42. Chip
CHIP
Chip comes down the stairs from Rhonda’s office, and sees Paige sitting at the front desk, her face red and tear-stained.
She is writing something, and she keeps scratching a line through it.
Bridget cleans up the station with the water pitcher and coffee, and she peers out the window to see if any guests are heading toward the front door.
Chip stands in front of Paige. “How are you feeling?” he whispers. She looks up at him and shrugs.
“Okay, not too different.”
“Do you, um, need anything?” He feels useless, but wants to offer her support. He wants her to know she isn’t alone. Being alone is the hardest part sometimes. “I could go with you, you know, if you need to go to the doctor… or wherever.”
She looks up at him. “That’s generous.” She looks down at the papers. “This budget is making me crazy.” She folds it in half. “I have to just let it rest for a minute and come back with fresh eyes.”
“That’s my usual strategy.”
“How are you feeling?” She folds her hands over the papers and looks at him.
“I’m okay.” He thinks of his grandfather’s words. Can’t complain. He discovered two new rashes on his body today, one across his chest, one on his legs. And he feels like he’s at the very beginning of a cold. He’s sleeping longer, too. It’s harder to pull himself out of bed. But can’t complain.
She nods. “You look great, all things considered.” She puts her face in her hands. “I, on the other hand, look like shit.”
“I disagree.”
“I’m keeping it, Chip.”
“Oh. Well, that’s good.”
“Yeah. I really considered it, and the circumstances aren’t ideal. Rhonda said she’d support me no matter what, but I need this job. It isn’t feasible for me to stay home with a baby all day.” She sighs. “I don’t know how I’m going to be a mom and the general manager at the same time.”
He looks at her. “Paige, Red Maple is brimming with good people. I’m sure you can find a handful of them who would be glad to help you out. I mean, I wouldn’t trust Phil or some of the guys on my floor.”
She laughs. “Chip, you’re so resourceful,” she says. “And that’s an interesting idea.”
He is walking out of the main building, and Phil is sitting on the bench, smoking a cigarette. “What time are you on tonight, man?”
“I’ve got a few hours,” Chip says. “I was thinking about grabbing a sandwich at the refectory and then stealing a nap.”
“Feel like taking a walk?” Phil says.
They head for the path, and Chip looks down and sees a stray weed.
He bends and plucks it out by the roots.
They hear the lifeguard blow the whistle, and some couples are doing that thing in the pool where they have people on their backs and trying to push each other off.
Chicken fights, he thinks it’s called. There is a line for ice cream, and two women are riding horses in the paddock.
Phil doesn’t say anything. He reaches into his pocket and takes out another cigarette and offers one to Chip.
“Why not,” Chip says, and puts his hand out for the lighter.
They walk, and the day is cloudless and pleasant as the world begins its transition into autumn.
They pass the gymnasium and the crew lodge and the employee parking lot.
They walk into the refectory and Chip picks up a roast beef sandwich, and Phil takes two hot dogs. They grab sodas, and they clink their cans together and keep walking toward the woods. “Oh,” Phil says, and pulls a small bag of cookies from his back pocket. “Grabbed these on the way out.”
“Right on,” Chip says. They eat their sandwiches, and some of the bread falls from his as they walk.
He thinks of Hansel and Gretel, and how every time he heard the story, he imagined being lost in the woods with Maggie and how they would survive.
Phil eats his hot dog slowly, and he looks over at him.
“So I gotta ask, and I know this sounds stupid.” He wipes his face.
“How do you know, Chip, when a girl likes you?”
Chip tilts his head, and he remembers Phil talking to their new coworker Bridget at the wedding.
Phil has seemed distracted lately, but Chip just figured he felt bad about Elliot or was thinking about his final exam.
“Well, I think every girl is different. Woman, I should say. We’re dealing with women now, man.
” He pulls a cookie out of the bag, and it feels soft, and the chocolate chips are a little melted.
“But I think someone likes you when they seem happy you’re in front of them, when they’re not looking to see who else is coming.
When they’re listening. You just know by their eyes, I guess. Their eyes are into it.”
Phil shakes his head. “I can’t believe someone on the varsity team had to ask JV about this.”
Chip looks at him and laughs. “I believe ‘prodigy’ is the word you’re looking for. And I think Bridget likes you. Want me to ask her? Should I give her a note that says check yes or no?”
“No, you dick. Stay away from her. You’re already juggling too many ladies.”
Chip opens his soda, and it tastes cold and slightly spicy and perfect. They walk into the woods where it gets darker and he hears a sound, branches snapping, but he can see the inn and still hear people playing tennis, so he doesn’t think about it. “Yeah, I’ll spare her my charms.” He winks.
They walk and walk, and Chip crunches a pinecone underfoot. “Phil, you don’t have to worry. I think she’s into you.”
Up ahead is an incline where people go hiking. It is thick with pine trees and scrub oak. They look at the hunks of sandstone and polished shale that line their path and start to walk it.
“How do I know I like her back?”
Chip pauses. “You’re not sure if you do?”
“I think I do. I get excited when I see her coming. I want to keep talking to her. But how do I know if it’s worth risking it, if she’s worth the potential heartbreak?” He exhales. “Can you tell I’ve mostly had bad luck?”
“I think when you’re in love,” Chip says, “there’s no confusion. There’s no uncertainty. You feel this pull. You are better when they’re around. You’re different parts of a song, but both necessary parts.”
He thinks of Vicky. He thinks of the day she showed up here and how, when he saw her, he felt like he was saved, like he was home again.
He thinks of years ago, the joy he would feel every time she would slide into the bus seat next to him.
A smile comes over Phil’s face. “I definitely like her. Sometimes I’m just lying there at night, and I keep trying to remember things like what her eyes look like, or something she said. Jesus, I feel like I’m twelve.”
“You don’t look like it,” Chip says, and Phil pushes him, and as they’re laughing, they hear another sound.
“Oh bloody hell,” Phil says, and Chip turns to see what at first his brain thinks is a dog, but it’s actually the biggest bear he’s ever seen, walking slowly toward them, its mouth open.
“Holy shit,” Chip whispers. He looks down at his cookie and wonders if it smelled the food. It stands on its back feet and makes a grunting noise, and Chip feels everything drain from him.
“Babies!” Phil gestures, and Chip looks over to where there are two cubs frolicking at the bottom of a tree. The bear grunts and roars at them as they keep stepping back.
“We gotta go,” Chip says through his teeth.
“She’s going to chase us,” Phil says.
“Then we just have to run faster.”
“You’re out of your mind.”
Chip tosses what’s left of his cookie and then the soda in the opposite direction. The bear looks startled, and they take off.
Phil is sprinting beside him, and Chip’s heart is in his chest. “Fuck fuck fuck,” he screams, and his throat feels raw.
“She’s coming,” Phil says. They can hear her running, hear the deep bass sounds she makes, but they don’t turn around.
Chip finds speed he didn’t know his body had, and they descend the hill and fly through the wooded lot toward the crew lodge. For a second, he feels exhilarated, a high he used to feel when his older cousins raced him at Mimi and Gramps’s house.
The sun is so hot out of the shade. They keep running and running toward Red Maple like it’s home base and when they get there they’ll be safe.