Page 210 of Mountain Boss

That our life gets easier.

That we have someone to take care of us.

My vision blurs, and I peel off from high school me.

Becoming two people again.

And I know I can’t lie to her.

Because I can’t lie to myself.

I watch, feeling useless as younger me wipes at her eyes and starts walking.

She’s going to work.

But then the world shimmers again, and everything around us transforms back into woods.

Younger me keeps walking.

And I follow her.

I follow her to the Laundry Cabin.

But she doesn’t stop. She doesn’t even look at it.

She walks all the way to Sterling’s house.

Younger me stops at the base of the stairs, the dream stairs looking so much longer than the real-life stairs.

I stop beside her, looking up.

I can feel the desire to climb the steps and go inside.

I can feel her hope.

“That’s not for us,” I tell her.

Even though I know the emotions I’m feeling are my own.

Younger me turns to current me. “Maybe it could be.”

The door at the top of the stairs opens.

It’s dark beyond the threshold.

It’s so far away.

But…maybe it could be.

“What if it’s not?” I whisper.

“What if it is?” she whispers back.

I can feel the warmth of Sterling surrounding me.

And that hope… that damn hope I’ve clung to for so long…

I take a breath.

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