Abandon (5 page)

“No, but that’s not unusual,” Cort responded, leaning against the Jeep and reaching in his pockets to pull out his pack of Marlboro Milds and lighting one up.  “Everyone should be here soon.  Last time I talked to Annalise she was about 2 hours out and that was about,” he looked at his watch, “two hours ago.”

Jake put his phone down, reaching towards his center console for his own cigarettes. “I talked to Jenna and Kevin and they were about twenty minutes behind us when we were at the Walmart.  What’s the plan from here?”

Cort exhaled his cigarette smoke into the cool night air.  This was the one area of the plan that was a little hazy.  Cort was supposed to have bought a house out here by now, but it had never seemed like a priority.  Instead, he had stopped saving and spent his money on things that he was sure he didn’t even have with him at this point.  It seemed like a gross oversight and he was mentally chiding himself for not being better prepared.  The back up plan was to commandeer an empty vacation home near Deep Creek Lake.  Deep Creek was about 40 miles to the south west and was in a valley which provided it’s own type of protection from the elements, as well as having beautiful scenery.  If the current power outage that was gripping Cumberland was effecting houses there, it might be an easier task than originally thought.  At least he hoped there wouldn’t be any alarm systems that were functioning.  “We find a house at Deep Creek that’s unlocked and crash there for awhile until we figure out what’s going on.”

“So we’re squatting in someones vacation home,” Jake said with a laugh.  “I like it.”

Taking another drag, Cort responded, “There are worse fates.” From the exit ramp behind them, he saw lights from what looked like a truck.  The truck began to slow to a stop behind the Jeep, and Cort recognized the license plates and smiled to himself.  Kevin and Jenna.  Kevin and Cort had been friends since grade school and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Kevin knew Cort better than most of his family.  In fact, when Cort’s own family had decided not to come to the rendezvous spot in Cumberland, Cort had been somewhat okay with that knowing Kevin would be there.  

In college, Kevin had started dating Jenna and there wasn’t a moment that Cort had ever thought of making her feel uncomfortable or trying to remove her from Kevin’s life.  They were perfect together, and Cort had immediately accepted her into his family too.  Because of this, they had been known by the majority of their friends as the three amigos.  They had gone everywhere together, and done everything together, and when Cort measured up his friendships, Kevin and Jenna were the standard that was measured against.  

Jenna stepped out of the car first and walked over to Cort giving him a huge hug.  She looked perfect, as always, in her white parka and jeans with black boots crunching in the snow that was left on the ground.  Her short brown hair framed her oval face, displaying her brown eyes perfectly.  The wind was blowing her hair, tickling Cort on the neck and he didn’t even care.  Even if everything else went wrong from this point on, at least they were together.

“So, who are we waiting for?” Kevin said, stepping out of the truck.  He too had on a white parka, jeans and black boots.  It was interesting, how a couple could be together for so long that they started to dress like each other unintentionally.  A tiny pang of jealously twitched somewhere within Cort, something deep inside of him that he didn’t care to acknowledge.  He wanted something like they shared, a companion for life that would become so close they probably wouldn’t realize they were dressing alike.  Sure, it was a little obnoxious, but it was also one of the most obvious signs of a couple meant to be together.  

“Annalise,” Jake responded as Cort put out his cigarette.  His tone was one of half amusement and half annoyance.  Cort didn’t know exactly how to respond to that because while it was true that he and Annalise hadn’t talked in awhile, and that her and Jake had never really gotten along, he couldn’t understand the emotion coming from Jake.

“No shit,” Jenna replied stepping back from Cort.  “She agreed to come?”

Cort was starting to get irritated by both of them. “Why wouldn’t she?”  

“I don’t know, maybe because you guys are broken up?” Jenna said playfully as she shoved his shoulder lightly.  “I’m okay with though, I liked her and that means I won’t be the only girl.”
        “You wouldn’t be the only girl anyway,” Jake piped.  “He also brought Katy.”

Jenna and Kevin both looked at Cort in a sort of wonder and awe.  There it was again, that kind of similar look you only saw in a couple who was truly meant to be together.  “You brought your ex-girlfriend and your current fuck-buddy?”

Cort sighed and looked back to the car where Katy slept to make sure she hadn’t woken up to hear what he was about to say.  “Her apartment burned down, what was I supposed to do - leave her behind?”

“Was this before or after you invited Annalise?” Jenna asked, leaning onto Kevin.  Cort knew they weren’t judging him, they were just judging the situation, but it aggravated him.  They had probably arrived to the same idea Cort had, that it was a bad idea.

“After. It’ll be fine,” he said dismissing their questions and effectively ending the conversation.  “Annalise should be here soon, in fact, that’s probably her right now,” he stated pointing to a pair of lights that were heading down the off ramp.  For the first time since the morning he felt a little pit of nerves bubble up in his stomach.  Annalise was here.  She was going to be standing next to him in the flesh for the first time in months.  Suddenly, he didn’t know how he should act.  Should he hug her?  Should he shake her hand?  Just say hi?  He decided on just saying hello, besides Jenna was the huggy person in the group.  She would probably jump at Annalise the minute she got out of the car.  

The sporty car Annalise drove came to a halt behind Kevin’s car although she didn’t shut if off.  The door opened, and she stepped out of the car walking towards them.  The brightness of her headlights created a silhouette around her that made it impossible to actually see her face but accentuated a couple things that Cort pondered.  First, she had lost a significant amount of weight since he had last seen her which resulted in her breasts and hips looking more pronounced.  Second, she had grown her hair out and her hair, which used to be a short bob cut similar to Jenna’s had now become tumbling waves of red locks that cascaded down her shoulders.  The way the headlights were shining on her back, it almost made her look angelic or like a superhero come to save them.  

