Page 62 of The Hang Up
Henry whooped and started singing something that sounded like a Lady Gaga song. He didn’t have the lyrics quite right—something about wanting to poke her face in the chicken casino?—but the tune was recognizable.
“Where on earth did he learn ‘Poker Face’?” Miriam asked.
“Ellie. She does mother/son dance parties with him sometimes. The kid loves it.”
Henry kept singing as he scurried around a bend in the trail, his voice ringing through the treetops as he belted out the lyrics at top volume.
Miriam smiled and squeezed Jason’s hand. “It’s got to feel good to see him so happy and vivacious. After everything he’s been through?—”
She stopped, probably not wanting to presume too much about Henry’s health or future, but Jason didn’t mind. It was nice to have someone taking an interest, sharing the burden of worrying about his nephew.
“You’re right,” he said, toeing a rock off the trail so she wouldn’t trip. “It’s been a rough year with him, but it’s starting to feel like maybe there’s some light at the end of the tunnel.”
“You said earlier he’s in partial remission,” she said. “What does that mean, exactly?”
“It means the cancer is responding well to treatment. That we’re keeping it at bay.”
“So it’s still there?”
“Yes, but getting weaker all the time. There aren’t any guarantees, but the pediatric oncologist thinks odds are good Henry will be in complete remission within six weeks or so.”
“That’s great!” she said, and the genuine excitement in her voice felt like a warm balm on his heart. “So that would mean there’s no cancer at all?”
“At least not that they can detect. It usually takes a few years of complete remission for doctors to declare a kid totally cured, but things are definitely looking positive.”
“I’m so glad.” She fell quiet a moment, and Jason wondered what she was thinking. He didn’t have to wonder long.“You mentioned once that you took the job with Urban Trax so you could do more for Henry and Ellie.”
“That was a big part of it.”
“So if Henry turns out to be okay?—”
“Am I planning to pack up and leave town?” He squeezed her hand. “You’re afraid you’d miss me?”
She rolled her eyes, but the faint flush in her cheeks told him maybe he wasn’t so far off the mark. “I was just curious about your career plan,” she said. “Whether you want to stick around or to go back to leading adventure tours.”
Jason sighed. “Yeah, I don’t know. The Urban Trax job is a great career move for me. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and there are a lot of things I really love about the company. About the job itself.”
“But?”
“But,” he repeated, stalling a little. Did he really want to admit this? He glanced over at her, and those beautiful green eyes told him it was okay to let his guard down. To drop the fucking Superman cape for a minute. “Part of me wonders if I’m just not cut out to be a CEO.”
She frowned. “How do you mean?”
“This whole layoff thing. Maybe the execs are right. Maybe that’s just part of doing business and there’s not a damn thing I can do to prevent it. To save those people’s jobs.”
She seemed to consider that for a moment, tucking a stray curl behind her year as they made their way around a bend in the trail. “This doesn’t sound like you.”
He raked his fingers through his hair, remembering his last conversation with the accounting director.This isn’t the time to be sentimental,Rex insisted.It’s a matter of dollars and cents.
Jason wasn’t sure he believed that, but he didn’t know what else to do.
“I feel like I’m running up against a brick wall,” he admitted.
“So put on some crampons, grab your chalk bag, whip out your multi-pitch free-climbing and trad-cragging harness, and climb that son of a bitch.”
Jason barked out a laugh, startled by both her passionate delivery and off-kilter mountaineering jargon. “I see you’ve been reviewing our line of climbing products.”
“I have.” She grinned up at him. “And while I’m not entirely sure what the hell I just said, I do know you’ve got it in you to make a difference. To do the right thing for those employees who are counting on you.”
