Page 25
Chapter 25
Wyatt
I ’m late. On the day I need to be as trustworthy and responsible as a brain surgeon in the operating room, I didn’t set an alarm. Noah laid all his concerns on me last night and I promised him we would sit down to go over every single digit in his ledger. He looked so relieved as I swore I’d be there early so we could spend a couple hours going over our current situation, but I was so upset about Moxie that I couldn’t drag my ass out of bed. I’m an Asshole with a capital A.
My cell’s ringtone bounces around my room as I frantically throw on clothes. It must be an angry Noah wondering where the hell I am. I lunge across the room to grab it off my nightstand. It’s my mom, and I don’t have time for this. I let it go to voicemail and grab my socks.
Last night was like a dream. Everything was flowing along beautifully like the current of the river, but then it was as if our boat came around a bend to a gushing waterfall and I got stuck underwater.
All night I imagined what I could have done differently, and it boiled down to doing my damn job. Moxie and Noah would both be happy with me if I just worked like I said I would. So what do I do? How do I show the people I care about most that I’m not a fuckup? I don’t set my fucking alarm.
My phone rings again as I race across town. My frustration hits mountain peak levels as I see Mom’s name across my phone’s display yet again. She’s not going to stop, so I punch the answer button on my steering wheel.
“Hey, I’m sorry but I can’t talk right now.”
“I’m having a hard time with this new buddy-buddy attitude your dad has toward the Nelsons. Marge acts like she wants to be friends, but I think she’s still mad that Hannah’s not in love with anyone. She says she would know if this Quincy guy from the restaurant was the real deal because Hannah tends to go on about stuff and she’s not calling to talk about Quincy at all. What can you tell me about the two of them?”
Exasperation leaks out of my pores. I’ve never clenched a steering wheel this hard in my life.
“Mom, please trust me. Hannah’s happy. I’ve got a few issues this morning and I’m late, but I promise I’ll give you the full scoop after work today.”
“Sure, it’s just that last night at book club I got into it with Marge because she thinks you and Moxie forced Hannah into pretending that you had that double date.”
Hearing Moxie’s name twists the knife in the gaping hole that our breakup has left in my chest. Spots cloud my eyes, and I force myself to take deep slow breaths to bring the road back into focus. Oblivious to my turmoil, Mom carries on with her rant.
“She had Myra’s pictures from the restaurant blown up to eight-by-ten inches, and she studied the video footage. Myra and Marge now are working together to ‘uncover’ the lie as some new mystery-solving spin on Myra’s podcast. They say there was no chemistry between Hannah and Quincy. I need to know the truth. Is Hannah dating this Quincy fellow or did you set all this up for some reason? I hope you didn’t because if you did, I’ll never live this down.”
I’m going to lose it. Our brilliant plan had worked perfectly. My dad and Hannah’s dad were reunited. I thought this whole damn thing was resolved, so of course when I'm already having the worst twenty-four hours ever, it rears its ugly head.
Calling upon every drop of patience I possess, I stretch the truth. “In my opinion, Hannah had a good time on our date. I don’t think Quincy is her person but I did not create an elaborate lie to trick you and the Nelsons.”
“You swear you’re being honest?”
I replay my wording in my head. I believe I’ve carefully avoided an outright lie. I know I’m guilty, but every aspect of my life is underwater right now and this is the best I can do.
“Yes, I told you the truth. But Mom, I can’t tell you how crucial it is that I get off this phone right now, so please forgive me but I’m hanging up.”
My tires screech as I pull into the parking lot. There’s a line of people waiting to get their donuts from Penny’s bakery. Taking a deep breath, I get out of my car and try to seem like a calm, professional tour guide and not a guy whose whole life is falling apart, again.
I burst through the doors but don’t see Noah. “Hey Noah, sorry I’m late.”
After clearing the store front, I call out to him again as I enter the storage area.
“Noah, where are you?” The room is silent. I look around and finally see him sitting in a kayak at the back of the big room. He doesn’t look up or answer.
“Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”
Noah slowly looks up at me and takes a deep breath. “To be honest, I don’t know if I’m okay.”
I’ve never seen him like this, and I don’t want to see him like this now. He has dark circles under his eyes and a scowl on his face. His shoulders sag and he looks like he wants to sail away to anywhere but here.
