Chapter 25 #2
“Did you sleep well?” Lex mumbles behind me, guessing I’m awake somehow.
“I did,” I say before wriggling around to face him. “And you, how was it without a memory foa—Oh my God,” I breathe out.
He opens his eyes, sleepy and confused. “What?”
“You have … Shit, you have a black eye,” I explain, grazing the bluish bruise under his left eye.
“Really?”
“Yes. It must have been when I head-butted you.” I wince, remembering how we’d struggled to make it work in the confined space, especially with the unpredictable pushbacks of the air mattress. “You look like you’ve been in a bar fight.”
“With a petite Latina on a mission,” he grumbles.
“I’m so sorry.” To turn my words into actions, I cover his face with light kisses.
“It’s fine. I’ve had worse. Although if you’re really sorry and want to make up for attacking me with your skull, I have a couple of ideas.”
“What?”
“You can get the coffee started.”
“I definitely can, yes. Any other demands?”
“A proper kiss.”
“My needy little baby …” I comply, of course, pecking his lips, and work my way out of both his embrace and the dual sleeping bag, and then, the tent.
God, the view in the morning is even more spectacular, and I gorge on it as I stretch the sleepiness away.
My feet and legs aren’t hurting, so I feel confident about the walk back to the car.
Lex joins me as I set the Moka pot on the small stove, and we both watch the beautiful scenery while we wait for our morning brew.
Dismantling our little camp goes much faster than setting it up, and about an hour later, we’re back on track, attacking the second half of the hike.
Lex’s phone died during the night, but it’s fine.
The trail is easy to follow, and I have my human GPS along with me.
The way down the mountain seems easy at first, but about five miles in, the muscles right above my knees begin to ache.
And because the path is rocky, we’re not going very fast, careful not to slip and tumble down.
That would definitely require a helicopter rescue.
With the lunch break and a couple of pee breaks, we take about six hours to get back down, and to my delight, I haven’t complained a single time. Neither did Lex, though. That realization hits me just as the parking lot comes into view.
“Oh, no,” I let out, disappointed.
“What?”
“No one won the bet.”
“Right …” He looks back at the trail, frowns, and says, “I hated this. Every single minute of it was torture. Even last night. You mauled me, woman,” he explains, pointing at his purplish eye. “Never again.”
I’m taken aback at first, wondering what I did to deserve such an onslaught. But then a twinkle in his eye cues me in.
“Are you complaining?” I ask almost gleefully.
“Ah, shit. I guess I lost.”
“You’re such an idiot,” I laugh, turning around to resume our walk. “And so pussy-whipped.”
He looks like the cat that got the cream as he catches up with me. “Can’t wait to eat you out for two hours straight.”
“We said we’d spread it out.”
“I said we were allowed to. I might decide to handle my penalty in one go.”
If it were anyone else, I would have called their bluff. But with him … all bets are fucking off.
I’m still thinking about that, about my stupid ass insisting on making it two hours, about the consequences of my actions, when we reach the car.
Overall, the experience was great, and however long we have left in British Columbia, I’m definitely not opposed to trying another hike like this.
Maybe we could even go a little crazy and do three days.
Once our bags are in the trunk, we both settle into our front seats. Like on the way here, Lex drives, and I handle the music. I find a cord in the glove compartment and plug it into the car and my phone before turning it on.
“Alright,” Lex lets out once we’re on the road. “Back to the house, then a good shower, and I’ll need you lying down on the bed for two hours.”
“You animal. Let a girl rest for a day, at least.”
He lets out a disapproving “Hm,” which I let go to enter my passcode on the phone. Immediately, it begins buzzing, over and over and over. Various messages flash on the screen, and while I can’t make out any of them properly, panic instantly sets in.
Twenty-three missed calls from my mother. Eleven from my father. Thirteen from Rafa. Seven from Kate. And texts. A bunch of them. An awful feeling twists my guts into tight knots. Shit, what is this about?
“What is it?” Lex asks, noticing my anguish.
“I don’t know … My family has been trying to reach me.”
I force myself to dial the voice message inbox, despite how scared I am to hear what this is about. My phone automatically paired with the car’s Bluetooth, so the electronic voice resonates for both of us.
It announces that the first message is from yesterday morning, so a couple of hours after we started our hike and were already out of cell network.
