One Month, One Lifetime

20: Not The Explanation I Wanted

I hadn't said anything for the duration of brunch. In fact, I hadn't said much of anything since I found out about the ruse Britton planned last night. Who in their right mind hires a fake ghost hunting team to scare their friend?
Britton, that's who.
His argument was that it had more style than a normal ghost hunting trip. And this whole month was all about completing our tasks in style. But that didn't excuse him. He had gone through the trouble of bribing three of his friends into using their maintenance van to spend a night in a train depot.
By the end of the night the four culprits explained that they were all buddies from back in the day and that they couldn't turn down Britton when he called. Kenyon was actually a sweetheart, like JJ had told me he was. Once I got past his unnaturally low weight--a side effect of some medication he was on--he was actually charming in a boyish way. I could see what JJ saw in him. Speaking of my new best friend, JJ hadn't adopted a character like Kenyon. She was just as she first seemed to be: easy to talk to, kind, funny, and perfect best friend material. My sixth sense was never wrong.
The biggest blow was finding out that Britton wasn't afraid of ghosts.
While the four of us sat a breakfast--Pearl had a normal job and had only been able to sneak away for last night--Britton explained, "Of course ghosts aren't real. I can't believe you fell for that."
"And I can't believe you betrayed my trust like that!" I countered. No way was I the one in the wrong here. I mean, I had been the one to make fun of Britton, but I had turned it around last second. I was willing to fight the ghost of the Purple Lady for these losers.
From her seat across the booth, snuggled into Kenyon, JJ added, "No hard feelings though. It was all in good fun. A simple hazing so you are now officially cool enough to hang out with us."
"I'm so excited to be a part of the group." There was no humor in my voice, only dripping apathy that would have worked if I had been able to hold back my smile. Instead I broke into a grin and relaxed against the vinyl seats at the hole in the wall restaurant Kenyon dragged us to. Then, turning to Britton, I asked, "So what's on our schedule today, mister?"
"Finishing that ridiculous puzzle at some point, maybe a visit with Mabel."
"What about the list?"
At the mention JJ and Kenyon perked up. "What list?"
My gaze shifted back to Britton and we held a silent conversation. I had never understood how conversations made out of eye contact and tiny gestures worked until that moment. It was like Britton and I were tuned into the same radio frequency and were picking up each other perfectly clear while being untranslatable to everyone else.
You didn't tell them? I asked with a raised eyebrow.
It's your story to tell. I don't know how much too you want to give away. Smart of me, huh?
Shut up before I hit you.
Admit that I'm the smartest.
"Shut up," I said out loud with a giggle. JJ and Kenyon didn't even question it. I was beginning to like them even after our first traumatic encounter. "Britton is helping me do a bunch of random tasks this month. We've crashed a live sports broadcast-"
"We saw that one," Kenyon interrupted. "You two had us convinced via television. JJ was ready to fight Britton for not telling us that he was dating someone. Let alone proposing again. We only figured out it was a setup when you said no. No one looks at someone like that when they're proposing only to get rejected."
"Glad to know our acting was too good," Britton joined in. There was something tight in his voice though. Like Kenyon had mentioned something Britton didn't want me to know. Like his words were stuck in the back of his throat and he was choking to get them out. And I could wager what that thing was.
Kenyon said Britton was proposing again. Again? Had my roomie been engaged before? That was a story I was dying to hear.
"So it's a bucket list, right?" JJ burst through my thoughts. "You aren't dying of cancer or anything?"
I chuckled to put her fears away. "No cancer. Just a month of fulfilling my bucket list."
"Was getting a tattoo of your dead aunt on that bucket list?" JJ gestured to my shoulder where Minnie's face was smooshed against the vinyl seat.
"It's not a normal bucket list." I turned back to Britton and this time he wouldn't meet my eyes. Not after our telepathic conversation. This time he had something to hide and he didn't want me guessing it. "So what's on the list today?"
And that led to us standing on the top of a mountain. Again. For the second time that month. Luckily we had forgone the costumes this time around. And we brought company.
JJ and Kenyon had agreed to accompany us on Minnie's next task. Like always she was trying to kill us, but this one was the most obvious in her plot so far. Jump off a mountain.
