

Kat shrugged. “Maybe not. But I know you well enough to know you’re rather fond of the sound of your own voice. For some reason, Diana Granger just rendered you speechless.”

“Come on, guys, I have a kid at home already, don’t need some at work as well. Let’s get back to the office.”

“Can we stop to get some food on the way, jefe?” Gael asked.