I calmed down, and this brought the misery down a notch. I managed to sit up. “I think it was the cheese,” I said.
Corabelle nodded. “I don’t have a lot of time, but I could help you to your car.”
I waved her off. “I’ll be fine.” To prove it, I got to my feet. “I’m done anyway. I was just hanging with you.”
“Text me when you get home,” she said, concern creasing her brow.
“I will.”
She walked with me until she had to peel off toward her class. I continued on, feeling a little better with each step, until I got to my car. I opened the door and let the stuffy air out before I got in. Then I blasted air-conditioning on my face.
That was better. I had no idea what had just happened, but it seemed to be over.
Time to start my vacation.
Chapter 25: Chance
I was staring up at one of the wonders of the modern world, and I just wasn’t feeling it.
Times Square buzzed with people. Giant screens flickered with color and light, advertising soft drinks and Broadway shows and trendy clothes.
Ahead, the red steps were covered with tourists taking a rest. It was spring break for a lot of people, and New York was crazy since the weather was apparently good for this time of year.
I’d been busking for days in the city, sometimes on street corners, other times in the subway. I had a bit of a cushion from Portland, which was good, since the outdoor gigs weren’t nearly as lucrative and everything in this town cost a fortune. I’d been living on vendor hot dogs.
Maybe I looked wrong for the part. So many of the street musicians here were edgy. They had a certain style that got attention.
I probably looked like a country boy farmhand who’d just left his mama.
As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I felt lost. I was world-weary. When I’d first arrived in the city, I’d loved it. Lights all the time. I could just wander, get caught up in the movement and sound. But now I wanted to sit a spell, talk to somebody. Everyone here had a place to go.
I turned off the square and walked for blocks until the city quieted down. Here, cars lined the curbs bumper to bumper. Delivery trucks blocked the road, taking boxes down into basements via little caged lifts. If there was anything green or leafed out, it was in a pot or a planter.
I headed toward Central Park, which always helped. I could sit on a bench by the pond, or watch kids run along the walks, and feel better. Of course, I had to fight the realization that what made it better wasn’t the trees and grass and water. It was the families. In the park, people didn’t hustle in high-end clothes or tourist garb. They talked and laughed and meandered a bit.
The sun was out, so I unzipped my jacket and sat on a bench by the famous arch, picturing all the movie scenes I’d seen set there. I pulled out the crappy pay-by-the-minute phone I’d picked up after I sold my real one and dialed Charlie. She should just be getting off.
“Hey, Chance,” she said, her voice as abrupt as always. She didn’t really like me, but she had sympathy, and that would have to be good enough.
“Hello, Charlie,” I said. “Everything still okay over there?”
“Sure. Hannah’s the same as always. Your mother is still visiting every day after work. Your aunt Gertie was here and seemed in a huff over something.”
“Aunt Gertie is always in a huff over something.”
Charlie laughed. “Nobody could take that woman in hand once your Gram died.”
“Nope,” I said, relaxing with the talk of people and things that I knew, even if I’d left them behind for good reason. “And no man ever caught her either.”
“Imagine if she’d had kids,” Charlie said.
“Oh, let’s not,” I said.
“You doing okay now that all the talk has died down about that girl in LA?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah. I’m anonymous here. Nobody knows that even happened.” A beetle headed toward my boot and I watched its slow progress across the sidewalk.
“It’ll be a while before they stop talking about it here,” Charlie said. “You ever call that girl?”
“No reason to call her,” I said. “Over and done.”
“I’d like to give her a piece of my mind,” Charlie said.
I smiled, amused. Charlie might profess to hate me, but she had my back. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what she was to me now. Growing up, she was the older girl who disapproved of everything I stood for. After the accident, when my sister ended up in her care, I realized she was the only person I really trusted.
“You going to come home eventually?” Charlie asked. “You got to face all of this one of these days.”
“Nothing to face,” I said. “You know I can’t go there without seeing Hannah. And you know I can’t see Hannah without wanting to…” I trailed off. We were rehashing old stuff we couldn’t do anything about.
“I know,” she said. “But Hannah will turn eighteen in a couple months. Is that when you’re planning to head back?”