Chapter 3

At noon, I finally reached the last stretch of the snow trail.

It wasn’t long. It would take less than twenty minutes to reach the pine tree at its end.

But walking this stretch alone wouldn’t count.

I sat on the stone steps and took four oranges out of my backpack.

Lucas used to bring them every year.

“The snow trail’s tough,” he’d say. “Peel an orange as you walk, and you’ll be at the end before you’re done.”

This year, he’d forgotten to buy them.

So I had.

I peeled one with my left hand. The peel broke several times.

My right hand had melted all the way to the wrist. My empty cuff kept dripping.

A message appeared in the group chat.

“Noah took so many pictures of me!” Lily wrote. “Claire, want to see?”

“When are you coming back?”

A long while passed before Noah replied.

“She almost slipped on the rocks. We’re taking her to lunch first. Don’t sit there waiting for us to reply. It’s putting a lot of pressure on us.”

I stared at the words "a lot of pressure," then put the peeled orange back in its container.

At one thirty, I called Lucas.

When he answered, someone nearby was ordering food.

I heard Lily say she wanted something hot, then Ethan asking the server for a cup of ginger tea.

“Lucas,” I said. “If you leave now, you can still make it.”

“Didn’t Noah tell you? Lily almost fell.”

“So all three of you have to stay?”

“I’m the one who took her out onto those rocks. How could I live with myself if she got hurt?”

“I’m waiting for you, too.”

He was quiet for a moment.

“Claire, she could actually fall if we don’t help her. How many times have you walked that trail since you were a kid? I thought you’d understand.”

I gripped my phone, remembering the first time he’d come up the mountain.

He’d sprained his ankle.

Ethan had supported him from the front while I’d steadied him from behind. Together, we’d helped him all the way down.

We hadn’t walked the snow trail until he could walk with us.

“Lucas, I can’t walk it today.”

He sighed.

“Then don’t. Wait until next year. Arguing with me won’t change anything. I’m already at the beach.”

After hanging up, he sent me thirty dollars.

“For oranges. Next year, I’ll walk it with you twice more to make up for it.”

I looked at the four oranges in front of me.

I didn’t accept the money.

Sometime after two, my lower legs began to soften.

Water slowly pooled inside my boots. Every step made a wet squelching sound.

Bracing myself against a rock, I stood and went to the entrance of the snow trail to try.

At my first step, the snow beside the path quickly seeped into gray water.

I backed away and sent Ethan a voice message.

“I know you’re with Lily. You can stay a little longer, but you have to leave by two thirty at the latest. The drive takes three hours. I can walk the trail a little faster.”

More than ten minutes passed before he called.

“Claire, Noah said you were pushing him pretty hard. Can we please not do this?”

“I’ve worked out the timing. If you leave now, there’s still time.”

“Lily hasn’t even finished lunch. How am I supposed to tell her I’m leaving?”

“Tell her I’m waiting for you on the mountain.”

“You make it sound so easy. It’s her first time here, and the three of us are supposed to just abandon her? Think how awkward that would be for her.”

I looked at my pant legs, growing emptier by the minute.

“Ethan, I really thought you’d come.”

His voice softened.

“I want to be there with you. Next year, okay? I won’t go anywhere else. Just up the mountain with you.”

“You said that last year, too.”

“And didn’t I go with you last year?”

He had.

He’d come every year.

That was why, even though he hadn’t come this time, I’d kept waiting.

Two thirty came.

He was still at the beach.

I put the four oranges back in my backpack and swiped past each of their chats, one after another.

I didn’t ask any of them again.