The paramedics want me to go the hospital, but I refuse, especially after they tell me I’ve been out for five days. I can’t imagine what Mia must be thinking. I’m more concerned about that than I am about my health, honestly. I do allow them to hook me to some fluids while I give a statement to the police, and to do the fullest assessment on me they can with the equipment they have with them. They keep saying it’s a wonder that I’m alive – that it’s amazing I survived. Whatever Calvin hit me with was pretty nasty stuff, and on top of that, I went days without food or water, lying on my floor, unaware of the passing time.
“I guess living up here makes you pretty tough,” one of the paramedics says as she takes my blood pressure. I nod. It’s probably true. I doubt I would have survived it had Calvin tried poison first. I wouldn't have had the survival skills to prepare up that remedy or the strength to keep myself going, crawling across the floor like that, without doing so much work around this place and spending so much time outdoors lately.
“Yeah,” I agree. I wouldn’t have made it without Mia, either, without thinking of her. I’m itching to call her. I need to hear her voice.
The police take the footage from my security cameras and my statement, and I tell them about the past attempts on my life and about Calvin’s threats. He’s already got a record with them, mostly drunk driving and disorderly conduct with a few later-dismissed assault charges thrown in. But no one is going to buy Calvin out of this one. Especially because that person is usually me.
The footage on the tape is clear, and examination of tapes from farther back reveal other men sneaking around my property. Men I recognize as some of Calvin’s sycophants, his hangers-on – the kind he pays in VIP club access, unlimited drinks, and women. They’re almost employees for all the perks being in my brother’s social circle brings them. None of them have ever hesitated to do his dirty work, and it looks like that hasn’t changed a bit. It looks like Calvin had found me out a couple of weeks ago, and has been planning another convenient accident for me to have ever since.
The police say they have more than enough evidence to go pick him up, and that it’s good I haven’t talked to anyone other than them yet. Anything that could tip Calvin off would likely make him run. With all the money and connections, Calvin is a prime flight risk who could be halfway across the world in no time at all. It feels so strange and cold to think about Calvin is going to jail. My baby brother, Calvin. Calvin tried to kill me. He almost succeeded. These are facts I’m going to have to find a way to live with somehow.
The police promise to call me with updates, and I promise the paramedics I’ll go to the hospital if I get lightheaded again, and then I’m alone. I watch them drive off my property, and then I head for my phone. I’ve got two messages, and I’m sure they must be from Mia. No one else calls me out here. I almost don’t want to listen to them. I want to just call her, but I think that’s probably cowardly of me.
I listen to one and wince. The first one is polite but curt. The second message, however, is furious. I don’t blame her. What else she supposed to think? I only hope she’ll let me explain, that Calvin didn’t ruin this relationship after all. I take a deep breath and a long gulp of bottled water the paramedics had left for me, and I dial her number.
“Jacob?” she says, picking up on the third ring, her tone full of disbelief.
“Mia, I’m so sorry – ” I start.
“For being a total ass?” Mia cuts in, tone full of heat.
“No – ” I start, and Mia cuts me off again, days of pent-up anger probably pouring out at me all at once.
“It takes a lot of nerve to call me now,” she says. “It’s been days, and you call now and say you’re sorry?”
“I need to explain,” I say.
“Explain what?” Her voice is already getting louder, more on edge. “That you used me? That you lied to me? That – ”
This time, I cut her off.
“Mia,” I say softly, hoping to make her pause for a second. I want her to know right away that this isn’t what she thinks. “An ambulance just left my cabin.”
There’s dead silence on the other end of the line for a minute.
“An ambulance?” she repeats. She sucks in a long breath, and when she talks again, her tone has completely changed. “Oh my god, what happened? Are you okay?”
“I am now, but I wasn’t,” I say, my hand shaking a bit on the phone as I recall how close everything was. “I was poisoned five days ago. I’ve been on my floor, mostly unconscious, ever since.”
“Poisoned? On purpose? Did someone do this to you?” she asks like she can’t quite believe it. I want to tell her everything. But I want her to be here with me, when I do.
“I need to tell you the whole story,” I say, “but first, I need you to know how sorry I am for what you thought.”
“No,” Mia says instantly, shushing me. “I’m just so glad you’re okay. Oh, Jacob, I’m sorry for thinking the worst of you, but I just didn’t know what else to think.”
“I never gave you a reason to,” I say. “If I had told you about everything that had been going on in my life sooner, you might have known right away when you didn’t hear from me that something like this had happened, but I didn’t.” I know it’s true. If Mia had known someone was after me, even if I hadn’t told her it was Calvin, she would have been pounding my door down after twenty-four hours of not hearing from me. That’s the kind of person Mia is.
“I had no idea,” Mia agrees. “I was blindsided when you went silent on me like that.” Her voice gets a little softer, and I didn’t even know five days were passing while I was out, but I’d still missed this during them somehow. “After our night together.”
“I know,” I say, “but you should know that the very last thing I want to do is disappear from your life. I’m not playing at anything with you.” I clear my throat, diving right in for honesty because I’ve never been good at playing games with people. “I’m more serious about you than I have been about anyone in a long time. I would never do that to you, Mia, I promise.”
“Oh,” Mia says, hardly a whisper, like she might be crying a little.
“I want this to work. I really do,” I say, truthfully. I know it’s so early, but after the past few days, after nearly dying, after everything, I keep seeing a future with Mia. I keep thinking about my life with her in it for a very long time. Maybe the rest of my life.
“Me too,” Mia says. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Would you like to come up here? I have a long story to tell you, and I’d rather do it in person,” I say. I’m not sure I’m up to driving yet, and I think it’s past time Mia came here.
“I’d love that,” Mia says.
I tell her how to follow the winding paths up to the cabin, and she says she’s going to get changed quickly and be right up. I feel better when we hang up, much better than any dose of fluids had made me feel. Mia is coming here. Calvin is going to jail.
I reach into my pocket and pull out the recipe, remembering. It feels like everything has changed today, and like those changes are just the start. With this recipe and without Calvin, the company will change drastically.
With Mia, I will, too.