Chapter 22
Chris
“What the do you mean, he checked out?”
“I'm sorry, Mr. Bates. This facility is voluntary. He knew he didn't have to stay,” the nurse said on the other end of the phone.
“You’re sure he left?” the pencil broke in my hand when I started to panic.
A moment of silence went by, and then a sad exhale came through the other end. “I'm sorry, Mr. Bates. He is gone.”
“Thanks,” I hung up and roared, throwing the phone against the wall, so it shattered into a hundred pieces. This was unbelievable. Or not. It was typical Charlie. I ran my hands through my hair and started pacing. This didn't make any sense. Why would he do this? He wanted to change this time around. Had he gone back to NYC? I needed to find him. I had to find him. I'd go after him and then send him to some meditation retreat in China or something.
Was it up to me, though?
Wasn't it Charlie's life? He needed to figure it out on his own. If nearly dying didn't help, then what needed to happen? Maybe he wanted to die. Was that why our mom left so early? She was so tired of dad’s bullshit that she couldn’t wait around anymore as he slowly killed himself with every beer he drank, and every tequila he downed?
I needed to know that boundary. I needed to know when to walk away without feeling like a bad person because I couldn’t do this for much longer. Our mom was a different story, though. It was one thing walking away from our father, but from us? If she so desperately wanted to get away, why not bring the kids? She knew what we were left to deal with. Sure, dad earned more money than her—not much but with three kids, every little counted. Still, how could she leave me, my sister, and Charlie behind? It was her fault Charlie was how he was. He never learned to cope after she left. Dad didn't care about us. He couldn’t. There was a bottle…or ten…in the way. I didn’t want to follow in mom’s footsteps. I wanted to keep our family together—and I had been—but I was reaching my breaking point.
I didn't need this right now. I was about to leave for a week of snowboarding training camp, so on top of the stress of wondering if I remembered how to board, I had to worry about my brother, and on top of that, Melinda. We’d been on shaky ground. We hadn't been dating for long, and already our stubborn need to be right seemed to be getting in the way. If we couldn’t agree on a damn billboard, then what could we agree on? I knew it wasn’t about the billboard. It was about her wealthy friends. I didn't want to need them. I didn’t want to call in favors from her crowd. It made me feel … small.
I needed a drink, no, I needed to board. It had been too long since I took some time for myself beyond my daily workout routine, and I needed to clear my head. I turned off my phone, locked my office door, and stepped outside with my board, inhaling the fresh air that stung my lungs, and watered my eyes. Buckling my board to my boots, I jumped off the deck and sliced through the snow, bending my knees as I let gravity take me for a ride.
Nothing was better than this freedom. I dodged a few trees and turned left toward a rougher slope. The slopes were bigger and more frequent. I needed to test myself to make sure I could do this training camp that I would leave for in the morning. I didn't want to worry about it. Everything would be fine.
After boarding for about an hour, I took the ski−lift back up to the lodge and got to work. I looked over the notes for the upcoming fundraiser. We still needed more money to support fifty kids—the New Year’s Eve gala had brought in some cash, but the resort itself still wasn’t in the black. And getting back my initial investment would take years.
I had a bit of a mind fuck about the whole thing—the need to get this resort to bring in money. Fast. But we were doing good, so I didn’t know why I was stressed. Melinda, I supposed.
I was glad I was leaving for a week. I needed to get away, as the only thing on my mind was Melinda. I hadn't heard from her since we had our fight about her reaching out to someone to get a free billboard for two weeks. Talk about getting a deal. What had she done for them in the past? Sucked their cock. Probably not. But I was in a mood.
She’d been right to reach out to them. She was trying to help out of the kindness of her heart—or because it was her goddamn job to market the resort—but I still felt like I needed to do it. I needed to put this resort on the map. It was my baby, not hers, but that was the point of a marketing manager. I’d hiredherto do it. So indirectly, I was doing it. I shook my head.
When I looked at the clock, it was already nine o’clock at night, and since my phone was in pieces on the floor, I had to use the desk phone to call her.
“Hello?” she answered, and I could barely hear her with all the noise in the background.
“Hey, when are you coming over?”
“Soon. I’m wrapping things up at Ben’s bar.”
Wrapping what things up?
A twinge of jealousy worked its way through my very shredded system. Ben liked her from the beginning, and now she was there? Hanging out? Since when? Ben was my right-hand man; he would never take my girl, and she wasn’tthatkind of girl. They wouldn’t … right?
“Okay, I’ll see you soon.”
“Yeah, okay,” she laughed as she hung up the phone, leaving me staring at the receiver. We’d spent the first day of the year apart.
Maybe the relationship had run its course—only one way to find out. I dragged my ass back to my chalet and plopped on the couch. My bag was ready, placed by the door for my flight in the morning.
An hour went by.
Then two.
Then at eleven, she walked through the door.
“Hey,” the clanking of her keys hitting the bowl told me she was about the hang up her purse. “Sorry to keep you waiting, I was talking to Ben and Mary.”
