Worth Every Step Read online

  She caught a glimpse of Deb’s red shirt on the ridge right below and gave a yell. When she arrived at the ledge, she found her stretched out in the shade with a book.

  “It’s about time you got here, Mary Kate. I already ate your lunch.”

  “You better be lying, girl. I’ve been thinking about that sandwich for the last three hours.”

  Deb pulled it out of the thermal bag and set it on the rock next to her. “Okay, I saved your sandwich, but I ate all the cookies.”

  “All of them? There was a whole bag.”

  “I know, but the chocolate chips were melting. I didn’t want you to get your new clothes all messy.”

  Mary Kate looked down at her filthy shorts and shirt, then back at Deb, who was batting her eyes innocently. She poked the side of her boot with the sharp tip of her walking stick.

  “Ow!”

  “Big baby.”

  “If you hurt me, you’ll have to carry me down on your back.”

  “I can get you down a lot easier than that. I’ll just push you off.” Mary Kate dropped her backpack and collapsed beside it, remembering too late her new bruise.

  “You got here sooner than I thought you would. Did you go all the way up?”

  “Of course I did.”

  “I guess it’s a lot quicker when you don’t have to drag somebody else’s ass behind you.”

  “I’m too polite to say something like that.” She bit around the crust of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, saving the creamiest part for last.

  “Since when?” Deb unscrewed the top from a sports drink and handed it to her. “You think you’re ready?”

  Mary Kate answered with a nod and chased the peanut butter down her throat with the sports drink. “I wish I could leave tomorrow.”

  “It’s just two more weeks.”

  “I know. But I’ll be crazy by then. Especially if I have to listen to Bobby keep whining about not being able to come.”

  “Say the word and I’ll kick his ass.”

  Mary Kate had no doubt she could. Deb was as tough as they come. “Why should you get to have all the fun?”

  “Why’s he being such a prick about this?”

  Deb liked Bobby just fine, but only when Mary Kate did. When she was mad at him, Deb was even madder. That was a true friend. “He’s just being Bobby. He’s thinks he’s supposed to save the day because he’s a guy and I couldn’t possibly do this by myself.”

  “I don’t know how you stand it. I’d have beaten the shit out of him by now.”

  It wasn’t hard to picture her doing that, and it made Mary Kate laugh.

  “Makes me glad I’m queer,” Deb said. “I don’t need to act all helpless just so some guy can feel like a big man.”

  “You don’t think I’m acting helpless, do you?”

  “No, and I bet that’s precisely what’s bugging him.”

  She was probably right about that, Mary Kate thought. “Because he doesn’t get to play the knight in shining armor.”

  “Right. I never have been able to figure out what you see in him.”

  “Come on, you know he’s a nice guy.”

  “He’s all right, I guess.”

  That was probably the highest mark Deb could give him, so Mary Kate took it in stride. “He just avoids you because you beat up his brother.”

  “Shit, that was eleven years ago.”

  She laughed again, remembering it like it was yesterday. Deb had caught Corey Britton cheating off her math test, so she changed her answers and got him to copy the wrong numbers down. He got a zero on the test and told his friends it was because she was stupid. He couldn’t talk after that because his jaw was wired shut from the knuckle sandwich she fed him, and there wasn’t a soul in Mooresville who hadn’t heard the story and teased him about it.

  “Bobby’s not a bad guy. He just has a lot of old-fashioned redneck.”

  “True.”

  Whether Mary Kate wanted to admit it or not, Bobby was probably the best catch in Hurston County. He was college educated and had a good job as the assistant principal at the elementary school where she taught special education. He was nice looking, he didn’t use tobacco in any form, and he drove a car instead of a truck. It didn’t get any better than that in Mooresville. And he could be the sweetest guy in the world— except when it came to this Africa thing. On that, he had been a jerk from day one.

