I was going to surprise you. But if you’re awake, maybe you’ll come pick me up from the airport.
Had she gotten this message by mistake? She wiped her eyes and read it again. It was from Dallas, all right, but she couldn’t imagine she’d been the intended recipient.
Was this meant for me?
Yes. I don’t know anyone else in Boston. [[laughing emoji]]
She jumped off the bed and blew her nose before she called him.
“What are you doing in town?” she asked as soon as he answered.
“Coming to tell you that I can’t live without you,” he replied.
She felt her heart jump into her throat. “Are you serious?”
“I missed my first flight, had to leave my luggage behind and flew clear across the country without it. I’d say I’m pretty serious.”
“But...how could you be coming to surprise me? You don’t even know where I’m at!”
“Our mothers are friends, remember? She texted me the address.”
“So you’re really here.”
“Yes. Merry Christmas.”
For a moment, Emery was speechless, and her mind was going in a million different directions. “What about climbing?”
“You don’t have a job, and now you won’t have to get one right away, so...”
She began to grab some clothes out of her drawers. “So...what?”
“I’m hoping you might agree to come with me.”
“To Europe?”
“Is that too much to ask? I guess we could do the long-distance thing, but life could be worse than spending a year or two near the Alps.”
She felt her chest tighten with the threat of tears again—only this time they were happy tears. “Because of you, I’ll have the money to be able to do that. So I’ll go, and we can leave it open-ended, see how it works out for both of us.”
“That sounds perfect to me, but I hope you won’t be sorry you decided to do something so spontaneous.”
“This could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. Now hurry—I’m freezing my ass off,” he added with a laugh.
“Boston definitely isn’t California.”
“That’s no joke. But it’s okay. I’d follow you anywhere.”
Emery felt as though she had to be dreaming. Who would’ve thought that when Ethan did what he did her life would change for the better? She’d cared about Ethan when she was with him, and she’d loved her job. But nothing could compare to what she felt for Dallas. Even the idea of leaving herself open to something new professionally suddenly sounded exciting.
She told him she had to go so that she could finish getting ready and find the keys to her mother’s car, but just before she disconnected she said, “What made you change your mind?”
He hesitated for a second, but then he said, “I decided that I’ve been carrying around enough baggage all my life. I won’t let it keep me from you.”
Epilogue
Saturday, May 15
Sweat rolled down Dallas’s bare back as he basked in the sun while waiting at the top of a fairly easy 5a climb in Belgium for Emery to join him. Rochers de Freyr was a popular crag offering a dozen or so sectors of varied, high-quality limestone, and it was one of his favorite places on Earth. Here, he could ascend with Emery, who’d become interested in the sport and was still learning and improving, or tackle one of its harder climbs on his own. He’d recently been added to the short list of climbers who’d topped Le Clou, an 8c climb in the Al’Legne sector, and now, when he wasn’t climbing with Emery, he was focusing on topping Slip a Clou or Big Bang. He planned to compete in the IFSC World Cup in the fall and hoped to place. He was starting the season off strong, felt he had a chance.
Emery’s foot appeared first. She was wearing the latest climbing shoe his sponsor had developed. Then her head popped up and she pulled herself over the edge. “That was so hard,” she said, dropping down next to him.
He chuckled at her dramatic exclamation. “You didn’t think you could do it, but you did. Way to go.” He lifted his hand for a high five, and she mustered the energy to return it.
“How’d you get me into this sport?” she complained as she gasped for breath. “After today I’m thinking it was a mistake to tell Brian we were going to Europe instead of taking over the gym.”
He smiled because he knew she was joking. “I talked to him last night.”
“You did?”
“Yep. He’s waiting a couple of years before he retires, to see what happens with me. And if I’m not done climbing when he wants to sell? I hope I’ve made enough of a name in this sport that we can open our own gym.” Doing a push-up over her body, he kissed her when he was close enough to be able to touch her lips. “It’s a risk, but I’m up for it. Because even if it doesn’t work, and we’re dirt-poor for the rest of our lives, I’ll be happy as long as I have you.”
She grinned as she sat up, leaned back on her hands and gazed out at the view. “Look at this. It’s unreal, too gorgeous for words. Hard to believe that only a few months ago I was someone who spent almost all of her time working, or trying to build her career by chasing stories even when she wasn’t working. Ethan did me a huge favor when he posted that video online.”
He slid over so he could hold her hand as they looked out together. He enjoyed nothing more than feeling connected to her, which was partly why he was glad she’d started climbing: they were literally tied together quite often. “If he hadn’t posted that video, you would never have come to Silver Springs, and we would very likely never have met again.”
She slanted him a glance. “So you don’t regret flying to Boston on Christmas?”
He tried to imagine his life without her and couldn’t. That he’d almost let his father
