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“How?” Lawson, still confused by his involvement.
“That girl…” He points in the distance again. “Gives her time for so many things other than herself. This city boy here is the first time she’s been happy in a long time. Instead of seeing how to make it easier for her to be happy, all of us have failed her.”
“Leland,” Taylor speaks up behind him, hoping to break the tension. As kind as the gesture was, it was the wrong move.
“Damn it! No, stop. Taylor, I lost you and now I’ve lost the place where I raised my siblings. My home.” Leland looks heartbroken. I never really realized how much weight he carried. “Where we created our own family. I’ve let my mom down, I’ve let Collins down, and I’ve let everyone in our community down by not looking after this situation harder.”
“I’m fixing this.” I stand tall. Determination courses through my veins.
“You can’t,” Leland says, again. “Just… go home. You too Taylor.”
“I’ll leave, but I am never leaving you again. I don’t care what I have to do, but I am going to prove to you I’m staying and you will fall back in love with me.” Taylor walks away, leaving us all stunned.
We stare at him proclaiming his love for Leland. Refusing to leave and has a plan to make his words into actions. Leland drops his face and shoulders in defeat. I look at a slightly bloodied Lawson who has his hands on his head and he looks to be on the fine line of jumping off the cliff into a bottle of Jack.
“I am determined to fix this situation.” That’s the last I say to them before I spit blood and walk away. I jump in my car and head home to get cleaned up.
I walk into my empty and bland home. Everything is neatly arranged, except for Collins’s stuff. Auto books with grease prints on the corner of the pages and spine of the book, filled with post-it notes throughout. Her ratty t-shirts that smell like sunscreen and sweat. An unusual pairing of smells that brings complete contentment to my life. I crave the simplicity of natural fragrance. Collins is a ball of mess and randomness, but she brightens my day. Her presence causes me to take a step back from the life I was living and see life in its purest and rawest form.
She showed me what it was like to love someone with no conditions or expectations. Just being present.
I had a conference call with my dad this week discussing the possibility of permanently staying in Hawaii. I love Collins and I love the direction our relationship was going. There is no playing of parts between us.
How do I go back to a life without Collins in it?
I step into the shower and let the water fall on my sore, battered body.
I have to fix this…
My reflection in the mirror greets me when I step out of the shower. A tattered soul that is covered in empty spaces of this life with materialistic things. Bruised cheek, split lip and cut above my eye all add to my discolored torso. Damn, Lawson did a number on me. I hiss as I bandage up the cut above my eye.
I throw on my favorite pair of house pants and head to my office. House listings are scattered among my immaculately clean desk. They were houses that had my style but still had a lot of what Collins liked. A place where she could feel comfortable. The number one thing I asked for was a big garage where she could park her car. For the first time in my life, I could give her a place for her and me to come home to. My new normal became my addiction. I thrived off her; craved her; craved the life she helped me see and provided that alternate universe I begged so much to be a part of.
I picked up the phone to give my dad a call. He was a part of this initial deal over a year ago and used me to be a sounding board. It was his idea to bring me out of here in the end to have a smooth transition. At least that’s what he thought.
“Harry here.” His smug voice filters through the phone.
“Father.” I am struggling to keep a calm voice.
“Victor! How are you?” Happy? He sounds gleeful to hear from me.
“I’ve been better.” I rest my hand on my face, gently. “Remember last week when we talked about the county acquisition?”
“Yes, how’s it going?”
“My motions and request were to not to proceed with the deal. I know I pushed that out, but what was signed and sent was in favor of the eminent domain deal. After further research and review, the property would not be a good investment,” I explain.
“Why not? The environmental and appraisal report I ordered seemed like it was perfect.”
My gut recoils in disgust. “Why would you order that?”
“Well, I’ve been told that you are barely in the office anymore. You’ve been hanging out with that mechanic crew.”
“You knew I was seeing Collins. It’s been a couple of months.”
“Let’s be real. The relationship is not serious. But this deal is serious. It will be an extension of new clients for the strip mall that they want to go…”
“I’m sorry, what?” Realization hits me like a freight train. “Did you change my motion? Did you change the paperwork?”