  Bobby had made his biggest mess by telling practically everybody in Mooresville last year that he had gotten her an engagement ring for Christmas. And naturally, he gave it to her on Christmas Eve right in front of her whole family. That’s when the problems started, because Mary Kate wouldn’t take it. She told him she just wasn’t ready to get married. Her dad took him off in the other room and said who knows what, and her mom said she couldn’t imagine what she was looking for if Bobby Britton wasn’t good enough. Carol Lee just called her crazy.

  Mary Kate didn’t want to tell everybody the real reason, which was that she just didn’t feel the way she wanted to feel about the person she was going to spend her whole life with. What she wanted was to find a guy that made her feel the way dreaming about Darcy and Jessica had. She wanted to be comfortable with Bobby the way she was with Deb, instead of knotted up about having to say and do all the right things.

  The whole Bobby thing was in a sort of limbo for now, and had been since Christmas. They had talked about the ring and Bobby said he would take it back and wait for her to tell him when she was ready. He promised not to pressure her about it at all, and mostly, he had kept his word. He said if he got too tired of waiting, he would ask one more time, but that would be the last. And she had promised if she ever decided for sure it wasn’t going to work out, she wouldn’t string him along.

  Though she hadn’t meant for it to, this Kilimanjaro thing was turning into a test for them, and Bobby wasn’t faring so well. It bothered her that she didn’t have his support for this climb, and even more that she didn’t seem to have his respect. Worse than that, he had lectured her about spending her savings when she might want to be thinking about putting together a down payment on a house. And he didn’t mean her house. He meant their house, even though they weren’t officially—

  “You ready to get down off this mountain, Mary Kate?”

  She wondered how long she had been staring off into space. “What I’m ready for is something else to eat.”

  “Me too. This sitting around on my ass all day waiting for you is hard work.”

  “Why don’t you go get the car and come get me?”

  “Why don’t I just wiggle my nose and pop both of us back to Mooresville without having to drive four hours?”

  “That’s too fast. I don’t want to get there until it’s too late for Bobby to come over.”

  “Just tell him no.”

  “Don’t worry, I will.” She had plenty of practice with that recently. Too tired, too much to do, cramps, headache… She had used every excuse she could think of to keep from spending too much time together. That’s how bad things had gotten, all because of this trip.

  She pushed herself up and offered a hand to Deb. “You want me to carry any of your stuff? I drank most of my water, so my pack’s light.”

  “That’s okay. I don’t have that much now that the cookies are gone.”

  “You really ate that whole bag by yourself?”

  “Correct.”

  They walked downhill about a hundred yards in silence. Mary Kate had gotten stiff sitting on the rock, but the muscles in her hips and legs seemed to relax more with every step.

  “I’ve been meaning to tell you something…something about Bobby,” Deb said, without turning around to make eye contact.

  Mary Kate had suspected Deb had something else on her mind. Deb was usually careful not to butt in or give advice that wasn’t asked for, especially advice about Bobby. “What about him?”

  “If you decide you want to marry him, I won’t give you a hard time about it. I know you’re still thin
king it over.”

  “I haven’t thought much about it lately. I figured we’d talk some more when I got back.”

  Deb nodded, watching her feet instead of looking at Mary Kate. “I know I talk shit about him, but if he’s what you want, I’ll be there for you.”

  “I know you will, Deb. I’ve always known that.” That was exactly what she wanted from Bobby, for him to be as easygoing as Deb and satisfied to let her have her own opinions. Instead, he always tried to smooth things out and strike a compromise so they could agree on practically everything. In theory, that might have been a good plan for building a relationship and avoiding conflict. But in reality, it felt like he was trying to water her down. “And I know if I get married, you’re the kind of friend who would wear a pink bridesmaid dress at my wedding.”

  If looks could kill, the one Deb shot over her shoulder would have done it.

  Chapter Two

  Addison Falk skipped through the stalled traffic, tossing up an apologetic hand in the direction of a taxi driver trying to inch forward. An airport traffic cop was closing in on her friend Cyn’s Honda Insight, which was parked illegally at the far curb. Addison wasted no time tossing her bags into the hatchback and sliding into the front seat. “Sorry I’m late.”

