Fourteen
Travis
Every day that crept by had me more and more worried for Ava. I figured she would’ve already come back to the cabin by now. At least to update me on how things with her father went. Each day that passed by without her presence on my doorstep made me wonder what he had done to her. What type of punishment he had imposed in order to get her to fall back in line. No one could blame her if she had. Not even myself. She was a scared, uneducated twenty two year old girl whose knowledge of life came from nothing but the books she could sneak into her own home. She wanted a life for herself. She craved the ability to make her own decisions.
But it was hard to fight a burning passion with years of habits and tradition.
I went out to get the mail and scanned the horizon. I listened out for any sounds of a car coming up the driveway. I pulled the scant mail from the mailbox and sighed, resolving myself to the fact that Ava wasn’t coming around today either.
But a letter staring me in the face ripped me from my trance.
It had Breathline Energies logo on it but was addressed to my father. I furrowed my brow as I opened up the letter, standing in the middle of the driveway. My eyes scanned the words as anger percolated in my gut. It was yet another threatening letter from Ava’s father’s fucking company. Saying some shit about getting the government involved if we didn’t sell our land. This company was relentless. Her father was relentless. And if he governed his family with the same techniques he used for his business, then Ava didn’t stand a chance fighting him alone.
The only thing I could hope was that her brothers would stand by her side.
The letter went on to state that the government would side with them in an argument to run a gas line through the mountains. This was the third threatening letter they had sent to us after they took their run at us in the media. Either way, I knew our company lawyers were going to have to get involved soon, which was shit because my parents were currently on vacation.
Which meant the call to the lawyer fell on my shoulders.
“Mr. Benson. What can I do for you?”
“Hey there, Richard. Look, is there any way I can set up a meeting with you?” I asked.
“Let me guess. Breathline Energies,” he said.
“You got it. I’ve got their third threatening piece of mail, but this one is from their own lawyers,” I said.
“We can get a meeting on the books. Do you want me to reach out to your parents about this?”
“No, no. Don’t bother them. I’ll give them a call. Dad doesn’t usually pick up his cell phone while they’re down there, but if I leave him a message, he’ll call back,” I said.
“I’ve got this Saturday open for lunch. We could make it an informal thing. I could give you your options, you could mull them over. We could talk formally over the phone about it that following Monday to give you time to talk with your parents.”
“That sounds perfect. Lunch Saturday it is. You pick the place and let me know when to be there,” I said.
“That’s easy. Twelve thirty at Little Gallea.”
“Do you eat anywhere else?” I asked with a chuckle.
“Nope. And my waistline can prove it. See you then, Travis. And don’t worry. They can threaten government involvement all they want. But unless they can prove your father’s company establishes a monopoly by holding onto this land, there isn’t anything they can do to intervene. But, we’ve got ways of getting them to shut their antics down. Starting by suing for harassment.”
“We’ll talk more Saturday, but thanks. That settles my mind a bit,” I said.
“Talk with you soon.”
“See ya Saturday.”
I hung up the phone and immediately called my father. I made my way inside, listening as the phone rang in my ear. I left him a voice message telling him it was urgent, but when I got a call back, it was my mother.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” she asked.
“Hey, Mom. What’s going on with Dad?” I asked.
“He’s a bit… incapacitated at the moment.”
“Is he okay?” I asked.
“Son, will you just take my word for it and talk with me? He can’t come to his phone right now.”
“I don’t even want to know,” I said.
“You really don’t.”
“I can hear your grin.”
“We’re at the vacation home. Take it for what you will. What’s wrong? It sounds like something’s on your mind,” she said.
“Nothing new has developed, but there was another letter sent out. It was addressed to Dad, but it came to me. Did you guys switch the formal business address to my cabin? Or has Breathline Energies tracked me down?” I asked.
“No, we switched it. Don’t panic. I was going to call and tell you, but I haven’t had the time. I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
“What happened with forwarding the mail to you guys down in Florida?” I asked.
“You really don’t watch the news, do you? This hurricane season’s supposed to be rough. Your father is up to his usual panicky antics and he switched the forwarding address to your house. So we can make sure someone gets the mail. He thinks everything halts when storms blow through.”
“Sounds like Dad. Anyway, it’s another threatening letter from Breathline. Government action and all that shit.”
“Language, sweetheart.”
“Sorry, Mom. And all that stuff. I’ve got an informal sit down with Richard on Saturday for lunch to figure out what we can do about getting them to stop. Richard says they don’t have grounds to involve the government and that we might have some avenues we can take to get them to stop for good.”
“Well, keep us in the loop honey. I’m so sorry we aren’t there to handle this,” she said.
“No worries. You guys enjoy your incapacitated time together. I just wanted to update you on what was going on since I had to call the family lawyer.”
“Thanks, sweetheart. Let us know how Saturday goes.”
“I will. And Mom?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t kill Dad. We need him,” I said.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he’s just fine.”
“I can still hear your grin.”
“If you keep questioning me then I’m going to start prodding you on why your voice sounds so chipper.”
“I’m not chipper,” I said.
“Even with the stress you’re shouldering with this letter, you sound much better than you did the last time I talked with you. You don’t want me asking question, then stop teasing me about what your father and I do on vacation,” she said.
“I’m not teasing. The two of you are celibate saints,” I said.
“Uh huh. Keep your head up. And if we need to come back early, we will. Okay?”
“No need. I’ll call you guys after lunch on Saturday,” I said.
I hung up the phone and shook my head. In retrospect, I was lucky to have been raised in the family I had been. My mother and father had no issues with showing affection toward one another while they were around us. They hugged and kissed. My brothers, Jasper and Leo, had the stereotypical “walking in on their parents” moments when they were younger. I had enough sense not to bother them when they were both behind closed doors, but my twin brothers were idiots growing up.
Thank fuck they turned out to be decent human beings as they got older.
I knew I needed to call them with this, but I held off on it. I sat on the couch and closed my eyes, my mind racing back to Ava. I wish I had gotten her number before she left. So I could check in on her and make sure she was doing okay. I had no idea why I was so worried about her, but I was. I didn’t know why I couldn’t get her off my mind, but I couldn’t.
I reached out for the empty space on the couch, imagining her there. How she looked lounging around in my shirt with her supple legs draped over the couch cushions. I opened my eyes and looked over, watching as her form faded away into nothing.
I wasn’t aware of how lonely I had been until she had crashed landed into my life. But now, I was painfully aware of how alone I was.
And I didn’t like it one bit.