The Roommate Pact(21)

Graham picked up Noah on his way, and Tyler had planned to meet Chris at the store and ride with him to the canyon.

“Hey, man,” Graham greeted through the open window.

Noah tossed his gear in the back before settling into the passenger seat. “Morning.”

They rode the first half hour in comfortable silence. Noah, who was quiet at baseline, was even less inclined to converse early in the morning.

When they skirted the outer limits of Boulder, Noah took a long drink of coffee and turned to Graham.

“We’re taking a beginner out today, you said?”

“Yeah. His name’s Tyler. Chris met him at the store and learned he was new to town, so he brought him out mountain biking with us last week. Tyler said he likes to climb, too, but doesn’t have a lot of experience.”

“That’s cool. We haven’t taken it easy in a while. Might be kind of nice.”

“I told Chris we’d meet them at the usual spot. He said he’d pick the climbing routes. I’m assuming we’ll stick with single pitches with a top rope today.”

“Fine by me.”

As they neared the park, Graham felt the telltale hum of excitement spread through his marrow. The day was almost perfect—sunny and warm, even if it was a touch windy. A few wispy clouds dotted the blue sky, and hopefully they’d get lucky and the rain he’d seen forecast in the afternoon would head south.

When they met up with Chris and Tyler, Graham introduced Noah to the new guy. The coffee must have finally kicked in because Noah engaged Tyler in friendly chatter as they walked to whatever face Chris had picked out to start the day.

“Graham said you just moved here?”

“Yeah, about a month ago.”

“What do you think so far?”

“Love it. I’ve always wanted to live close to the mountains. My girlfriend’s still back in Arkansas, though, so that part sucks. She’s looking for jobs up here, so hopefully we won’t be doing the long-distance thing for long.”

“I don’t know how people do that,” Graham put in. He had enough trouble keeping things going with women who lived in the same city as him, let alone several states away.

“It’s not easy,” Tyler admitted. “It helps knowing it’s temporary.”

“And for the right person, it’s worth it,” Noah added.

Graham shot him a good-natured eye roll. “You would say that.” He glanced at Tyler. “Noah’s wife has him wrapped around her little finger.”

Noah appeared unbothered.

“How long have you been married?” Tyler asked.

“A little over a year.”

“Nice. Don’t they say the first year is the hardest?”

“I don’t know, but it’s been pretty damn incredible if you ask me.”

Graham groaned.

“Just wait,” Noah said with a laugh, “one of these days you’ll get it.”

“Don’t hold your breath,” Graham muttered.

Noah was as loyal as they came and apparently still held out some fantastical hope Graham might settle down someday.

Unlikely.

A few minutes later Chris stopped in front of one of the routes popular for beginners. It wouldn’t last long, but they’d come early enough they had the spot to themselves.

Climbing was one of the few things worth getting up early for.

Graham dropped his helmet, ropes, and shoes and uncapped his water while Chris told Tyler about the climb.

“I’m not sure if you’ve done multipitch routes, but just to be on the safe side I thought we’d start here. It gets a little awkward halfway up, but the bolts are in good spots and it’s relatively even. We’ll set up a top rope for belay.” Chris glanced at Graham. “Wanna handle the anchor?”

“Sure.”

“Climb it or you can get to the top on foot if you head around the north side.”

He’d rather climb but it would be faster to hike, and they’d be waiting on him. He tossed his water to the ground, grabbing the equipment. He headed toward the path Chris pointed out but paused when Noah called out to him.

“Take your helmet for when you get up there,” Noah said, holding it out. “Just in case. It’s a decent height.”

Graham didn’t argue, looped one finger through the strap, and got moving. The mountain air filled his lungs as he hiked, the sounds of nature surrounding him.

Right on cue, he thought about Nathan.

Sometimes he wondered how different he might be if his best friend hadn’t died. He and Noah would have had an extra man on every climbing trip, for one.

Would Graham have been a godfather by now? They’d been at Nathan’s bachelor party the night of the accident, which meant he’d have been married for a decade and, knowing Nathan, would probably have had a kid or three by now.

Like Noah, Nathan had always been the relationship type. Neither had held the same casual, no-strings-attached dating style Graham maintained—one of the few things Graham and the Agnew brothers differed on.

Noah wasn’t the kind of friend who pushed his opinions on anyone, so even if he joked Graham would settle down one day, he’d leave well enough alone if Graham asked him to. He let people be who they were and accepted them as such. Nathan, on the other hand, had always been sure his was the opinion and wouldn’t stop until he’d made his case. Repeatedly. About women and anything else.