Eve

“Well Carl, Stan isn’t here anymore, so why are we listening to him anyways?”

“Because I don’t want you to do something stupid.”

He sounded like he was quoting what Stan had said before he left. If he really cared, he wouldn’t have left. But he did and now I was going to have to get Callie out by myself. She was a wreck and I worried about my best friend. I couldn’t just go on with my life until she was back home with me. Leaving her behind was not an option.

“I’m not going to do something stupid.”

“Staying here is stupid Eve and you know it. You’re not supposed to be here.”

“I’ve already applied for an emergency stay so that I can help her get out of jail. I think it will pass and then it will be fine for me to be here.”

Carl shook his head and I could tell that he didn’t agree.

“You don’t have to stick around. I know that Scott probably needs you back at the shop. I’ll be fine here, really.”

“I can’t stay here forever, but I don’t want to leave without you. I was so scared when I heard where you were. I didn’t think I would get you back and I have, so I want to take you home before something bad happens again.”

I waved him off and told him that everything was going to be fine. I was going to take a page from Stan’s book and lie. It would be easier to figure something out without Carl here. He wouldn’t approve of my idea, though to be fair I hadn’t decided on which one yet. None of them were very safe though so I was sure his approval wasn’t going to mean much.

“I know you can’t stay forever. I’m going to miss a lot, but I came here with her Carl and I can’t just leave her behind. I will figure something out and get us back home. You’ve done what you can, and Stan helped a lot. I’m out. I just want to stay until Callie is back home safe.”

“I know sis. I told Stan that there was no way that you were going to leave without her. I knew that much.”

“You told him that?”

“Sure, it’s the truth. You two have been friends too long and I know how you are. You always do the right thing. I also knew that you would have never done this on purpose. If anyone can find a way to help her, I know that you will. You’ve always been really good at that.”

“Then go home Carl. I’m going to take care of this. You know that I can now that I’m out. You’ve helped enough. Get back home to your woman and the shop. I will be back soon.”

He wanted to believe me because in the end, Carl was ready to get home. He never was much for traveling and even though he was here, and Cambodia is beautiful, all he could think about was going home. I knew that much about him. My brother was a creature of habit and he wanted to get back to it.

“I can’t.”

“You can. Now go on and I will call you when I’ve figured something out.”

“I want to help you.”

“Well give me some cash. It’s cheap here, but I might have to bribe a few people.”

He gave me a dirty look and I decided that I probably shouldn’t have said that out loud. But he knew how I was. Carl knew that I would do what it takes because it was Callie. I liked to stay on the right side of the law, but this wasn’t justice and I didn’t feel too bad about trying to skirt around it. Whatever it took to make it all work out. That’s what I was prepared for.

Carl messed around for another hour, but I finally convinced him to take off. I knew that he wanted to, but his sense of duty kept him here now. That was all going to change soon enough. I just had to figure out a way to make it work. It would be easier without my big brother running around trying to watch out for me. He was far too protective as far as I was concerned and all he was going to do was make it more complicated than it already was.

I was relieved when I finally got him to leave. When he got on the plane, I knew I was going to be able to do what was necessary now.

That night I was alone for the first time in a while and I kept staring up at the ceiling. It had been a day full of ups and downs and I wanted to be back home like Carl and Stan were, but I knew that I had to stay here and figure things out.

I got a call a little after midnight and since I figured it was Carl telling me that he was back home, I was surprised when I saw that it was Stan calling me from the number that ran across the screen on my phone. What did he want?

A part of me didn’t want to answer because I knew that he was going to tell me to leave. Maybe it was the smart thing to do if I was following my head, but I wasn’t. I was following my heart this time around. Callie was not going to be here alone. I was fully prepared to stay here until she got out if I had to. I didn’t want there to be anytime that she felt like she was alone.

At first, I really wasn’t going to answer it, but after the third ring I did because I wanted to hear his voice.

“Hello.”

“I was afraid I wasn’t going to reach you. I still didn’t quite figure out the time difference. What time is it there right now?”

“Midnight.”

“So, you’re really going to stay there?”

It was less of a question and more of a statement.

“Yeah.” I was just reaffirming it. I wasn’t going anywhere until she was out too.

“I will be coming to Chicago for business next week and I was hoping that we could meet up.”

“Well, unless something dramatic changes pretty quickly, I don’t think I will be able to make it.”

He was silent for a few minutes and then Stan brought something up that I wasn’t too keen to hear.

“Your request to stay is not going to be granted. They thought that I was still your lawyer I would assume and sent me the denial letter. I was going to send a pic of it. Hold on.”

The picture came through and I sighed to myself. They didn’t want me nosing around, asking questions about anything. They wanted me to leave silently with my tail between my legs. I couldn’t do that without Callie, so something was going to have to give.

“What am I supposed to do now?”

“You’re supposed to go home and leave it alone baby. That’s what you need to do so you don’t get in anymore trouble. They are watching you and have requested you leave within forty-eight hours.”

“And if I don’t?”

I heard Stan sigh and I could see him shaking his head if he was here in front of me. The man wanted me to go with his plan and it drove him crazy when I didn’t. Would he be as easily willing to leave Carl locked up in a foreign prison?

“They are going to arrest you again Eve. That’s what they are going to do.”

“Oh.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, though that was plan G or something like that. I had seen Callie the day before and she was wilting quickly without me in there. She hadn’t done to well with me by her side either and I didn’t want to see her deteriorates any further. I tried to think of how I would feel if I was told that I was going to have to be there like she was. I don’t know if I would have been well in the head either.

“So, you see that you need to come home Eve. You can do something from here, where you are safe. Then you will be in Chicago and I can come and visit you. We can finish what we started.”

“How can you transition from one subject to the next so quickly?” We’d been talking about serious things and now he was practically like a dog trying to hump my leg. It made no sense from where I was standing.

“When I’m talking to you or around you, its about all I can think about. Even when you were grungy in that jail, you were fine as hell and I would have bent you over that table in that tiny room if I could have.”

A shiver ran through my spine and I cursed his words and his ability to shake me so easily. It wasn’t something that I wanted anyone to have the ability to do.

I tried to laugh it off, but the sound was hollow in my ears and I knew that he had rattled me to my core. It was sad that it had only taken a few words to do it. I would have been lying if I would have said that I wasn’t thinking along those same lines as well.

“When I’m back in the states and close to where you are, maybe we could meet up or something Stan, but it’s going to be a while until I’m back that way.”

“You’re stubborn.”

My laugh was genuine this time around.

“I know. It’s okay though.”

“It’s going to get you into trouble.”

That was an understatement because it had gotten me into a lot of trouble before, many times.

“I know.”

“And you’re not worried about going back to that jail?”

“Of course I am Stan. That place was scary, but at the same time, if I must, I must. There is nothing else that I can do.”

“I know you feel like you have an obligation to her, but you don’t.”

He just didn’t get it and I was thankful that at least Carl did. He knew that it was impossible to just walk away like there was nothing I could do. Stan didn’t know me, and I don’t know why that bothered me so much. We had a fling, one time, nothing else.

“It was good to hear from you Stan. Thanks for following up on me.”

I was ready to get off the phone. I didn’t want to hear anymore about what I was doing was stupid or dangerous or whatever else they thought.

“Eve don’t be like that.”

“I’m just tired. It’s late and I got a lot to do tomorrow.”

“If something happens and you get arrested again…”

I cut him off and finished the sentence for him. “I will be sure not to call you Stan and waste your time.”

“No Eve, you call me, and I will come get you. No matter where you are.”

“Be careful Stan, I might hold you to that.”