Ten Below Zero(57)

“I thought I was supposed to forget the rules.”

“Just for that question!” I was amazed at how quickly he could frustrate me. He knew he was being ornery. And he knew how rile me up.

“What about the friend who set you up with Sarah?” It was one of the questions I couldn’t get out of my head.

Everett looked at me for a minute. “Oh. Jacob.” He set the backpack down and crouched down, helping me put my shoes back on.

“Yeah. You thought you texted a Sarah and instead-”

“I got a Parker,” he interrupted, tying my shoelaces. He stood back up. “Who did you think Sarah was?”

I shrugged. “A date?”

Everett smiled. “Sarah wasn’t a date. Jacob was a concerned friend.”

“Who was Sarah then?”

“A therapist. Jacob was concerned about my drinking. He arranged for me to meet his friend Sarah, who happens to be a therapist.”

I thought about that for a minute. “And you thought that meeting her at a bar was a good idea?” Everett never failed to surprise me.

He laughed. “I thought it was an appropriate venue.”

My lips lifted again. Everett put his hands on my face, his thumbs at the sides of my lips and then pulled. “So that’s what you’d look like with a smile.” He tilted his head, his thumbs still stretching my lips. “Looks weird.” He dropped his hands.

“You’re rude,” I said, not really feeling the annoyance that usually accompanied that statement.

“Come, let’s go look at these footprints so we can eat.” He grabbed my hand again and tugged me along to the footprints. “I’m glad I texted the wrong number,” he said quietly, when I was close enough to hear.

I swallowed. “Me too.” He squeezed my hand once and tugged me to the end of the tracks, away from everyone else. The tour guide was explaining the species of dinosaurs that left the tracks, and how the tracks explained a lot about dinosaurs and their movements. But Everett was still leading me away, to the other side of the tracks. We were outsiders, Everett and I. We didn’t travel in a pack, like the rest of the group. We were solitary creatures. Much like the dinosaurs that had once walked in this area, leaving their impressions in the earth long after their extinction.

Everett sat by one of the footprints and gestured for me to sit next to him. I did and he turned to face me. “Pretty unreal, right?”

I nodded, putting my hands on the ridges that formed the print.

“Apatosaurus,” he said. “I grew up calling them Brontosaurus.”

“Oh,” I said.

He leaned back on his hands. “It’s been millions of years since they roamed the earth. These prints have existed for millions of years.” I saw him turn to look at me. “That’s one hell of a legacy to leave.”

I stewed on that for a minute, thinking about Everett’s meaning. “Do you want to leave a legacy?”

“Who wouldn’t?” he answered. I didn’t think I would. I didn’t think I cared. “But mine doesn’t have to be a literal footprint. I’d like to leave something, somewhere. A small reminder to the world that Everett lived.” He scooted closer to me and put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to him. “I don’t want to merely exist, Parker. I want to live. I want to leave the world with that one sweet moment. I want to take. I want to dominate a memory. So when I’m gone, a part of me is left to live somewhere else.”

My nose twitched. My eyes burned. I blinked quickly, clearing them.

He stood up, grabbed my hand. “Here,” he said, leading me to a different set of prints. “These belong to the Allosaurus. A predator. It was the top of the food chain during its time. And now it’s gone. But it lived here once, and thousands of people know, thousands of people travel here just to see its steps on this ground.” He tugged my hand as we followed the steps. “I don’t need a thousand people to know I existed. I just want someone to know I lived.”

I felt a tickle right between my eyes. I cleared my throat. “People will.”





We ate lunch by the bank of the river. Everett and I didn’t talk much with each other, because I was still processing all that he’d said. And the things I was feeling as a result of them.

After cleaning up, we removed our shoes to start the trek across the water again. Everett put out trash in his backpack and put a hand out for me.

Placing my hand in his felt like more now. A gesture that seemed casual was actually heavy with meaning, for me. Each time he held my hand now, I thought about when I would have to let go. When the warmth of his hand in mine was no longer. It filled my stomach with dread.

I was so focused on my thoughts that I slipped, my left foot sliding out behind me. I was falling, face first, in to the water when I felt Everett’s arms wrap around my torso, stopping my descent two inches from my face falling onto a rock. It had happened so fast that I hadn’t had a chance to react during the fall, but the seconds after, I was frantic, my limbs shaking from shock.

“Hey,” he hushed, pulling me up to standing. He calmed my trembling by wrapping his arms around me, holding me tight to him. “I’ve got you. You’re okay.” He rocked me back and forth slowly. No sound came from my mouth, but inside my head I was screaming.