Page 98 of Free Fall

“Yeah.”

“No rush. There’s over a month to decide.”

“He wants to plan ahead. He saw a good deal for plane tickets.”

“Mm.”

Sejin meets my eyes. “Would you, uh, would you want to meet him?”

“Your dad? Sure.” I shrug. “Why not? If I’m still around, that is.”

Sejin’s jaw flexes. “You better still be around. What kind of talk is that?”

I realize he thinks I’m referring to the Heart Route ascent. “No, I mean, I might head out of here for destinations unknown after I’ve sent Heart Route.” I sip coffee again and lean back inmy chair. “I’ve been thinking about asking if you’d want to go with me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but heads up: I’ll basically have no money by then, and we’d live like nomads in the van.”

“I’ve been living on my cousin’s sofa,” Sejin says, quietly. “I can handle being with you in a van for a few months.”

“You think?” My heart leaps.

“Yeah. Of course.” Sejin frowns, the laugh lines by his lips deepening in the opposite direction. “But what about Thanksgiving and my dad? Where will I be staying by then? Peggy Jo will be back, and I’ll be…” Sejin shakes his head and the little wisps of hair that have fallen out of his messy bun dance around his face. “I’ll be where?”

“You just said it. You’ll be living in the van with me.”

Sejin pokes at his food. “I hope so.”

I tilt my head. “You just said you would be?”

“I know. It’s just…I wish he hadn’t asked right now, you know? I don’t want to go back to West Virginia, but I don’t want him to buy tickets to come out here if I’m going to be with you somewhere else. It’s bad timing.”

“We could stick around here.”

“Then where will Dad stay? In the van with us?”

“With your cousin? In an Airbnb? A hotel? The lodge? There are a lot of options.”

Sejin frowns and I don’t understand his worries. “Right. Yeah. Of course.”

I look at my watch. “I gotta go. I’m late for my training already.”

“Meeting someone?”

“Yeah. I’m supposed to pick Rye up from the campground, and he’s gonna belay today. I think I’m going to work the roof again. Gotta nail that down tight.”

Sejin pales and his dark eyes look luminous as he gazes up at me. He says nothing. I stand up and come around the table to kiss his forehead, then his nose, and then his lips. “I’ll see you later, Doc.”

“Later,” he says, a little tiredly.

“What’re your plans?” I ask.

“I took today off to get settled in here. Will you be coming back here tonight after your training?”

I should say no and return to my slot at the campground. But I push a wisp of hair off his forehead and say, “I’ll be back by dinner.”

Leaning close, I whisper in his ear, “Don’t tell anyone, but I think I love you.” Then I kiss his earlobe and turn to go.