Page 45 of When People Leave

Charlie

C harlie was busy all week with a full load of clients.

By Friday night, she didn’t want to go anywhere, do anything, or talk to anyone, so she kicked herself for letting her friend Amy talk her into checking out the new escape room in town.

Charlie didn’t feel like she could cancel, because Amy was so excited and had put in for a reservation the moment she’d heard it was opening.

“This is going to be so much fun,” Amy said when they pulled into the parking lot at what looked like a commercial office building.

“I’m not sure my brain will be much use for escaping anything. We could get trapped in the room forever.”

“I’m an expert at puzzles. We’ll be out in less than thirty minutes, and then we can go for a drink.”

“Or we could just go straight to the drinking,” Charlie said.

The women lined up at the desk to sign in behind two men.

Amy insisted on paying for Charlie, and Charlie didn’t have the energy to fight her.

The two women put their purses in the lockers against the wall and moved to a bench to wait for instructions.

The two men stood a few feet away from them.

Five minutes later, an energetic staff member in her early twenties stepped up.

“Hi, my name is Natasha, and I want to welcome you all. Before you go in, there are a few things I want to go over. You’ll have sixty minutes to solve all the puzzles and find your way out.

Stay in the designated areas and don’t use force to move the objects because if you break something, you will be charged.

We can hear everything you say, so call out if you get stuck, and a team member will give you a hint.

And if there’s an emergency, stay calm, and we’ll come in immediately. ”

“Does I have to go to the bathroom count as an emergency?” Charlie whispered to Amy, who stifled a laugh.

“No, it doesn’t,” Natasha said, then continued. “The theme of tonight’s escape room is the sinking of the Titanic . Are you ready? If not, I don’t care because here we go!” Natasha opened the door. “The timer starts the moment I close this door.”

As Charlie and Amy were about to walk into the room, Charlie noticed the two men were also heading in.

“We aren’t together,” Charlie said to Natasha.

“Oh no, did I double book again?” Natasha said, looking panicked.

“Again?” Charlie said. Then turned to Amy. “Are you sure you want to go in there? We may very well sink.”

“We’d be happy to join these women,” one of the men said.

“Oh, thank you,” Natasha said before Charlie or Amy could reply. “If the owner—my dad—finds out I screwed up, he’s going to fire me. Again.”

Charlie shot Amy a look that she hoped relayed, ‘Let’s get out of here right now and get that drink.’ Charlie just wanted to hang out with her friend, but she didn’t have the interest to be social with men she didn’t know.

“It’s fine. We love meeting new people,” Amy said.

Either Amy didn’t understand the look I was giving her, or she could’ve been pretending not to, Charlie thought, then sighed. I need to get this people-pleasing thing under control.

One of the men, wearing a navy T-shirt and distressed jeans, gestured to the women to indicate they should go in first. Charlie and Amy entered, and as soon as the men crossed the threshold, the door slammed behind them. Charlie jumped.

“Tell me that wasn’t intimidating,” Charlie said.

The room was dimly lit and divided up into various sections of the Titanic . One area was decorated as a first-class passenger cabin, another as a lower-class bedroom, and the crew lounge. There was even a chandelier that hung precariously over a replica of the main dining room section.

A loud voice came over a speaker, which Charlie recognized as Natasha. “The timer is on; you have sixty minutes, so you better get moving,” she said, then tried to do her best evil laugh but failed to pull it off.

Charlie felt her stomach clench. A ticking clock made her anxiety begin to ramp up. It would have gotten a firm hold on her if the other guy, who had a ponytail and was wearing shorts with flip-flops—even though it was cold—hadn’t admitted that he was feeling nervous also.

“I’m Collin,” the guy in the navy shirt said, “and this weirdo is Colby.”

“I’m Amy, and this weirdo is Charlie,” Amy said.

“She doesn’t look that weird to me,” Collin said.

“Thank you?” Charlie said.

“Stop talking. We need to solve these puzzles, or we’re going to drown,” Colby said, his voice vibrating with either excitement or doom.

“You do know there’s no water here, right?” Collin said.

Amy suggested they start with the puzzle in the first-class cabin section. It was a word puzzle that they needed to solve to open Lady Duff Gordon’s trunk. They had to figure out what the initials RMS meant that preceded Titanic . Each one of them called out a guess.

