Page 45 of Free Fall

“Mm-hm, well, whatever you say, but I figure it’ll come out sooner or later. First, though, let’s stick with me.”

“Happy to.”

“The house and the cats,” she says. “I can’t leave the cats with the boarder for two or three whole months, and Grady Houser, my neighbor who usually takes care of them when I travel for long periods, is wintering in Australia this year—lucky bastard—and leaves a few days before I do.”

“Hmm.”

“So, I was wondering if you would stay here with them? It’ll help with your money problems too. I’d pay you for cat sitting, and you could stay here for free. Remember what Henry said about your funds? A year max. This could really help with that.”

I don’t like the idea of living this far out from El Cap, but it’s true that my biggest expense, by far, is the camping slot. I could get my money reimbursed for the weeks I don’t use. I feel strangely superstitious, though, about the idea of living in a house like this when I’m training for the biggest climb of my life.

Maybe it’s silly, but it feels too soft. Like if I were to live here instead of in my camper, I’d lose focus, become a couch potato, and do nothing but watch television all day. I can already hear her counterarguments—I’ll rest better in a real bed, and that alone will make my training more efficient and help me retain the strength I’ve earned.

But still I resist.

I have an idea, though, of who might want to stay here in exchange for feeding the cats.

Rye’s in a living situation that prevents him from having even partial custody of Jeanie, and so he might be interested in a house-sitting gig, even if it’s only temporary. Maybe Andrew would be more likely to let Jeanie spend the night with her Mommy from time to time if he was out of the tent. So long as it benefited Andrew, of course.

I decide not to say anything about that, though, until I’ve felt Rye out on the situation. People too often don’t react the way I expect them to, and then I’m left looking like even more of a jerk.

“I don’t need a commitment right now,” Peggy Jo says, reading my expression in that way only she seems good at. “But I’ll need one soon. I need to make some kind of plan. I’d rather help you out than someone else, but I need to know whoever is watching the cats is reliable.”

“The cats hate me,” I point out.

“They don’t need to love you. But after you feed them for a few weeks, they sure will.”

“Ha.”

That’s the last we talk of it for now. I know I’ll have to give her an answer or counter-solution soon, but I’m relieved she doesn’t try to pressure me. That’s one thing Peggy Jo rarely does, and probably one of the main reasons we’ve stayed friends.

“So, tell me what’s bugging you,” she says.

My nose wrinkles. “I’d rather not.”

She gets up, goes inside, and comes back out with a bowl of chips and another cat on her heels. This one has the white spot on its nose. She calls it Julio as the door falls shut behind her, telling him to watch his tail. He darts out just before the door slams. So that’s one cat identified, two to go.

“I like a guy,” I say.

She sighs in satisfaction, like she’s known the whole time I was going to spill. I’d kind of known it too, but I like to make things hard if I can. I mean, why give anyone the idea that I need them or whatever? Because I don’t. It’s just…

I don’t get people, and I don’t get what’s going on with me and Sejin, and Peggy Jo’s smart. She’sgoodwith people and might have some insight that’ll help me understand.

“I don’t think it’s a wise idea for me to keep seeing him, but now thathethinks maybe it’s not a wise idea to keep seeingme, I’m trying to talk him into staying.” I sip the lemonade, watch Julio collapse next to cat number one in the sunshine, and then say, “Why?”

“You don’t like to lose?”

“No. I don’t normally care that much when a guy or girl moves on.”

“So, it’s this particular guy then.”

“Yeah.”

I let silence fall for a few moments, watching as a moth flaps near the cats. Julio bats at it before it flies off and away from danger. Neither cat chases it.

See? That’s what I should do, not try to get Sejin to fly back to me.

“We’ve hooked up twice. I’ve talked to him two… Yeah, two, maybe three times outside of those encounters. I should be willing to let him walk.”