When my mom’s shaky voice takes over, my heart painfully tightens in my chest. “Pollito, I don’t know where you are or when you’ll get this, but call me back as soon as you can.
Mamá had an accident. We’re in the ICU with her, and …
things aren’t looking very good. Please call me back. ”
Oh, God … MC …
Tears gather in my eyes within seconds, but I don’t allow them to fall down my cheeks. It’s been nearly thirty hours. Have things developed for the worse? Is my abuela still alive, or has her condition worsened?
Lex stops the car on the side of the road as another message follows.
This one is from my father, and he doesn’t give more details, except that MC is asking for me.
I hold my breath during the entirety of the third message, as my mother explains they’re considering putting her in an induced coma to prevent damage from her concussion.
By the fourth message, which holds no information on what happened either, I hang up to call my mother directly.
“Andrea, finally!” she says as soon as she picks up.
“How is she?!”
“She’s stable. They sedated her so she could get some rest.”
“What happened to her?”
“We were at the mall together. I was having my hair cut, and she wanted to shop around. I wasn’t there when it happened, but she fell down an escalator. She knocked her head hard, but she still managed to send someone to get me. EMTs arrived soon after me, and I rode with her to the hospital.”
“Did she lose her balance or something? I didn’t know she had this kind of issue.”
“She doesn’t. Not that I know of, at least. She claims someone pushed her, but no one else saw it.”
“Wait, what?”
“Hija, she wasn’t making any sense, talking about a bald man with a face tattoo. They told me she really hurt herself, and—”
“Was it a snake?” My tongue asks the question before I can even think it.
“What?”
“The man who supposedly pushed her. Was the tattoo on his face a snake?”
“I … Yes, I think she said that. Why? Pollito, do you know who that is?”
Jesus fucking Christ.
I turn to Lex, whose horrified expression matches mine. It’s the same man. The one who tried to kill him. The one who shot me instead. He pushed Maria Carmen down the escalator. But why her?!
The world crumbles around me as reality catches up with me.
For two months now, we’ve fooled ourselves into thinking everything would be fine since we’re safe here.
But staying away isn’t enough, because there are people we love out there.
People who can be used against us. People who can be hurt.
We were so fucking stupid for thinking we could escape it.
“How soon can you get here?” Mom asks.
I glance at Lex again, and he shakes his head, wary. “I don’t know, mamá,” I say, feeling completely lost.
“She has been asking after you. She would really like to see you in case … in case she doesn’t make it.”
I nod, my throat so clutched I can’t even speak. Thirty hours. I lost thirty hours I’ll never get back … If MC doesn’t make it …
“Drive,” I tell Lex, who quickly returns us to the road.
“Mom, I’ll do my best. We need to organize ourselves, so I can’t promise you anything for now.”
The drive back to the house is a haze. I talk to my mom for half an hour, then my eyes are lost on the road ahead, my mind frantic.
As soon as Lex parks in the garage, I jump out of the car and sprint to our bedroom.
Time is of the essence, and we already wasted forty and a half hours. There isn’t a second to waste.
I take our suitcases out of the dressing room and throw mine open on the bed.
“What are you doing?” Lex asks, walking in on me shoving an armful of clothes in it.
“Packing. I took yours out as well. I think we can be ready to go in half an hour. Once we’re on the road, I’ll text my mom to let her know our ETA.”
He stands there, doing nothing, as I keep throwing stuff into my suitcase, trying to think of what else I might need to take with me. Bathroom stuff. When I return with my hands full of more things, he still hasn’t moved.
“Can you pack, please?” I insist. “We need to go.”
“Andrea, you need to think about this.”
“What’s there to think about? My abuela, one of the two women who raised me, might be dying in a hospital bed in Portland. Of course I’m going to see her.”
“You’re not,” he counters.
I let what I’m holding fall into my case and send him a confused look. “What? I should send ‘thoughts and prayers’ from afar?”
Once I’ve unplugged my charger, I throw it on top of the disorganized mess of my luggage. That’s good enough. The zipper resists, but pressing on it with my body works.
“Think about this for a minute, will you?” Lex demands.
My suitcase meets the floor with a loud thump, and I roll it behind me, heading for the door. I’m not even changing out of my dirty hiking clothes. I’ll do that in Portland after I’ve seen her.
“Andrea, going there’s reckless. It’ll put you in danger.”