The Pact(36)

“What about work?” James asks.

“Dan will cover your absence, right Dan?” she asks and Dan, silent Dan, just nods.

“But what about Stephanie’s work?” James adds and I know he’s right. It’s only me working and there is no way I could hire someone in a rush for this. Not only would I be stuck with someone that probably isn’t a good fit, but I’d have to leave them in charge of the store. Not happening.

“Sorry,” I tell her. “James is right. I’m the only employee. I have to work.”

“So close the shop for the weekend,” she says. “When is the last time you’ve had a proper break? Even a weekend?”

I try not to think about that because I know the answer. I go up to see my mom on some Sundays. Other than that, I haven’t gone anywhere for a year.

A whole fucking year.

“I know. But that’s the way it is,” I tell her. “The working man is a sucker.”

A few days go past and I’m just about to close up shop when I end up getting a text from Linden. I hadn’t heard from him since my birthday, not even the day after. I’d learned that Nadine had come to pick him up while we were all doing karaoke and I guess she’d been watching him pretty closely after that.

Hey baby blue. Penny just messaged me asking if me and Nadine wanted to stay at Sea Ranch with her and James next weekend. I think you should come.

This was news to me. I didn’t think they’d still go camping if I wasn’t going but there you have it.

Hey yourself, cowboy. I told Penny I can’t go. Working.

She told me that. But I still think you should. Just close the shop for the weekend. Close early Friday and you only lose the Saturday.

Saturday is the busiest day here. I’d lose a lot of money.

It can’t all be about money. You have to have a life too.

Easy for you to say, I think.

I know but this is what I signed up for. I knew I’d have to make sacrifices.

You are going to work yourself into the ground, Steph. Please. I’m worried about you. You need a bloody break, a chance to relax.

There is a pause and I see that he’s writing something else. I hold my breath and wait.

It appears: It would make me very happy if you came. Please. I miss you.

My breath gets sucked down my throat even more. Linden is not normally like this. He’s the solid, unemotional, unsentimental rock. He’s not the type to tell anyone, I don’t care who they are, that he misses them.

He doesn’t say anything after that so I know he’s waiting for my response. I don’t really have a choice.

Okay, I text back. I’ll close the shop for the weekend. Only because you’re right, I need a break.

That’s all I wanted to hear.

I exhale slowly and see the last person leaving the store, empty-handed. It’s going to hurt me for sure to close it down for a day but I guess I could do more damage to myself if I work myself into an early grave. If I could get past the guilty feeling, maybe taking a break will be better in the long run.

I quickly text Aaron and tell him the plans, not even knowing if he’d be able to get off work. Naturally, though, he can. He just has to forgo another party. Poor boy.

So, I guess I’m going on a couple’s trip after all. A ball of pin-prickling nerves forms in my gut and I realize my reservations have nothing to do with actually closing down the store but something else.

It’s almost as if this trip is more than just a trip. This is a weekend where absolutely everything could change.





CHAPTER NINE

LINDEN



“Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”

“Oh my god, it’s so pretty!”

“Fuck, we have to stop guys. Guys! Oysters! We need oysters! James, why aren’t we stopping?”

“Linden, remind me again why you didn’t fly us all in a helicopter? We could have avoided this long road to hell. I feel like I’m Chevy Chase in charge of some pain in the ass National Lampoon family.”

That’s Aaron, Nadine, Stephanie and James, respectively, yammering to each other as we cruise up the coast to Sea Ranch. The trip so far has been beautiful, even more so than when I’ve flown above it, but it’s a long, tiring, winding road and by the time deep azure of the Pacific meets the windswept hills outside of Sea Ranch, the six of us are dying to escape James’s Suburban.

We don’t seem to be so lucky with the weather but that was to be expected. Late October can be hit or miss on the coast and as we unload our stuff from the vehicle and into the modest, two bedroom rancher set back on a low cliff, the fog is as thick as my nana’s stew and obscures everything except a few feet in front of you.