Page 78 of Free Fall

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Dan

The text fromSejin is unexpected, but welcome. It’s strange how just seeing his name on my phone screen makes me feel like birds are fluttering in my heart. It’s also kind of gross. But I like it.

Papa Bear gave me the afternoon off. I have your keys with me at my place. Text me when you’re outside, and I’ll bring them out to you.

I reply with a thumbs-up and turn to Peggy Jo. “He’s not at Papa Bear. He’s back at his cousin’s house. I’ll have to grab my keys from him there.”

Peggy Jo doesn’t hesitate in her change of direction. She’s so familiar with the area and everyone in this town that, of course, she knows where Martin and Leenie live.

“I was impressed today,” Peggy Jo says as we near the gravel drive that marks their small house. “You didn’t miss on that dyno even once.”

“Told you.”

“But that dyno’s not—”

“Not the Heart Route dyno. I know.”

“What’re your stats on that one?”

I clear my throat. I don’t really want to admit it. They aren’t as good as she’s going to want to hear, and so I shrug and say, “Not bad.”

“Stats, son.”

I open my mouth to say that I’m not her son, but instead I just cough up the number. “Around seventy.”

“Around?”

“Give or take.”

“It’s either seventy or it’s not.”

“Okay, sixty-nine these days.”

“Sixty-nine out of a hundred tries you make it.”

“Yup.” Honestly, it’s a pretty impressive stat. That dyno is ridiculous. But when you’re talking about free soloing, it’s miserable. No one wants those odds.

“What’s your timeline for this again?”

“I want to go up late October or early November before the weather moves in and the rock gets too slippery. I really don’t want to wait until January or February, though the friction might be better then. But…well…the winds.”

“The winds make that a no-go,” she agrees. “Fuck, Dan.”

“I know.”

“This is stupid.”

“So you’ve said before.”

But then she goes and sprays about my accomplishments all over the town. I don’t know what to make of that. Mixed messages have always screwed me up. That’s why I rely on my own inner compass the most in life. It’s never guided me wrong.

“You can’t possibly consider it with a rate of less than ninety-eight.”

“Hmm.” I know Honnold has done some climbs he couldn’t get better than a ninety-five percent chance of success, but that’s way better than sixty-nine. And I don’t have a ton of time left.

Maybe Sejin really is too much of a distraction. If I’m going to make this timeline, I need to be up there drilling the roof and the dyno every damn day. And my rest days should be for rest, not fucking, not going on dates.