Chapter Thirty
Everest
Callie left for orientation at her new job this morning. There were lots of tears as she told me goodbye, but she was happy for me. I’m proud of her, and I’m glad that she’s taking charge of her life with so much confidence. She deserves everything that she’s getting. And then some.
I walked around the entire house half a dozen times to make sure that I didn’t forget anything I might want.
I have everything I care about condensed down to two luggage bags.
Two. If that isn’t pathetic, then I don’t know what is.
There’s nothing I actually care about here, and it just feels like more proof that leaving all of this behind might be the right choice for me. Even if it does sound insane.
I still haven’t heard from Axel, but I plan to address that when I get there.
I’m sure they’ll let me talk to him one more time.
At least, I hope so. If not, then I’m sure that he’ll eventually find Callie and she’ll explain what happened.
All the reasons I decided to leave. He’d be proud of me. I know he would.
I wheel my suitcases out to the end of the drive and then go back to lock everything up.
I look back up at my house one last time as I tuck my key under the doormat.
I pace the end of my driveway, thinking back to the first time I was waiting out here like this.
Axel and I stood in this exact same place.
Even back then, I knew that everything would be different when I came back.
I didn’t know how, or all the things that would happen between then and now, but I still felt it.
If I could go back in time and tell myself that everything was going to end up being okay, that I’d finally find my happiness, I probably wouldn’t believe myself.
I’d probably scoff or roll my eyes, thinking ‘yeah, sure.’ The fact that I did though, that I did find not only a place where I’m happy, but someone that makes my heart feel full, that seems like progress.
For the first time in my life, I feel hopeful about the path I’m on, that this is where I was always meant to end up.
It doesn’t change the core of who I am. I’ll still have bad days, and lots of sad days, I’m sure. The only difference is now they don’t seem as detrimental because I know I’ll have someone standing beside me that gets it. That gets me.
A black car pulls up across the street, and the driver side window slowly rolls down. I turn toward it just as Wilder starts talking.
“I thought you knew that we wear pink on Wednesdays?” He asks playfully as he tips his sunglasses down his nose to stare at me.
I nearly break out into a sob as I rush over to the car. I lean through the open window, reaching for the passenger side.
“Axel! Fuck where have you been? I was worried as fuck.” He chuckles as he leans over to hug me back.
“Hey, Ev.” He replies shyly. “I’ve been at the prison. I… uhh… I never left.”
“Umm, hello! Personal space!“ Wilder murmurs from where he’s squished underneath my chest. I lean back, squeezing Wilder into a hug before quickly turning around to grab my bags. I toss them into the trunk, slamming it closed before scrambling into the backseat.
“Are you staying at the prison? Did they offer you a job?”
“It’s a long story.” Wilder says as he tosses a blindfold back to me. “One we can’t tell you. Yet.“ He explains as he hands another one to Axel before he takes off.
Wilder and Axel weren’t allowed to tell me very much. Practically nothing, actually. While I probably could have told them about my time in the prison, I chose to keep it to myself for now. After the meeting, I’m hoping that we’ll get a chance to talk about everything that’s happened.
As soon as we pull up, the first thing I spot is Thorne waiting outside. I unbuckle and swing the car door open before Wilder even has the car in park.
I run right into his arms, launching myself at him so hard that he has to swing me half way around just to keep from being knocked over.
“Fuck. I missed you.” I mumble against his chest.
“Missed you too, kid. You been alright?” He asks as he sets me back on the ground.
“Much better now,” I reply with a genuine smile as I brush my hair from my face.
He gives me a soft smile in return as he glances up at the car.
“Wilder, put that shit down. I’ll get the bags.
” He demands as he storms over to the trunk where Wilder is fighting with Axel over who is gonna drag the biggest luggage bag inside.
I don’t know if they stayed in a hotel or something for a few days, but they have a couple of bags in there as well.
We all have to carry something inside, but Axel and Wilder end up having to take all of them once Thorne needs to break off and lead me to Maven’s office.
Thorne stops right in front of the door and turns to me. “Know your worth, okay? Don’t give up on something you want.”