I creep over like I’m approaching a wild animal. “I’m sorry I’m late, but I’m here now and I’m ready to go over those numbers. I know you’re worried and I’m totally committed to doing whatever is needed to get things back on track. Come on, let’s go to your desk and crunch those digits.” I attempt a smile as I break out in a sweat.
“I made a mistake last night. I didn’t want to bring all that up when we were celebrating and meeting Moxie, but it just came out.”
“The night kind of got away from us, but we can get back on track starting today.” I move a chair over by him since he doesn’t seem able to move from his kayak.
He lets out a dark laugh. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. It shouldn’t have come out then, but I figured we would work it out today. You were surprised last night, but you acted like you really cared and that you wanted to do everything you could to fix Shred and Tread.”
“Yes, I did. I still do. That wasn’t acting. I’m determined to right this ship. We’re a team. I was caught off guard last night, but—”
Noah throws his hands against his raft. “What do you mean you were caught off guard? For the past three weeks I’ve been showing you. Do you listen to anything I say?”
As a person who used to get in trouble a lot, I’ve had my ass handed to me in many different situations, but never have I felt as distraught as I do now. He’s right. He’s been expressing concerns over and over again, and I've assumed he was blowing things out of proportion, that it was nothing beyond any business’s usual desire to grow. I try to speak but there’s nothing I can say that he’ll believe.
“I trusted you every time you said ‘Don’t worry, we’ve got this. We're a team, this is our dream, blah, blah, blah.’ I wanted to believe it so bad. This is a great business. How many people get to spend their days making other people happy and do it with their best friend? I believed all your hype. It was working for a while, but the pressure is really on now with a baby coming and I don’t feel like I can trust you anymore.”
“You can trust me. I’m here. I know I was late and I totally get that it looks bad. There’s no excuse for it, but I’m here now and I will never let you down again.”
“You can’t expect me to believe that. It was just last night that you said how important this all was to you and that you understood with the baby you needed to buckle down and help me get this place back on track.”
“Yes, I meant every word of it.”
“Bullshit. You are forty-five minutes late and didn’t even bother to call and say so. We were supposed to spend two hours going over the books. You finally roll in and you think we can come up with a genius plan and get everything ready for the rafting trip in the hour before you have to head out.”
“Yes. I mean, no. I didn’t plan it this way, but I was freaked out and couldn’t sleep last night. When I finally did fall asleep, I must have forgotten to set my alarm. You don’t know what happened after we left. Moxie broke up with me. She was alarmed about the business issues, and I was—”
“Man, don’t you think it’ a problem that she cares more about our business than you do?”
“I care. I swear Shred and Tread means everything to me. You’re important to me and so is Mindy and that nugget that will be the best baby ever. You’re my family. I love you guys.”
“I know you think so, but it isn’t coming through in your actions. I love you and we’ll always be there for you but I’m not sure we should continue with Shred and Tread.” He sadly looks around at the equipment spread out in our storage room that has become my second home.
“Noah, we can do this. I fucked up this morning. Shit, I guess I’ve been fucking up for a while here, but please don’t give up.”
This is basically the same empty promises I was making to Moxie last night. I follow his gaze around the spacious storage room that I had imagined filling with more equipment as our business grew.
Noah gets up and heads into the front office. “I used my unexpected free time this morning to job search. You should think about doing the same. We’ll keep the business going for a while so we have money coming in until we can both find something, but I need a steady income that I can depend on. It breaks my heart because we poured everything into this, but it’s clear this isn’t going to work. I have to put my family first. I’m sorry, but soon, we’re going to have to close.”
Noah shuts the door between the office and the storage area, leaving me alone in the room to process what he’s said.
I look around at our dream business. I was so proud when we first opened our doors. When I lost my chance at playing professional ball, I thought I’d never be that happy again. Opening Shred and Tread was an even better dream. I took for granted how lucky I was. It only took me a few weeks to throw it all away.
But that probably isn’t true. I wasn’t paying attention, so who knows how long Noah has been worried. I thought he was overreacting.
I can’t run it without him, and even if I could, I can’t afford to buy him out. Half of the appeal was running things with my best friend. I don’t know if I’d even want to do it without him. I’ve lost Moxie, and I’ve lost my dream job. Hell, have I lost Noah too?
I stumble back, clutching at my chest as my vision spots once again. I gasp for air and put my head in my hands.
What have I done?