“It’s Royal…I can’t remember what the M stands for,” Collin said.

“Mail,” Charlie called out. “Try Royal Mail Ship.”

Collin did, and the trunk opened. Amy cheered, and they all high-fived. Inside the trunk was a clue to the next puzzle located where the lifeboats were. The group would have to figure out how many passengers would fit into the remaining lifeboats after all the women and children were boarded first.

“I’m one of the many women who are good at math,” Charlie said, stepping in front of the others.

“Good, because I’m one of the many men who stink at it,” Collin said.

“He’s lying. He aced all his classes,” Colby said. “He even went on to AP Calculus.”

Charlie picked up the passenger manifests left inside the lifeboat and went through them as Collin looked over her shoulder.

She calculated the number of people on the ship and the number of lifeboats there were.

It took a few minutes, but she solved the puzzle.

A porthole opened and the next clue had been wedged inside.

“See, you can do everything by yourself,” Amy told Charlie. “You don’t need Rick.”

“Who’s Rick?” Collin asked.

“Charlie’s ex. They just broke up.” Charlie nudged Amy.

“Just like Collin,” Colby said. “He and his girlfriend broke up last week.”

Collin shrugged and smiled warmly at Charlie.

As Collin made his way over to the next puzzle in the third-class quarters, Charlie looked at him.

Even in this low light, she could see how attractive he was.

He had a perfectly oval face with symmetrical features and a dimple on his right cheek.

He had stubble on his chin, but the kind that looked sexy, not scratchy.

He was thin but not muscular, and she could see the glint of sweat on his forehead, but not one piece of his hair looked damp.

Collin reminded her of the guys she dated before she met Rick.

The ones who were not athletic, loved to read novels and bent over backward to be accommodating.

Collin turned, and Charlie quickly looked down at the ground. I’ve barely been single, and I’m all but drooling over this guy . She hoped he had not seen her staring at him like a diabetic eyeing a donut.

Charlie emerged from her reverie when a happy yell erupted from Amy, Colby, and Collin.

While Charlie was fantasizing, they had solved another puzzle.

When Charlie high-fived with Collin, she felt his soft palm against hers.

She hoped there were many more puzzles to complete so she could keep touching him.

The thought made her skin grow slightly warm.

As Collin walked toward the next puzzle, Charlie slowed down behind him, admiring how his jeans hugged his body. I need to get ahold of myself here.

“Ladies first,” Collin said, turning around and gesturing for Charlie to go in front of him.

“I’m surprised that this is way more—” Charlie said.

“Fun than you thought it would be?” Collin said, finishing her sentence.

Charlie nodded and laughed.

“You have a great laugh,” Collin said. “That guy that broke up with you must be a real moron.”

“Actually, I broke up with him.”

Collin nodded as if that made much more sense. Charlie continued. “We’d dated for a long time, and it should’ve ended over seven years ago, but I didn’t want to hurt him, so it took me a while to say anything.”

“I get that. When I finally ended it with my ex, we both knew it was time to move on.”

“How long did you date?” Charlie asked.

“Eight years.”

“I got you beat; my ex and I were together for eleven.”

“At least you and I finally saw the light.”

“And now we’re single,” Charlie said, then realizing it sounded like she was being more forward than she wanted to be, she blurted out, “I mean, we’re unencumbered, not attached--you know what I mean.”

“I do,” Collin said.

Charlie and Collin kept talking, their conversation flowing easily as if they had all the time in the world.

Charlie found herself flirting, something she hadn’t done with Rick since the beginning of their relationship.

She was glad she remembered how to or hoped she did because otherwise, she had been making a fool of herself.

Neither she nor Collin noticed that Colby and Amy had already moved on to the engine room.

“So, what do you do when you aren’t trying to escape from a sinking ocean liner?” Collin asked.

“I’m a psychologist,” Charlie said.

“Seriously?” Collin laughed.

“Why is that funny?”

“Because I’m a psychiatrist.”

“That’s wild,” Charlie said. “Do you have a card? I’m always looking to refer clients.”

He pulled a business card out of his wallet and handed it to her. “I’d love to have your business card, too. I have lots of patients who need talk therapy.”

