Chapter 3

Christina woke sometime after dusk, cold and damp from the evening dew. She stood, feeling fuzzy headed and very thirsty. Heading to the kitchen she grabbed a Dr. Pepper from the fridge and a bag of chips to snack on. Looking at the clock she realized that it was only 7:30 in the evening. Still so much time to kill. Her eyes wondered around the kitchen seeing things that needed to be done. Items that could be packed away. Closing up the bag of chips she looked at the clock again, 7:34. Dang, this night was going to drag.

Putting the chips away and laying the soda can in the sink, Christina went to the bar and fixed herself a drink. With that in had she found her way to the study to begin to back up all her works in progress on the computer. She would hate to lose anything due to some unforeseen problem on her cross country travels. Turning on just a couple of work lights she looked around the study that she had poured her heart and soul into.

The stones for the fireplace had come from their very own property. Saved while the foundation and basement were being dug out. The windows offered a breathtaking view of the mountains. And each little area was casual and cozy. Sighing a bit, she sat herself down at the desktop first as it would not be riding with her, instead was to be packed away in the moving truck. She used it rarely, more as a back-up bin for documents and information. Her preference being the laptop that she could take and use anywhere. She loved to write while sitting on the back upstairs deck where the view was the most beautiful.

Focusing herself back to the task at hand, Christina took a sip of her drink and opened up the documents files on the PC. Checking over each document she made lists of what types of information she wanted to put on each disk. She wanted to better organize her collection of research, ideas, and manuscripts. Christina had never realized just how much data and saved bits and pieces she had collected over the last couple of years. This was a much larger job than she had anticipated. Starting the first disk to burn off the data she returned to the bar to fix another drink.

Returning to the desktop Christina again delved into the sorting and organizing of her files and documents. Deleting out things she could not foresee herself needing in the next lifetime. While she was sorting through she came across a few documents that were formatted differently than the others. The names were such that she would assume research. Opening the first one she found multiple pages of data on fertility and treatment options that were in the experimental stages. Jonathon? Would Jonathon have been on her computer? It had to be. Christina had no idea how else such information would have graced her computer screen as it did now.

The CD tray ejected the now full CD but Christina was too busy pulling of the next document to care about backing up right now. Opening the next document she nearly dropped her drink right there on the floor.

                Dear Christina:

With tears streaming down her face Christina turned from the computer and ran from the room. How? Why? What was he thinking doing something like that on her computer? Why did he have to continue to break her heart? She wanted to close the book, firmly and completely, on that entire chapter of her life. Living like this was just too hard. But, Kansas and a new life was just days away. But would Kansas be a new life? Or just a reminder of who she had been and where she had come from? Returning home was going to be like ripping a bandage off an old wound. One that had healed at the surface. But beneath the scar was a wound that continued to fester unnoticed. Home was the last place Christina wanted to go. When actually home was the best place for her.

Not even bothering with a glass or ice, Christina sat and drank and cried. Life was just too much effort right now. Sufficiently drunk, she managed to teeter her way to the nearest sofa in the family room and pass out for the rest of the night. She slept a restless yet dreamless sleep. Unaware of the drama that would befall her again when she rose.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sunlight streaming through the windows, Christina carefully set up on the sofa where she had slept and began to slowly get up. Her brain felt fuzzy and she was a little disoriented for a moment about why she was on the sofa. Then, she remembered the events of the previous night. Her breath caught in her throat. When could that have happened? She forgot to look at the date stamp on the document. She quickly threw that from her mind and resolved that she would not return to the documents again. Forget working with the computer at all, it would be much simpler to pack the tower to take with her in the car.

She carefully made her way up the stairs to her bathroom. Examining her face in the mirror she assessed the damage before opening the medicine cabinet and taking a couple of Advil and a Vitamin B for good measure. She had a lot of just self cleanup to do before the day really took off and Cynthia arrived. Turning from the mirror she turned on the radio and started to run a bath for herself. She didn’t linger near as long as she wanted in the tub before getting about her business of the day.

Quickly dressing, Christina made the game plan for the day in her head. First stop, pack and hide everything in the bar. Then to prepare all her most vital files and books in the library for packing in the car with her. Packing perishable groceries to donate to the local shelter, heck, why not throw them all in. Did she really need to haul her pantry cross country with her? Her true focus would be on those items she was taking with her or items that were extremely fragile or had great personal value. Everything else could be left to the moving company if necessary.

On her way downstairs she was sidetracked from breakfast by the ringing of the phone. Checking the caller ID she saw Cynthia’s cell number pop up on the screen. “Yes Cynthia, where are you now?”

“Well, have you had breakfast yet?”

“I’m standing in the kitchen as we speak. Where the hell are you woman?”

“Let’s just say if you are willing to wait an hour to eat I can meet you at Edna’s for breakfast.” All Cynthia heard was dead silence. She even checked the signal on her phone to make certain the call had not been dropped. “Chrise, are you still there?”

“Yeah, sorry. Trying to do too many things at once. You are so close already? I wasn’t planning to meet you until dinner.” Christine knew there was hesitation in her voice. She was desperately trying to rethink her plans. She should have known better than to wait to take care of things. “So, you are only an hour away chickie? That was some serious driving you did.”

“Well, I caught several lucky breaks. So, what do you say, brunch at Edna’s? You know she’ll feed us even if she isn’t open yet.”

“Umm, yeah. Ok. I’ll meet you there in about an hour. Be careful on your drive up.”