Chapter Nine #2
Mo looked up to a fully focused Aspen, who nodded silently for her to continue.
“I used to joke that in order for her to enter her final form she needed to get a part-time job at Home Depot.”
Aspen laughed heartily. “The double meaning in that…”
“Orange is so ugly.” Mo chuckled too, placing the receiver back on the cradle. “But it was her.”
Silence fell on the pair as Mo continued to peruse the phone, her eyes burning as she kept thinking about how much Annie would have loved this thing.
“May I check to see if it’ll work?” Aspen’s voice was soft, reverent.
Mo didn’t reply, instead handing it over and watching silently as Aspen did her thing. After a few moments, Mo said, “Opal told me to get something truly ugly. I think we found it.”
“Opal?”
“My friend, well, she was Annie’s friend too. She owns a killer tattoo shop back in Palo Alto. She’s my best friend, Bud’s, wife.”
“Okay.”
“Opal and Annie were close. Very close. I called her about the plan, and her only request was for the phone to be super ugly.”
“Well, this one definitely fits the bill,” Aspen agreed, handing the phone back.
“Yeah?”
“Yep. Opal sounds like a great friend, and judging by your reaction, this is meant to be Annie’s phone.” Aspen grinned warmly, her gaze spreading affection through Mo’s chest. “Let’s go pay.”
“Okay,” Mo agreed, standing to her feet before reaching down to help Aspen up.
She nestled the phone close to her chest and began walking toward the front counter. Aspen barely trailed behind, letting Mo set the pace.
“I hope I can do this,” Mo said, surprised that she let it slip out, stopping to allow Aspen to cross in front of her.
“Of course you can. The weather is looking pretty good starting next week, so let’s meet up Monday morning.
I’m thinking about seven a.m. sharp, at your cabin.
I’ll call and ask Betty to meet us at the trailhead and we will confirm the install and itinerary.
It’s mostly approved, but Betty wants to meet you personally. ”
“Really?”
“Yeah. She’s a great lady, don’t stress it. Just be on your A-game,” Aspen explained happily, stopping right before the queue for the register. “Sounds good?”
Mo hesitated before agreeing, “Yeah.”
“Awesome.” Aspen clapped. “Oh, and, Mo?”
“Yes?”
“On the trip, do you think you could tell me more about Annie?”
“What?” A quick pain shot through Mo’s stomach as she considered the question. “Why?”
Aspen shrugged, making her way to the register. “No reason.”
Mo didn’t question her, deciding it was easier to just wander confused behind her.
* * *
Nothing like a weekend alone for Mo to fret about Aspen yet again.
Her Saturday was spent sleeping, meandering, and anxiously reconsidering her choices.
Her mood would swing in every different direction like a pendulum that refused to stick to the rules of magnetism.
Every time she would begin to wonder about what it would be like to give in to her affection for Aspen, her mind would find some reason to shut it down.
But even so, here Mo was, packing Annie’s gear into the pack as best she knew how, mulling over her array of options.
“Maybe,” Mo muttered aloud to no one, stopping her movements, and she thought seriously about driving back to Blau’s to find last-minute backpacking food. “I could go without her…”
But she quickly thought twice about that, knowing Aspen would probably hike out and find her.
Having that kind of attention would be beyond embarrassing for Mo, especially if she found herself in a pickle out in the woods.
The wind phone idea was intriguing enough to give part of her hope, making the rest of the plan worth actual consideration.
But the more she mulled over her options, the more obvious it was that she would have to endure Aspen, which excited and frustrated her all the same.
A darker thought entered her mind, one where she went out somewhere else with no food at all.
Before that could fully manifest, though, her cell phone’s ringer brought her back into the present.
With a lean she looked at the face of her phone on her bed, Bud’s name and laughing picture brightly displayed.
Mo promptly ignored it, going back to shoving the things Opal had recommended inside the large backpack.
Mo had separated out what she was told she wouldn’t need, setting those items neatly in front of the old television.
