Page 143 of Valley Girls
“Really?” she asked.
“You’re a leader,” Adeena said. “You’re more confident. Not just in climbing, but everywhere. You proved yourself a team player, over and over. Not everyone can be part of a team,” Adeena said.
“You hooked up with Walker—which is more than any of us managed,” Petra said with a chuckle. “You saved his life, maybe, by keeping him stable. You’re less afraid. Kinder. Not nearly as closed off as when I met you. I remember it was so hard to talk to you because you didn’t answer,” Petra said.
“You are less ignorant,” Adeena said with a nudge. “And you apologized to me right away the last time, which you didn’t do when I met you.”
“Oh my god.” Rilla lowered her chin and pinched her nose. “Dee ...”
“Calm down. It’s fine.”
“You owned up to the watch. I probably would have never known,” Petra said.
Rilla exhaled. “I’m so—”
“The point is you took responsibility for it. You knew you’d fucked up. You knew what you’d done. And you are making it right.” Petra looked down. “You’ve made me a better climber. A better person.”
“Me too. And you spent all summer working for the gear. Working for this climb. Working for this moment,” Adeena said.
Rilla took a deep breath and stared at the stars. The same stars as at home—in West Virginia. “We did it,” she said. “We climbed The Nose.”
“The Nose,” they toasted.
Forty One
If Yosemite in summer was a golden dream, fall was that dream sharpened and deepened. The air was cool and the path from Happy Isles thin of crowds. Rilla walked, her old West Virginia boots back on her feet, and her hands stuffed into the pockets of the fleece Thea had gotten her for her birthday.
“Rilla, wait up.”
She half turned, smiling at Walker rushing to catch up with her. He had the thin puffer jacket pulled over his sweatshirt, reminding her of the day last spring at the bus stop.
The evergreens stretched their boughs overhead, the sky cloudy above them.
“I’ve been looking all over for you,” he said, falling into step beside her.
“You leaving?”
He nodded. “I’m leaving.”
Rilla nodded. Adeena and Gage had long ago left to go back to school. Petra had left after that, going back to her parents’ home in Long Beach. Hico had pulled up roots and gone to Joshua Tree two weeks earlier. The house in the meadow had emptied, and Rilla got to move downstairs with Thea and Lauren. Walker and Caroline were the only ones left; now Walker was heading back to Colorado and Caroline would be there only a little longer. Thea, and Rilla, were staying.
“It was a good summer, in the end. No one died,” she said.
He laughed. “No one died.”
“Though you certainly tried.” After recovering from his fall during The Nose, Walker came back and even finished the season with YOSAR—though Rilla was fairly sure Adrienne didn’t send him on anything. He’d turned into a good climbing partner, but Rilla knew it was becauseshewas a good partner, and not him.
He inhaled a sharp breath and stopped, looking around at the trees, the cliffs, the sky. “You’re going to see this place in winter. In snow. It’ll be really special.”
“I’m excited to see it.”
He seemed like he had something else to say—his mouth tightening and relaxing as the seconds of quiet passed.
“Well ...” Her throat ached, watching him. She’d loved him. Loved him still, if she was honest. It hurt, but it wasn’t a bad hurt.
He pulled something out of his jacket. “I wanted to ...” He swallowed. “Thank you.” He handed her a folded piece of cream paper, his fingers smudged.
His notebook paper, she recognized with a thrill. Carefully, as if she was unfolding her own heart, she opened the paper.
