Coda 01 - Promises

and asked instead, “Do you want me to wait for you? And them?”

    “Only if you want to.”
    We finally started out. I left Matt behind me and passed Grant and Tyson within minutes. Once I was off on my own, my bad mood started to wear off. I love it all too much, the mountains and the riding and the challenge of making it up the trail. The sun was shining. The temperature was in the low fifties, but the breeze had a hint of frost in it. Among the towering evergreens were patches of aspen, their white limbs bare. Sheltered patches of ground that never saw the sun had snow that wouldn’t melt until next spring. I found that I couldn’t hang on to my anger.
    I turned around and rode back down to them. Matt was riding with them now.

    “Hey,” he said happily as I reached them. “Is it a successful ride? Are you bleeding yet?”

    I laughed. “Not yet. Are you?”

    “Only Tyson, so far. We were just talking about a bet— whoever crashes the least has to buy dinner.”

    I couldn’t help but smile back at him. “You’re on.”
    I rode with them for a few minutes until we got to the next hard section, where I ended up ahead of them again without meaning to. The rest of the ride was like that. I would ride ahead for a while, on my own, and then turn around and ride back down to meet them. We would ride together for a while, but I always seemed to end up out front on my own after a while, whether I meant to or not.
    “Jesus, Jared,” Tyson said once as I rode back down to them. “You’ve probably ridden twice as far as us. Aren’t you exhausted?”
    “No, but I’m pretty fucking hungry,” I said jokingly. “I wish you guys would hurry the hell up.” Tyson laughed. Grant just shook his head at me. Matt was smiling at me like I had hung the fucking sun and moon, which somehow had me annoyed at him but ridiculously pleased at the same time.
    Eventually, Matt left them, too, and rode with me to the top. We took a short break and then headed back down. We found Grant and Tyson resting where we had left them. “Aren’t you guys going up?” Matt asked.
    “Hell, no,” Grant said. “We’re beat.”

    It was easier to stay together on the way down, and I only finished a few minutes ahead of them.

    “Good ride, guys.” Matt said when they finally reached us. “Next time we’ll pick an easy trail so you pansies can keep up.” Tyson actually laughed. “Looks like dinner is on Jared.” “I crashed too,” I said. Since I had only been with them about half the time, I wasn’t really sure who had won the bet.
    “Don’t think you can get out of it by acting humble,” Grant said, surprising me. Not only was it the first time he had spoken to me directly, but he even sounded halfway civil. “You rode circles around us all day. You’re buying!”
    “You bet,” Matt answered for me. “We’ll meet you at Tony’s.” And if his smile got any bigger I thought I might have to punch him.
    “Will you please quit looking so damn pleased with yourself?” I said as we drove down, although I found that I was smiling a little too.
    “Eventually. Admit it—it was a good idea.”
“I guess.”
    “It’s okay to admit that I’m right, you know.” He winked over at me. “Just say it. Say, ‘You’re right, Matt’.”
    I rolled my eyes at him. “You really, truly are a manipulative bastard. And you might be right. That’s all you’re getting.” He laughed.
    So we had dinner with Grant and Tyson. Mostly the three of them talked shop and I just listened. They were still looking for Dan Snyder, but after checking with all of his relatives, they had nothing to go on. We did talk about football and mountain biking a little. Tyson was friendly from the beginning, but by the end, even Grant had loosened up, and when we started to leave, he stopped me. He waited until Matt and Tyson were a few steps ahead and then said nervously, without actually looking at me, “Look, no hard feelings, okay?” He held his hand out, and I shook it, hoping I didn’t look as amazed as I felt.
    Matt and I drove home in silence. We had barely made it through the front door of our house when he tackled me and pinned me to the floor. It didn’t take much effort on his part, and I wondered just how good he had been at wrestling in high school.
    “Oh my God, you’re heavy!”
“Say it again! I just want to hear you say it one more time!” “You’re heavy!”
“Not that. Come on now.”
“You’re a manipulative