On the road

“Yeehaw!” Kyle takes hold of the back of Katie’s wheelchair. “Let’s blow this joint!”

After a speedy ride down to the first floor and outside, Kyle skids to a halt by the pickup. “Alright, melady, your carriage awaits.” He bows with a flourish and reaches for the door handle, only to find it locked. “Whoopsies.” He throws Katie a cheesy grin and holds up his keys. “Locked my sister in by mistake.”

“Would you quit fooling around?” Phil asks.

“Yeah,” Mike teases. “What’s the holdup?”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Kyle finally gets the doors unlocked and opened, and he peers in at Jen, who’s in the backseat. “Hey, how come you locked us out?”

“Me? You’re the one that…”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Kyle wags a finger at her. “No arguing in front of our guest.”

Jen throws him a smirk. “Aren’t you glad.”

“Yes…yes, I am.”

Mike moves around next to Katie and smiles. “Alright…hang on to me, and we’re gonna get you up here next to Jen.” As he leans down and takes Katie in his arms, it’s obvious that he’s done this before, his gentleness coming through despite all the silliness he can evoke. Once he gets Katie settled and buckled in, Phil already has the wheelchair folded and in the back with Jen’s.

“All aboard!” Kyle hollers.

Mike climbs in the back next to Katie and shuts the back door. Kyle sets his hands on his hips and peers through the window. “You too my seat.”

Mike holds up his hands. “Oops.”

“Yeah, oops. Right.”

Phil starts the engine.

The passenger door open, Kyle has one hand on the door and one foot just starting to climb in.

Phil keeps a straight face and starts to pull forward.

“Hey, hey!” Kyle has to jog for a moment before jumping in and slamming the door. “You could have waited, you know?”

“Oh, but watching you run along side is just way too much fun!”

“You’re embarrassing me in front of Katie,” Kyle scoffs with mock embarrassment. He leans down and grabs the map out of the glove compartment. “Alrighty, Lake Erie, here we come!”

“Uh, Kyle…” Mike reaches up to tap him on the shoulder. “How about you give me that map?”

Kyle’s eyes go wide as he assumes a crazed look. “Never! It’s mine, I tell you!” He unfolds it and scans the roads. “We need to go… north.” He points out the window.

Phil rolls his eyes and points the other direction. “That’s north, and no, we need to go south.”

As the two brothers banter about directions, Mike turns to look at Katie. “Welcome to my world.”




“So I heard about why you came here.”

Jason ducks a punch from Clint, now even more on guard. “Oh?”

Clint tries another punch, his fist hitting air instead of Jason’s chin. “Yeah…Katie.”

Jason goes for Clint’s ankles, sending him to the ground.

Clint groans in frustration. “Why can’t I ever see that one coming?”

“Because you’re not paying attention.” Jason helps him up, resuming his stance. “So you think you know why I came, eh?”

“Sure.” Clint’s next attempt at a jab is blocked. “You got scared away.”

Jason’s knuckles meet Clint’s jaw lightly. “Now what would I be scared of?”

Clint grimaces and rubs his jaw. “The future.”

“Yeah, well I’m sure Katie’s just fine. She’s got Wyatt there, and she’ll get over me being gone.”

“That would make you feel good, wouldn’t it?” Clint takes a blow to the back of his head. “Aw, come on!”

Jason quirks an eyebrow. “Keep your eyes open, Clint.” He ducks a jab to his face. “And why would that thought make me feel good?”

“Because if you convince yourself that Katie is fine, then you won’t feel guilty for leaving.”

Jason frowns as he sidesteps a kick. “It has nothing to do with me feeling guilty or not,” he counters. “All I want is for Katie to be happy, and I’m sure Wyatt can help make that happen.”

“You’re Katie’s best friend!” Clint looks at him as though he’s crazy. “And you took that away from her. Yeah, that’s using your head alright.”

Jason stops and lowers his arms, not knowing why Clint was on this train of thought or what he hoped to prove.

Clint swings his fist and it lands squarely on Jason’s mouth with such force that it knocks him over. Clint’s eyes widen. “Oh, crap, Jason, I’m sorry. You okay?”

“Mm-hmm.” Jason sits up on the ground and feels his lip where it’s begun to bleed. “Nice.”

Clint gives him a hand up. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have swung so hard.”

“And I shouldn’t have let my guard down.” Jason rolls his eyes. “You got me on two counts. One for distracting me, and one for following through with it.”

Clint sobers just a little. “What I said wasn’t meant to be a distraction.”

Jason doesn’t want to admit that Clint’s words about his actions and Katie hit him just a little below the belt. He hadn’t been ready for that. Not wanting to discuss it further though, he turns it around by going for Clint with a quick move to pin his arm behind his back and put him in a light choke hold. “Maybe not, but you distracted yourself too.”

Clint rolls his eyes. “Alright, alright, but if you kill me now I won’t be able to improve.”

Jason releases him and takes another stance after wiping his lip with the back of his hand. “Now come on and use that maneuver I showed you yesterday.”


Jason flops down on his cot, not having done a whole lot today, but feeling tired nonetheless. Realizing his phone has been stuffed in his bag since he got here, he fishes it out and flips it open. He’s got a message waiting, and it’s from Con. Surprise, surprise. He was probably chewing Jason out for leaving.

Sighing, Jason listens to the call. But it’s not quite what he expected. “Jason…what do you think you’re doing? I thought you had more brains than this, boy!”
Jason cringes as he continues to listen.
“Look, I don’t know what your problem is, or what was said between you and Wyatt, but you better get your head out of your rear end and get back here. Do you have any idea what you did to Katie?”
Jason rolls his eyes. She was fine. She had Wyatt. She’d get over it.
“She’s miserable, Jason. Her best friend walked out on her without even looking back and guess what? That’s you. I don’t know if you assumed she’d just deal or what, but let me tell you something – pull this stunt again, and you’re gonna have me to deal with. You’ve hurt her enough, Jase. It’s time you realize she needs her friend. Whether you knew it or not, she counted on you for protection and support, and you’ve let her down. I’m just glad she’s got a distraction right now so she doesn’t fall back into the depressed state you left her in. Now I’m warning you, Jase…no, I’m asking you…as your friend…don’t wait too long to come back.”
Jason lets his arm drop from his ear as the message ends. He closes his eyes and leans back against the wall. Katie had taken it that hard? He honestly thought she wouldn’t have…he knew she’d been crying when he’d left, but…he hadn’t known he was that important. He knew he valued her friendship more than anything…but maybe he hadn’t realized that the choice he made would affect her…had he been that selfish?
Clint had been right…he’d used Wyatt as an excuse to make him feel less guilty about leaving. He’d needed to clear his head…he hadn’t known how to deal with Wyatt telling him to back off, so the option he’d chosen was to simply get out. But it looked as though there were greater consequences than he’d thought.
But how could he go back now? He still couldn’t deal with Wyatt. He still couldn’t just go on like nothing had happened…Wyatt had been ready to kill him the other day. How could he possibly go back into that situation?
Jason begins to feel a dread in the pit of his stomach. Con’s words scared him. Was he risking losing Katie for good? But…even if he was…how could he go back?

He rises from his cot, heading out to take a walk. He needed to think…needed fresh air. Shutting the door behind him, the computer on the desk goes ignored. He’d check his email tonight.