Chapter Two
Luke’s face was serious as his dark brown eyes analyzed me from beneath the shadow of his hat.
My mind struggled to catch up. I couldn’t believe it was really Luke standing right there in this doorway as I’d seen him so, so many times before. He’d always been confident, but the way he stood now, even straighter and more self-assured, made him look five years older instead of the two years older he actually was.
His name—Luke for Luke Skywalker—was something his father had called him and everyone kept up after his father’s death on Cho Oyu during an expedition with my dad. With his huge dimples and smile, he’d always been hopelessly adorable in the same way as his namesake.
But now, this guy in the door…cute and adorable were out the window. His thermal pullover jacket molded to his profile, revealing the defined bulk of his upper arms and torso before tapering to a waist that was solid but as narrow as my own. He was all Hemsworth-brothers Hollywood action hero, right down to his piercing eyes, strong jaw, and rich tone of his skin.
Mingma jumped up, scolding Luke for sneaking up on us like that. Without breaking eye contact with me, a teasing, satisfied grin broke out across his face.
I whipped back to center, focusing forcefully on the teapot in the middle of the table. My cheeks burned. That was some stunt he’d just pulled with the Circ.
Why hadn’t someone warned me he was in Tengboche?
Or perhaps someone had: Mingma in her rapid-fire Sherpa when we’d first arrived. A good lesson in why you should never fake-understand a foreign language.
Dad went over to Luke, shaking hands and hug-slapping him heartily.
Now it was just me left at the table. Well, me and Pasang, who was watching me with furrowed brows, probably wondering why I wasn’t joining everyone at the door. I quickly collected myself, but still, my head spun and my pulse raced as I walked toward Luke.
I stood in front of him, and for several beats of my pounding heart, it was like the two of us were the only people in the world. My eyes were on him, but I couldn’t bring him into focus. From this perspective, nothing about him had changed, but at the same time everything about him was completely foreign. It was Luke. Right here in front of me. And he was so incredibly handsome.
“Emily Winslowe,” he said finally.
I wrapped my arms around him, and he did the same, with a grip that was tight and strong but not constricting like Mingma’s. I was dizzy with too many sensations. There was reprieve from the worry about him not posting on Circ and happiness that we were back in Tengboche together after all this time. But there was also hurt that he hadn’t so much as hinted he was coming here.
Most of all, I was shocked. A shock that was quickly turning to panic.
I wasn’t ready for what was happening in my body. It was like my old crush had gone from fifty to a hundred in less than two minutes. The feelings I’d been toying with for almost two years over the safe filter Circ provided were now real-life, directly in front of me.
Random details jumped out, intoxicating my senses and preventing me from releasing him from the hug. Like how firm and warm his body was. How he smelled like sunscreen and cold, fresh Himalayan air. And how there was a trace of stubble on his cheek, which was currently pressed against mine.
This was my friend. The best friend I’d ever had, even though in the latter years we’d been around each other only a few months a year. I didn’t want to let go. I wanted this moment to be happening without anyone else in the room because it somehow felt like a direct continuation of those moments right before the earthquake. Like a continuation of what had been on the cusp of happening, something that would have put us squarely out of friends territory.
We let go at the same instant.
“It’s good to see you,” he said. His teasing smile and crinkly eyes were gone, replaced by the same pensive expression he’d had when I first saw him.
All I managed was a nod as Mingma ushered us back to the table.
Pasang slid his bowl to the right so Luke could take his customary place next to me. Thank goodness I’d already finished my dal bhat because there was no way I’d be able to swallow food right now.
Dad had a million questions for Luke: what he was doing here this season, how college was going, and which climbs he’d done in the Cascades. I quickly learned he was in Tengboche because he was going to be guiding for Global Adventurers, the largest and most expensive commercial outfitter on Everest. They would have forty clients climbing this season. Forty!
I was still too overwhelmed by Luke’s sudden presence to fully follow the conversation, especially as he and Dad threw around terms like Bugaboos road trip, drinking age, master’s thesis, concert, and internships. It wasn’t just that he was suddenly here, it was also that he’d changed so much.
Down-table, Pasang watched me expectantly. He smiled shyly, wanting me to share his excitement over the presence of his accomplished big brother. I gave him a grin, and he turned back, satisfied.
Sensing the exchange, Luke glanced over at me. I was suddenly conscious of how I’d look to him after he’d been in college for two years, surrounded by real American women, like ^Olivia200x^, who were beautiful, refined, and feminine. Now he’d know the truth that his old buddy had never been one of them. Self-consciously, I touched my hair, which was still damp with sweat from the trail. As that picture in Vertical View proved, I was a tomboy at best.
In the village common below, children’s voices rang out. School was over for the day. Word must have gotten around that Dad and I were in town, because a whole group of children were at Mingma’s door within minutes, begging me to come play soccer.
I quickly agreed because I needed the excuse to get away so I could process my thoughts and not act like a total weirdo around Luke.
They clamored for Luke to come, too. I silently groaned. He looked over at me, as if making sure I didn’t mind, but he must have seen that I did because he said, “I have sahib lungs now. I wouldn’t be able to breathe.”
The kids found this hilarious. There were taunts all around. I couldn’t help laughing, too.
“Okay, fine,” he said in Sherpa. “I’ll be down when I’m done eating.”
Although it was the kids he was talking to, it was me he was looking at, and the fleeting wistfulness in his eyes before he changed his expression made something stir deep inside me.