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16
Dennis
Iwas looking for Kimberly’s relatives. She never talked about them much. Kimberly hadn't really talked about much that had to do with her past or family. What she had mentioned was that her mother had died and that her father and her were close. It had been a very short conversation and the intensity had been palpable in the room, and I’d been almost able to be taste in my mouth.
I thought that finding her father would be the best way to figure out where Kimberly was. She was close to him and she talked about him a lot. I tried to get ahold of her father, but he was a busy man and when I finally did find him and saw him across the room, I knew that the serious expression on his face was not a man I wanted to talk to. He was not going to help me.
That left me with the aunt, and Jeffrey was pretty quick to find me an address. I usually had better luck with women, so I was hopeful that I would this time around too. I was hopeful that she didn't know who I was, so she would tell me where Kimberly was.
Her aunt lived a hundred miles away, and it took a little while to get there. I had stopped caring about school and even the football games that were so important to me only a few weeks ago. So much had changed, and I was still trying to come to grips with it all. It was actually harder than it should have been.
I was still waiting to tell a detective my decision. I still was no closer to an answer, yet I did realize that it was part of the reason that Kimberly was upset. I could understand it, even though it was me that had been attacked, not her. Chelsea had done property damage of course, but it was a little different. I knew that if I told the police what Chelsea had done, Tommy and anyone else that helped would get the time and trouble that they deserved. But it would also destroy Chelsea's life and since I had known her for so long, it was really hard for me to just pretend like I didn't care what happened to her. That obviously wasn't the case.
None of that was helping the current situation. I tried to get it out of my mind. I had to stay focused to talk to her aunt. From what I remembered, she said that her aunt was a big help and I'm sure that she had asked her for advice. Which meant that this woman was going to know more about me than I probably wanted.
I pulled up to the house and I immediately got the feeling that I was in over my head. The woman that I suppose I was looking for was on the porch, and she covered her eyes when I started to walk up. She looked a lot like Kimberly, at least in the face, and the expression she was giving me was not a good one.
“You look lost. Can I help you?”
“I'm actually looking for a friend of mine and I was hoping that she was here.”
Christine sighed and told me that I was too late.
“Too late for what?”
“Kimberly took off. You should have been here a week ago.”
Even though Kimberly wasn't there and the woman that I didn't even know was telling me that I was late, I actually felt a huge relief come over me. There had been a thought in the back of my head that Chelsea and Tommy, as well as their little friends, had done something to Kimberly. It had truly been killing me inside and just to know that she was safe, if not gone, was more of an answer than I even needed. My relief was quite immediate.
“So, she's been here?”
“Well, yeah, she was. Now she's off on her next adventure. Kimberly's always been the type to keep moving.”
“So, you know who I am?”
“Well, I would imagine that you're Dennis. I heard a little bit about you.”
I don't know if that was a good thing or not. Her expression didn't help me to decipher it one way or another. I think that Christine was trying to figure out how she felt about me. She was now the gatekeeper to the information that I needed to get back to Kimberly. What could be more important than that?
“All good, I hope.”
“Well, I definitely wouldn't say that, but I have a feeling that my niece cares about you more than she wants to admit. She did tell me quite a bit of disturbing stuff though. Is it true?”
“Crazy ex-girlfriend sort of story?”
Christine nodded and then invited me to sit down. I don't know if that was something to be worried about or not. If her niece had told her too much, then she might not be too happy with me. I had been making a lot of stupid choices lately.
* * *
As much asthe whole situation was strange and a bit more than I could handle, Christine felt like she was on my side and I realized quickly that I needed that. I learned that Kimberly had gone off to Maine to carry on with her plan. I was feeling a bit mixed on that, how easily she was able to move on, when I found it difficult to put one foot in front of the other without her.
She was convinced though, that I should go find Kimberly. It was several more days before Christmas and Christine didn’t want her niece spending it alone. If I agreed to go see her, she agreed that she would give me the address of where she was. It was also made quite clear that Kimberly would be mad at her.
“And let me tell you, since you probably already have pissed her off before, you might not need to be told, but it's never good to make her mad. Kimberly has one hell of a temper.”
That was something that I already knew, and I made the required promise. It wasn't that hard of course. I just wanted Kimberly to forgive me and for us to be together again. That was really all I was worried about. I felt like I had been looking for her forever and now that I was finally going to see her again, the nerves were starting to take over.
The drive was one that I wasn't looking forward to. It was a thousand miles, and I wondered why she had to go so far away. That was the plan all along? It was amazing how clear my mind was when I was driving down the road. I started to realize that everything she had said was right. She had been telling me the whole time we known each other that we would never work out because our future led in two different directions. She was doing what she loved now, and soon I would be thousands of miles away in Texas. How would that ever work?
