Prenisha was always the more level-headed one in the group and again she tried to bring calm to the situation. “Cuz, we worry about you. This is a long trip that you’re going on all by yourself. You wouldn’t know danger until it literally hit you in the faceand…and also…you…you don’t know…how to be…around other people.” She shrugged almost pitifully. “They won’t understand you, Mini.”
If she were normal, that statement would have made her cry, but as her cousin was very carefully trying to point out, she wasn’t normal. She’d learned how to not cry years ago. Yet it was a fact she needed to accept. Society wouldn’t see her as normal. How could they? She’d never been introduced to society. She could count on both hands the number of people she knew.
But…whatever. Screw it! She had six friends on Facebook. The world was her oyster. There was no better way to become socially acceptable than actually socializing. She was scared. No. She was terrified, but fear of the unknown was half the fun.
“Guys, you know I love all of you and, trust me, I understand your concerns, but this is something I need to do. I start a new job in a few short weeks and I don’t want to be this weird, awkward mess of a person. I need to learn how to fit in…And I want to meet my mother. I’m starting a whole new chapter of my life and I want her to be part of it. Maybe she abandoned me. But what if she didn’t? I have to find out. I’ve only heard one side of the story and it’s not even the full story. What my dad did was selfish. He just took me away and if he never gave me a proper explanation, then I’m sure he didn’t say anything to her either. She probably tried to contact me…or look for me, but we were gone and she didn’t even know where to find us.”
They all seemed a lot calmer after that speech. Over the years, she’d confided in them, told them about every hopeful dream she had of the day when she would finally get to meet her mother. They understood what this meant to her.
“We love you, too, Mini Mouse,” Pratiksha said. “But please call us every opportunity you get and tell us absolutely everything.”
“I will. Virtual hug.”
They wrapped their arms around each other in a group hug, but because she was alone, as always, she just spread her arms and pretended like she was there too.
Rachel leaned forward and blew a kiss. “When are you leaving?”
“As soon as we end this chat.”
After they gave her a teary-eyed goodbye, she shut down her laptop and packed it away. She slung the bag over her shoulder and rolled the other two through the lobby to the rental car outside the resort. She’d decided on a blue Prius, because it was fuel efficient and environmentally friendly. It was a small car, but the rental agent had told her it would be sufficient for the long trip.
“Oh, hey. Let me help you with that,” Dalton said from behind her.
He was an assistant at the glorified guesthouse and also one of her legit friends on Facebook. They’d been getting to know each other in the two weeks she’d been staying there, and he was such a nice guy. Friendly and sweet. He was cute in a scruffy kind of way, skinny with curly ginger locks. Even dressed in the ugly navy-blue golf shirt with the South Star logo on the breast pocket, he still had a subtle appeal. He carried her bags the rest of the way and loaded them neatly into the car.
“So…you’re going somewhere?” he asked.
“Just a little trip. I should be back in a few weeks.”
He shifted nervously on the balls of his feet. “Did you think about what I asked you?”
“Oh…um…I thought you were joking.”
“I could get fired for asking one of the guests out to dinner, so…no. It wasn’t a joke.”
This was strange. This situation was new to her and she didn’t know how to handle it. Dalton was already nervous and she thought it would be better if she didn’t reveal that herdad actually owned the resort. He would withdraw the offer immediately. Asking out the boss’s daughter would definitely get him fired and she was tired of being dictated to by her dad, whether directly or indirectly. She wanted to make her own decisions for a change.
“Dalton, you’re sweet and kinda cute. I’m just not sure if I like you…inthatway. It’s not something I’m opposed to, though. I mean, that’s the whole point of a date, to see if two people can like each other like that. We don’t really know each other that well, and I don’t know if we have anything in common, but I guess—”
“You’re doing it again,” he cut in awkwardly. “That thing you do when you think out loud. It’s one of those questions where a yes or no would suffice.”
“Oh…that was me saying yes. Yes, I would like that…but not now…when I get back.”
“Cool,” Dalton said as she hopped into the car. “See you when you get back.”
She smiled her farewell and waited for him to walk back in before she closed the door. She was a dork. No question about it. A complete and utter dork. Dalton would be considered about two steps above socially awkward and she made him seem like a smooth talker.
This was going to be difficult. Starting a life where she would be in constant contact with different people was going to be the biggest challenge she’d faced to date. Learning how to interact with different personalities, facing the world on her own—those were skills she still needed to develop. She was scared and nervous, but she reminded herself that this was the reason for the road trip, to meet new people, experience new things, and she was more than ready for that.
For nineteen years, she’d been escorted everywhere. Her father hadn’t even allowed her to go to the mall unless Prenishaor Pratiksha accompanied her. But now was the time to change all that. It was an impulsive decision. She hadn’t put much thought into it, but after living her entire life with rules and schedules, some spontaneity was refreshing.
She set the coordinates on her GPS and let out a slow, nervous breath. “World…here I come.”
Well, this wasn’t exactly the adventure she’d been hoping for. She’d left the resort with the GPS telling her that she would be on the I-90 highway in fifteen minutes and here she was three and half hours later with no satellite reception, no highway and no clue as to where the hell she was. Montana was beautiful. She’d been staring at the landscape for long enough to know that with certainty. Rolling hills and open fields, but no highway, and after a while everything started to look the same. She couldn’t tell if she had seen that tree before. How many times had she driven down the same road?
It was almost one in the afternoon on the first day of her trip and she was already in the predicament her cousins had feared. An hour ago, she was still relatively calm, but as the minutes ticked by, she was becoming more panicked. There was no cell reception and even if there was, who would she call?
“It’s okay,” she told herself. “You’re gonna find something or someone eventually. This is what life is all about. When it’s all over, you’re gonna be laughing about this. It’s not funny now. It’s really not funny now. It’s amazing how unfunny it is. But it will be. It will beveryfunny…someday.”