  Cyn lurched into the exit lane. “What took you so long?”

  “It’s Miami,” she said, knowing her explanation would suffice.

  “How’s your mom?”

  “All right, I guess. Hector built her a studio and she’s getting back into painting again. She says hi.” Cyn Juarez, her best friend since middle school, knew her mother because she had come along six years ago on a visit to Peru.

  “I bet she was surprised to see how much you’ve changed.”

  “No shit.” Since the start of her training last March, Addison had lost the extra fifteen pounds she had carried since puberty.

  “Did you keep up your training?”

  “I ran four miles a day—on hills.” Her mother’s neighborhood in suburban Lima had proven a greater challenge than the flat streets of Coral Gables. “I got Hector to pledge a thousand bucks, and he’ll double it if I get to the top.”

  Friends of theirs had used the Kilimanjaro climb last year to generate press and raise money for breast cancer. Cyn liked the idea, and had coordinated with Summit Trail and Safari to do the same for the Miami Hunger Coalition. She and her husband Javier promoted it through Mercy Hospital, where Javier worked as a physician’s assistant, and Addison had garnered almost twenty thousand dollars from the corporate sponsors she had developed as co-director of the Coalition, a volunteer position she had held throughout her MBA program.

  “Javier and I have about six thousand between us.”

  “Six? You guys had about eight when I left. What happened?”

  “It’s complicated.” She shot Addison a sheepish look. “I’ll explain it when we get to your house.”

  Ten minutes later, they turned onto a posh, tree-lined street in Coral Gables. Addison’s home was a two-story Mediterranean, yellow with a red tile roof. A For Sale sign stood at the curb.

  “I can’t believe your father’s really selling this house.”

  “Believe it. Reginald Falk at his finest.” Her father had moved to his native London when Addison finished high school, but kept the house for her while she had attended college at the University of Miami. Now that she had wrapped up her master’s degree in finance, he expected her to join his investment firm. Selling the house out from under her was his way of forcing the issue.

  “I can’t believe you’re really moving. Have you gotten any nibbles from the résumés you sent out?”

  “If I did, they’re lying on the floor,” she said. She pushed open the heavy oak door and dropped her bags in the foyer. Someone, most likely a real estate agent, had stacked her mail on a table, but Addison was too distracted to look through it. “So what’s this about you losing pledges?”

  Cyn drew a deep breath and said in a squeaky voice, “We’re not going.”

  “What?” Addison refused to believe she had heard that. Three of their other friends had already dropped out, and that left only her. “This whole trip was your idea.”

  “I know, but…”

  She wanted to get angry, but something about Cyn’s expression stopped her. “Spill it.”

  “I’m pregnant.”

  Her jaw dropped suddenly as Cyn’s face broke into an enormous smile. “Aaaaaaah!” she screamed, wrapping Cyn in a fierce hug and twirling her around. “Tell me everything…well, not the icky boy stuff.”

  “I went to get my shots for the trip and the nurse asked me if there was any chance I might be pregnant. I’d skipped a couple of periods, but I thought it was all the training. I said it might be possible, so they did a test. I’m due in February.”

  “So you guys cancelled. Did you get your money back?” She let go of Cyn and whirled around to grab her backpack, where her cell phone was tucked in the side pocket. “I should call and cancel too.”

  “You can’t. You’re the last one, and with our pledges, that makes almost thirty thousand dollars for the Coalition. You have to go, Addison.”

  “By myself?”

  “You were going to be paired with somebody anyway. And you’ve done so much to get ready.” Cyn looked at her with pleading eyes. “Just go. You’ll have a great time. I’ll feel guilty if you don’t.”

  Addison groaned and dropped into a chair. She thought again about why their plans had changed, and her misery gave way to happiness. “A baby.”

  “A little Javier.”

  “Awwwww.”

  “And I already bought a whole bunch of stuff for the trip. You can take it all—toilet paper, camp soap, water purification tablets.”