As he suspected, Jenna immediately broke from the group that was currently standing around Jake’s driver side door and embraced Annalise in a warm hug.  They were far enough away that whatever they were saying to each other was garbled by the sound of Annalise’s engine and the wind which had picked up since they had first parked. Annalise’s face was hidden from him by the lights behind her and he wondered what they were discussing.  Was Jenna saying she was glad Annalise came?  Was she warning her that he had brought another girl?

Arm in arm, the two girls walked back to the group.  Kevin gave Annalise a hug and whispered something in her ear which she laughed slightly at and patted his back, and then she waved at Jake and Cort while she looked over Kevin’s shoulder at them.  So that’s how this was going to be.  A wave.  After everything they had been through, the first thing she would do when they saw each other was wave from the arms of his best friend.  He felt annoyance tug at his soul and waved back.  Since there apparently wasn’t going to be a warm reception for him, it was time to get to business.

“Now that we’re all here, I guess we should figure out the game plan.” Cort said, breaking up the happy reunion that did not include him.  “Originally this plan involved me already owning a house out here, but I don’t so we’re going to have to find one.”

Annalise smiled, releasing Kevin and stepping forward to push a piece of paper into his hand.  “Already have one, there’s a cabin on the lake in Deep Creek sitting on 4 acres that is empty all winter.  It has five bedrooms and four bathrooms.”

Cort took the piece of paper and aimed it towards the light so he could read it.  It looked like a print out from a vacation rental place.  “Where did you find this?”

“It’s one of my clients.  Technically, the house is unrentable this winter because there’s was a flood this summer that did significant damage to the basement.  They’ve already done most of the repairs and fixed the flooring but they are worried about the foundation so they didn’t want to risk putting renters in there,” Annalise explained pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up.  “I don’t know if there’s a key on the property but I figured it shouldn’t be too hard to break in and stay out there for a while.”

Cort passed the piece of paper to Jake to review.  “How do you know they won’t decide to come hide out here too?”    

“Because they took off the entire month of December to fly to England for Christmas and I doubt they’ll come back with the state of the district.”  Taking a long drag of her cigarette she smiled at the group.  “There’s a wood burning fireplace and a gas grill there.  Everything we need.”

Cort nodded as Jake handed the paper back to him.  “Alright, you want everyone to follow you?”

“That works,” she said taking the paper out of Cort’s hands.  “We waiting for anyone else?”

Jenna shook her head, “I think we have everyone from our group.”

It struck Cort as odd that Annalise was here alone.  Her last text to him said she was gathering people but yet here she stood, asking them if they were waiting for anyone else.  The Annalise he had known always had a group of friends around her that were willing to follow her almost anywhere.  Typically they were guys, hoping for a chance to be with her, but why weren’t any of them with her now?  Had she left them behind because he was here?  He’d have to ask her about that later.  

“Alright group,” he said, hitting the door of Jake’s jeep. “Let’s roll.”  

Chapter 7:  Annalise

Deep Creek Lake, Western Maryland
December 19, 2012

The ride to the house had only taken about thirty-five minutes, since there had been no other cars on the road and all the streetlights had been dark.  She lightly pressed on the brakes as she turned onto the gravel driveway that she assumed should be leading her to her client’s house and glanced in the rearview to make sure all the other cars were following her.  As Cort’s car, which was the tail end of their caravan pulled around the corner she sped up a little on the driveway to the house.  According to her directions, the house was a mile off the road, and fairly secluded.  It was the kind of house she would have loved to stay at under different circumstances, especially with Cort.  She imagined if they hadn’t broken up, they probably would have spent New Years out here with the same group of people.  Maybe that’s how she should take this trip, as a vacation with her friends.

She was still feeling a little off though, like something wasn’t quite right with the situation.  Maybe it was because she was still reeling from seeing the guy at the gas station and hadn’t yet found a way to deal with that experience.  Maybe it was because she hadn’t known how to address Cort the first time she saw him.  It had been awkward, her little wave.  She had hoped to embrace him, and maybe see a light in his eyes that was just for her.  Instead, she had waved, and he had looked annoyed.  She hoped that faded quickly, they were going to have to find a way to work together and find a common ground sooner rather than later if they weren’t going to kill each other.

When she reached the house, she pulled her car up to the garage and parked on the grass near it.  She turned down her music and rolled up her windows, but didn’t get out.  She had to find a way to better address Cort this time than that stupid wave.  She should hug him, maybe even give him a kiss on the cheek.  That would a go a long way to repairing their relationship.  Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of the car and looked at the group of people standing in front of the garage.

The first thing she noticed was the blonde who didn’t belong.  She looked impossibly perfect with her tailored and fitted jean jacket, white tank top and jeans that looked like they were painted on her.  She had Dulce and Gabanna sunglasses holding her hair back out of her eyes, and she was looking at her perfectly manicured french nails like she was already bored with the situation.  Most importantly, she did not look like someone who had been at the rally point before, and she did not look like the frumpy, overweight wife of her client.

Annalise’s brain feverishly searched for a reason she would be there.  Maybe she was Jake’s girlfriend, but she had been right next to Jake’s Jeep and there hadn’t been anyone in the seat next to him.  If she was with Jenna and Kevin they would have introduced her, Jenna would have made sure of that.  The only person left was Cort.  She felt a surge of anger and depression rise up in her throat.  She was with Cort, and Cort didn’t have any siblings or know any girls that looked like that when she was dating him.  She looked at Jenna desperately, hoping that Jenna just forgot to introduce her, but the pity look on Jenna’s face told her everything she needed to know.  That perfect specimen of the human body was Cort’s girlfriend.  Cort had invited her here, and he had brought his girlfriend.