The ringing from her phone stopped for mere seconds before beginning again, causing Mo to whine, “Please, Bud, not now.”
She ignored him again, instead moving to fill her water bladder from the kitchen faucet.
The phone ceased to ring again as she turned off the water, cradling the bladder just so in order to close off the top.
Right as she cinched the rod over the folded edge, her phone rang yet again.
Something snapped inside of her, causing her to angrily stomp toward her bed.
“What?” Mo demanded, answering her phone quickly.
“So you are okay,” Bud replied, his voice riddled with worry. “I was telling Opal that I might need to call local authorities to check in on you.”
Mo took in a deep breath, releasing the air slowly from her lungs before stating as calmly as she could muster, “Sorry, Bud, I’ve been busy.”
“With what?”
“Packing.” Mo was curt, moving back into the kitchen to grab the bladder she had left behind. She moved her focus to reinstalling the hydration hose to the feeder outlet.
“You’re coming home?” he responded gleefully, steamrolling any reply Mo had.
“Oh thank the Lord Jesus Christ and all that bullshit, I’ve been worried sick.
Opal keeps telling me to give you space and all, but I just knew you’d be up there all sad and shit.
And you would ’member how much we mean to you and you’d be back down here in no time. ”
Mo closed her eyes, guilt mixing with her annoyance. Crushing Bud’s usual overextensions was difficult for her on a good day, let alone one when she’d been feeling particularly down. “I’m not packing to come back to Palo Alto, Bud.”
“Huh? Then what in the Sam Hell are you packing for?”
“The backpacking trip,” Mo reminded him, moving back to slide the bladder into its pouch, feeding the tube around and up to where she could use it easily. “Remember the video call with you and Opal?”
“Aw shit, Imogen, all I ’member was you talking about some woman you met up there.
I usually leave the hiking rigmarole to my beautiful wife,” Bud explained, his voice returning to the worried lilt.
“I thought y’all would go on a few hikes, get to know each other intimately, and you’d come on back with a new sense of life. ”
That comment went a little too far for Mo.
“Bud,” Mo seethed, her frustration growing at his lack of tact. “You are treading on thin ice.”
A silence stretched between them, and Mo continued her task, hoping Bud would apologize and find an excuse to hang up. Before she could find one of her own, she heard a long, sad sigh, followed by Bud clearing his throat.
“Opal likes to tell me I’m like a bull in a china shop.”
“Mm-hmm,” Mo hummed, her anger sitting painfully behind her eyes.
“Did I tell you that she tattooed a celebrity a few days back?” His high-pitched tone showed his nervous need to avoid. “I’m so damn proud of her.”
“Yep.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Must be nice.”
Bud didn’t respond immediately, another awkward silence filling the space before he finally said, “I went too far again, didn’t I?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry, I just…” Bud sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry.”
Mo rolled her eyes, moving to sit on the couch. “It’s fine.”
“You sure I can’t come get ya?”
“No, Bud, I need space.”
“All right,” Bud said, finally accepting the awkwardness. “But, uh…maybe give that lady a chance. For me. If ya wanna, ya know?”
For all Bud didn’t know or pushed Mo to open up about, there were just some things he could say to her where no argument was created in their wake.
“I’m sorry, Bud. I’m just really—” Mo caught herself, considering her next words carefully. “I’ll be fine.”
“I’m not going to say ‘you better be’ or nothing like that, I just uh—” Bud coughed. “I love you a whole damn ton.”
“I know.”
“And you love me too?”
“I do.”
“Alrighty then, I’ll cut this off before I get in any more hot water. Be safe, and I’m sorry I keep pushing ya,” Bud said sincerely. “Also…”
“Yeah?”
“Annie wouldn’t want ya to suffer like this.”
“Bye.” Mo ended the call, tossing her phone onto the cushion next to her before sliding her face into her palms, her fingers covering her eyes just as tears began to form.