Chapter 42
CHARLIE
Rosie’s brothers have been gone a lot, so I’ve been staying over at her house on the nights when she’s home alone.
This morning, around four am, I heard a noise and went to go see what it was.
Bennett was just getting back from a fishing trip that had gone south.
The couple on board started fighting, to the point of things getting physical.
Bennett had called the police on the SAT phone, brought them back to shore, and spent a good portion of the evening down at the police station.
When I walked into the kitchen, he was standing at the sink, completely exhausted, his eyes heavy.
He rubbed the back of his neck wearily. “Why are people so awful to each other?” he asked me.
I walked forward, tipped my head onto his shoulder, and whispered, “I don’t know. ”
“Are you there? Can you hear me? Charlotte!” Greg’s voice was muffled as he spoke to someone else. “I don’t think she can hear me.”
I dropped onto my bed of moss in shock. “I can hear you.” It hurt to speak, but that wasn’t the only reason I wanted to end the call, turn the phone off, and tuck it deep into the backpack.
“Good,” he said, sounding relieved. His voice was distant, as if through a tunnel, but still as familiar to me as it had ever been. “Why didn’t you say anything? We’ve been trying to call you for hours.”
“We?”
“Me. And the show. Charlotte, I have wonderful news. It’s time to come home.” He said it like he was announcing I was the winner.
“What?” I felt incapable of saying more than one or two words to him. I was hungry, tired, emotionally wrung out. This felt like a dream and not reality.
“You’ve won! Just say the word, and I’m on my way.”
“How did I win?” Bennett hadn’t come yet. I was still all by myself. A spider crawled out of my moss bed, and I shuddered. I thought I’d smacked it free of critters, but a few must have clung on in there.
“The show is going to pay off your mom’s medical bills. Every single one of them. All you have to do is tap out.”
Why did listening to Greg feel like swimming through a dense patch of seaweed? “I don’t understand.”
He laughed like I’d said something funny. “Seriously? Tap out, baby. Come home to me.”
I was shaking my head without even realizing it. “What about Bennett?”
“Don’t worry about him. He was only doing this to help you anyway.”
“If I tap out, does he get the money for his fishing business?”
“Charlotte.” Greg’s voice lowered. “He’s made his choice. I can’t believe you even have to think about this. What are you waiting for?”
“There’s still a chance I could win.”
“There isn’t. Not really,” he said. “The other couple is on the brink of winning. Maybe moments away. If you don’t take this opportunity, you’ll lose everything.”
Fear ate at all the confidence I’d gained earlier today. I couldn’t lose everything. Just one word, and I could be back at base camp in front of a heater. Fresh clothes. A full meal. A real bed. Protection from spiders and bears and my own dark thoughts. I wouldn’t be alone anymore.
“I know this is a lot,” Greg said. “But I forgive you. You were in a tight spot with the show, and Bennett took advantage of that.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“He used you to get the thing he wanted most. And he abandoned you the moment it benefited him.”
His words were the emotional equivalent of a kidney kick. How did Greg always know exactly what to say to hurt me the most? “I’m not ready for this to be done yet.” I felt the pleading rise in my voice, and a part of me hated myself for it. Hadn’t I grown past trying to please Greg?
He sighed. “Look. I’m sorry about the dog.
I let my anger get the best of me, and I know you have a soft spot for them.
I’ve even come around to being okay with you owning that little one.
It’s so small, I’m sure I’ll hardly notice it.
It makes you happy, which makes me happy.
” He paused and sounded almost choked up when he spoke again.
I’d never heard Greg cry. “I just want to make you happy. Can you let me?”
Springy shoots of moss tickled the back of my neck and ears.
A rock dug into my hip where I didn’t have it thick enough.
A mist was taking over the mountain, promising another downpour—and nearly freezing temperatures—tonight.
The sun was setting, and unless I tapped out this moment, I was looking at another night out here.
I squinted into the distance and wished Bennett would come walking through the trees.
“I love you.”
His words brought me back to our conversation.
“And I know you love me too.”
“Greg, I—”
“What if I told you Bennett is back at camp?” he said, his voice filled with heat. “What if I told you he chose to take the money?”
My breath caught in my chest.
“Charlotte, it’s time to end this. Come home.”