Jim’s phone pings. He looks down and then reports, “Nate is downstairs, and they’re coming up.”
Nate and his wife, Lilly, arrive with their kids, and there’s pandemonium. But we wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Hey, it’s the Yeti!” Nate says as he pulls me in tight. “Here I am in Italy, enjoying a pleasant evening without the kids, and I open the US international edition of theNew York Timesto find your mug! What the hell?”
I laugh. “I hope you brought it home so I can see it.”
“I bet the women are swarming around you now.” Lilly gives me a hug.
“I haven’t been back to the hospital yet,” I tell her. “I’m scheduled to go in one night this next week.”
True to form, Nate pulls an expensive bottle of bourbon out of a bag and a tumbler from the cabinet. He knows his way around Jim’s place.
I look around at this group. I’m the last one still single. Maybe I could have brought Anna here sometime… But I guess she wasn’t interested. That’s too bad.
“Earth to Clay…” Stella says.
I look at her and smile. “Yes?”
“I asked you to tell us how it all happened.”
So I tell them the story—from meeting Anna when her mother was injured, to finding her on the shuttle, to doing our runs and deciding to take a break for hot chocolate when the mountain came crashing down on us.
“You guys were buried inside that lodge.” She shakes her head. “Thank God for miracles.”
“Fortunately, the flue was open in the fireplace, so I was able to start a fire. Otherwise, we might have frozen.”
I tell them all about Anna and how we managed to make it through together. Well, I don’t tell themeverythingabout how we managed. That’s none of their damn business.
“When are you going to see Anna again?” Kate asks.
I shake my head. “We’d made plans to have dinner on Thanksgiving Day, but when I tried to contact her, they’d checked out of the hotel. We didn’t exchange information, so I have no idea where she is.”
“Anna Standing?” Lilly asks. “I know that name….” Lilly thinks for a moment, and then I actually remember how she knows her.
“Oh! She mentioned she was the interior—”
Lilly nods. “Yes, she was the interior designer on the house. She’s beautiful. Half the contractors and trade workers were chasing her.”
“Well, you can add me to that list.”
“I’m sure I have her number, but I didn’t bring my phone. He wouldn’t let me.” Lilly jacks her thumb at Nate.
“She’s been on it since before five this morning,” he says with a shrug. “I wanted some of her attention. Sue me.”
Lilly rolls her eyes and pats him on the back. “I’ll give you a lot of attention later tonight.”
That gets plenty of snickers from the crowd.
“Are you going to reach out to her?” Fiona asks.
“I don’t know.” I rub my hand over the back of my neck. “I feel like maybe she stood me up because she didn’t want to see me again. Why would I make her uncomfortable by forcing her to have to tell me to my face, it was real and it was fun but it wasn’t real fun.”
“Man, did a girl ever actually tell you that?” Bash says.
“No. But what we went through was very intense. I don’t know how she’s feeling about it. We were huddled up in a freezer when half the roof of the lodge came crashing down, and they had to helo us out. It brought me right back to our days in Afghanistan.”
“That sounds terrifying,” Stella says.