“Mine are in my purse. I’ll get you one as soon as we get out of here.”

“Hey, you stragglers back there,” Colby yelled out, tapping his fist on a table like a nun with a ruler. “Are you planning on helping us with this safe?”

Collin and Charlie shrugged, then joined Colby and Amy. The engine room area was filled with levers and valves and a life-size mannequin of Edward J. Smith, the captain of the Titanic .

A voice boomed over the loudspeaker. “You have eight minutes to complete the last puzzle, or you’ll feel the icy fingers of the Atlantic,” Natasha said, then gave a better, ridiculous, evil laugh.

“Did you hear that?” Colby said.

“Yes, we might actually get out of here,” Amy said.

They stood in front of a safe trying various combinations.

“I’ve been trying to open this for the last five minutes, and none of the numbers I put in are working,” Colby said.

“What about the date the Titanic went down?” Abby said.

“I already tried that,” Colby said.

“We’ve come this far; we have to beat the clock,” Amy said.

“I know I can do this,” Charlie said, pushing her way through.

First, she put in the date the Titanic set sail, but the safe didn’t open. She looked around the room for any clue that might help. She felt everyone breathing behind her as if their living or dying were on her shoulders. She liked the power that came with that.

Finally, she entered the captain’s birthdate. She’d seen it on one of the documents in a lifeboat and remembered it because it was the same date that Morgan was born—or at least the date on her fake birth certificate.

The click of the safe opening echoed through the room, and inside, they found a key to the door. They all looked up at the clock at the same time. There was one minute left to get out. Colby grabbed the key and opened the door as everyone cheered.

“You can’t leave until I get a picture of the first people to escape,” Natasha said. “Granted, we opened a day and a half ago, but still.”

Natasha took a picture of the group, and then they all walked outside. At first, Charlie and Amy were ahead of Collin and Colby, but the closer they got to the parking lot, the closer the guys got to them.

Amy turned. “You guys can follow us, but you should know we don’t take strange men home,” she said sarcastically.

Charlie held her hands at her side because she wanted to smack Amy, although she should’ve been used to it. Amy loved to embarrass her.

“Good to know,” Collin said, smiling at Charlie. Charlie smiled back.

“We’re just going to our car,” Colby said. “It’s right there.” He pointed to a black Corolla in a parking garage filled with cars.

“How funny, our car is right next to yours,” Charlie said, pointing to Amy’s Nissan Sentra. I wonder if that’s what they call kismet, she thought.

Amy got into her car, but Charlie dawdled. “Bye,” Charlie said, her eyes on Collin as she slowly opened the passenger door. Before she got in, she reached into her purse. “Oh, I forgot. Here’s my business card,” she handed it to him.

“Great,” Collin said. “And please let me know if you have any referrals for me.”

You can bet I will, Charlie thought, but only nodded and waved goodbye.

Amy turned on the car and started backing out of the parking space. “Someone has a crush,” Amy said.

“I don’t even know him,” Charlie said, not sounding convincing to her ears. Charlie couldn’t tell how much of the stirring inside her was caused by excitement or how much from hunger, but she figured it was mostly the former.

“He’s cute. Even the wax ship captain in the boiler room could see he was into you,” Amy said as she drove down the street.

“He was just being friendly,” Charlie said, while thinking she hoped that wasn’t true.

The following day, Charlie was about to pick up her next client from the waiting room when she noticed a voicemail alert on her phone. Something inside her told her to listen to it. When she hit play and heard Collin’s voice, she grinned.

“Hey, it’s Collin…from yesterday… I just wanted to ask you a professional question.

No, that’s a lie…I wanted to say I had a nice time meeting you.

No, that’s a lie, too. I mean, I did have a nice time meeting you, but I meant I was lying about why I called.

Oh, God, can I erase this message and start over?

I sound like an idiot.” Charlie heard him take a breath, then he continued.

“Okay, I called to see if you wanted to meet for coffee this week. You’re probably busy or possibly met someone and got married, but if you have any time and are still single, call me.

Then again, you don’t even have to be single.

Just kidding, please call me. Did I say it’s Collin…

from the escape room.” Charlie heard him groan, and then he hung up.