  “You’re making this sound like so much fun.”

  “It will be. Look at it as your last hurrah before joining the rat race.”

  Addison snorted. “I’ll probably come home to find my stuff in the street.”

  “Then you can come and live with us. You can be our nanny and teach little Javier how to invest his allowance.”

  “Be careful what you ask for.”

  Cyn shrugged. “There could be worse things than having you help my kid get rich.”

  “I can’t believe it, Cyn. This is so great. I bet Javier’s over the moon.”

  “He’s panicking already. At first he wanted his mother to come live with us.”

  “Shouldn’t you be the one panicking about that?”

  “Actually, we’re talking about the possibility of moving back to Puerto Rico. Javier has this big idea about raising his son the way he was raised, on a simple farm with his family all around. You know, like your parents wanted before you threw a fit and refused to go with either one of them.”

  Indeed, Addison knew that story well, though her upbringing had been far from the simple life Javier wanted for his son. Her parents had fought bitterly after their divorce over whether she would be raised in Peru or England. A family court judge had seen fit to ask her what she wanted, and at fourteen, the answer was simple. She wanted to stay in Miami, so her father reluctantly obliged. Her mother married Hector and returned to Lima, and Addison visited over Christmas and summers until college. “Would you be all right with that?”

  Cyn shrugged. “I like it there. And I can’t argue with how Javier turned out.”

  Selfishly, though, Addison felt the walls caving in. The house would sell soon and her best friends were probably leaving Miami. Not that it mattered. Her father expected her to start work in London as soon as she finished the climb. This part of her life was officially ending.

  “I need to go,” Cyn said. “I’m supposed to do a pickup at the food bank and take it down to Homestead. Want to come?”

  Addison was exhausted from her long flight. “Not tonight. But I’ll call over to the Coalition tomorrow and see if they need me for any runs this weekend.”

  “Okay. I’ll bring that stuff over Sunday night an
d help you pack.”

  Alone in the big house, she eyed her suitcase and decided unpacking could wait. A quick perusal of her unopened mail yielded eight responses to her employment queries, five of which were polite rejections. The others invited her to proceed to the next step, which was to fill out the formal application packet.

  She no longer had the luxury of time. She had only until the house sold to explore other options before making the move to London. It wasn’t that her father’s offer was unattractive. His company, Global Allied Investments, financed business development all over the world. Addison’s chief complaint was that they focused more on industrialized countries, such that the people who made money were the ones who already had it. She felt they could make a bigger mark by working with third-world governments to launch more small businesses on a self-sustaining scale. Once she made her philosophy known, her father had turned it into the proverbial carrot, promising her the chance to research and identify communities that might benefit from her vision—as long as she also found lucrative opportunities for their investors.

  It was the idea of moving to London that gave her pause, though she enjoyed the city. She loved visiting and even had friends there, a group of lesbians she had met four years ago during London Pride. In her heart, though, she was American born and bred. She belonged to its history and culture, just as her father belonged to England and her mother to Peru. Both of them had chosen to go home, and while it felt disjointed to have her parents separated by nine thousand miles, she understood their yearnings for home.

  If only she could make her father understand hers.

  Chapter Three

  “I thought you were just going for a couple of weeks, Mary Kate. I didn’t know you were moving there.”

  Mary Kate held her breath and watched her mother instantly assess the contents of the cluttered room. She could practically see the wheels turning inside her head as she mentally sized up the challenge. In all of Mooresville, there was no better organizer than Mary Nell Sasser. Whether in her kitchen, her closets or her biology classroom, everything was sorted and in its place. Mary Kate had inherited the neatness part, but didn’t have her knack for making the most of space. Still, she could have managed packing on her own, but her mother’s other, more dubious skill was her refusal to take no for an answer. Ostensibly, she wanted to share some tricks for keeping things pressed and neat, but Mary Kate suspected another motive, most likely a last-ditch plea to get her either to change her mind about going, or to let Bobby come along.