For his part, Emmett was doing really well. It seemed to me that his face had lost most of that "f**k you" expression, and he was starting to look like he might be enjoying himself just a little.
For the final stretch of trail up to the summit, Ken picked up the pace quite a bit. Emmett stayed right with him, even looking like he might want to overtake Ken.
We sat together at the summit, where a chilly breeze came to us from over the water. The sun poked in and out between large patches of clouds, some white and some grey, all moving quickly across the blue sky. Ken and I had each brought some gorp that we pooled together, and Emmett ate quite a bit of it.
As Emmett tipped his water bottle over his mouth to catch the last drops, I realized Ken had let him drink however much he’d wanted