I nod back at him confidently, and he pushes the door open. Ollivander and Maven are already seated across the desk and Thorne takes the chair beside me.
“Good to see you again, Everest.” Ollivander offers with a nod.
“You as well.” I reply honestly as I squirm in my seat nervously.
“As you know, we don’t typically make these kinds of trade offers, but this is an even more unusual circumstance, since you have people on the inside representing you as well.
“ Ollivander explains. I glance over at Thorne, and although he doesn’t look back over at me, he appears to be very pleased. Then the door to my left creaks open.
“What the fuck did he have in there? Bricks? For fucks sake.” Wilder whines.
“Don’t talk about him like that.” Someone growls.
And I know. I know. I hop from my chair, causing it to screech across the floor loudly. One hand covers my mouth to muffle the gasp that rises in my throat as the other hand reaches out for Jett.
“Everest!” Maven hisses at me sternly. Jett offers me the softest fucking smile before nodding to the chair behind me.
I immediately sit back down in my seat, having to use both my hands to choke back my sobs.
My eyes track every move he makes as he steps over to the couch and sits next to Wilder and Axel.
I don’t know how I survived without him the last two weeks.
Or all the years before I met him. The person I was before him could barely even be considered a person.
I was in a permanent statis, waiting for him, completely oblivious to the fact that he was out there in the universe waiting for me, too.
Call it a miracle or luck. A blessing, fate, a divine intervention.
Honestly, I don’t give a fuck what you call it.
Jett and I? We were always meant to be together.
I can feel my entire body coming back to life just from being in the same room as him.
I almost lost this. All of it.
There are so many things I want to say, that I’m trying to say without words. I’m sorry for leaving. I’m sorry for not saying goodbye. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you everything that was going on. I missed you. I spent every single second thinking about you.
I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.
“Now, who’s first? Let’s get this shit over with.” Wilder demands.
“Language!” Maven barks at him.
If it weren’t for the fact that I’m still watching Jett, I wouldn’t notice the glare that Axel gives Maven, but it doesn’t do him any good. Maven doesn’t back down to anyone.
“Well, our base offer is pretty standard. We provide housing, food, and any necessities. Those are the standard conditions for you staying here and working for us doing whatever job we agree for you to do.” Ollivander explains.
“Any other requests you have will have to be met with an equal gain on our part.”
I nod in understanding as he continues to tell me all the finer details. It’s mostly legal jargon. I’m not bound to anything we agree upon until I sign the contract, I’m free to change my mind up until that point, blah blah blah.
“Now, let’s see what your offers and requests are.” Maven interrupts impatiently. Ollivander glares over at him, but as always, Maven pretends not to notice.
“Okay,” I say as I shift in my seat and pull the paper I wrote from my pocket. “So, I know that we discussed the specialized knowledge I have before I left, but I thought of a program that might be able to reduce some of the costs associated with food consumption.”
“Interesting,” Maven says as he leans forward and rests his elbows on his desk. “Let’s hear it.”
“Well, there are a lot of prisoners without jobs, even temporary jobs. If we were to set up garden plots around the perimeter of the prison, we should be able to grow a lot of our own vegetables and fruits. Since I have the knowledge, instead of trying to manage a small garden on my own, I could teach other people how to care for a garden, and what things can be grown in this region. I would need to know exactly where we’re located so that I can map out the months we’d grow certain things, and what plants would grow well here.
If I calculated correctly though, with enough hands, we should be able to reduce the money needed for perishable foods by maybe forty-five to fifty percent during the winter if things are stored correctly.
During the summer, we should have an excess, possibly enough to sell the extras.
If we aren’t stretched too thin, we could also use people to can and process foods for the winter months, potentially reducing the costs for those months even more.
That’s just based off of the blueprints you showed us before, assuming that all the blocks have the same number of cells, and each of them are only half full.
I just guesstimated as far as staff apartments were concerned for food consumption, since I wasn’t sure how many of those there were. ”
As I’m talking, Ollivander is clicking away on his laptop, but as soon as I stop talking, Maven is looking to him for answers.