During our planning period Britton and I had spent hours trying to figure out a way to jump off a mountain without dying he suggested a figurative mountain, a so called leap of faith, but if I knew my late great aunt--which I didn't--then I knew she wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than a literal jump. Our final plans hadn't been confirmed until we were driving to Mount Timpanogos in our ridiculous outfits. Then we had driven past paragliders who had jumped off the mountain.
A better term for whatever land formation we stood on was a hill. It was dwarfed by the Wasatch mountains behind it and half of the soil had been eaten away by a construction company to make way for the freeway that ran across it. But I thought it counted.
Everyone else seemed to agree as we got strapped into the harnesses that would connect us to the hang gliders. It was a flurry of motion on the mountainside. Everyone was in motion as we were paired with instructors and told how not to die.
I expected my heart to be racing as we made the final preparations but I felt suddenly calm. Heights had never scared me to much and I trusted the equipment and the instructor who had been assigned to me.
The person I didn't trust was standing ten feet away with Kenyon, shooting the breeze like he hadn't been avoiding me.
Since I invited Kenyon and JJ on our adventure and we finished brunch, I hadn't been able to get a word in with Britton. At first I thought it could be a coincidence. After all, he hadn't seen his two friends since I rocked into town and must have missed them. That was why he was rolling through conversation faster than I could follow. When he didn't stop, even while driving, I knew he was dodging the question that would soon come.
What had Kenyon meant by engaged again? It didn't seem like that tough of a question to answer. My plan had been to ask JJ because she was sure to know. The three had known each other since preschool. I doubted there was much about Britton that she didn't know. But every time I tried to approach her Britton intercepted her and made it impossible. All I overheard was her chastising him for keeping something from me. That was comforting. At least I knew she was on my side.
When the head hang glider asked who wanted to go first Britton shoved me to the front of the group. I didn't protest. Arguing would solve nothing when faced with this new, stubborn Britton.
Like the rest of the experience, hang gliding felt like a severe disappointment. It had been on my actual bucket list to hang glide or skydive. This was something I had been looking forward to my whole life. And Britton had to go and ruin it by distracting me.
I would have been okay with the distraction if it had been positive. I didn't let my mind wander too far at how he could have distracted me in a good way. I was supposed to be mad at him after all. Any thoughts about what could have happened that night on the roof were strictly forbidden when I was in angry mode.
I sailed around the mountain for what felt like forever.
The view should have been take my breath away gorgeous. I'm sure it was. I just didn't have the heart to admire it. The sunlight across the valley didn't stun me. The sparkle of Utah Lake didn't blind me. The thread of cars making their way across the cement path of the freeway didn't evoke any existential remarks. It was nothing like the view from Timpanogos Cave. Then I had been able to share it with Britton with nothing to detract from it.
Now I was stuck alone with the knowledge that Britton was keeping something from me.
Eventually I had to land. Even the rush of earth below me and air around me couldn't bring a smile to my face. Not even the cheering of a crowd at the bottom of the mountain that had collected to watch us fly through the sky.
Sometime in my descent I had transitioned from melancholy hurt to pissed off. So when Britton landed behind me not two minutes later, I didn't pull any punches.
He must have known from my walk how angry I was.
I was ready for this confrontation. My mind was already racing with questions I would ask him. Who were you engaged to? Why didn't you tell me? Are you married? Were you married? What happened? Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me? Aren't we friends? Do you not trust me? Or maybe I would pare down the questions and stick with the simple ones. Who? What? When? Where? Why? Simple. That would do better.
Britton was looking everywhere but my eyes. The dirt beneath his feet. The hang glider filled sky. The crowd behind him. One specific man in the crowd. The only man who wasn't looking at the hang gliders but directly at us with a notebook in hand. Dressed in a black three piece suit that was as suited to a mountainside as it was to a minor league baseball game.
"He's been watching us since I landed," Britton whispered to keep the man from overhearing. He was only a few yards away at the edge of the crowd. Just clear of the landing zone. I didn't have time to register the surprise that Britton was talking to me again.
Only he was creating more questions and answering none of mine.
"He's the Grocery Stalker."
He didn't ask if I was sure. He just grabbed my hand to pull me away from the dirt patch as JJ and Kenyon began circling for their landing. Still angry, I pulled my hand away, but I followed. I wanted to be as far away from the Grocery Stalker as possible. After I got him search by security for stealing a jar of caviar I doubted he held any friendly feelings toward me. Come to think of it, I had omitted the important detail of my planting the can on him when I relayed the story to Britton. I knew he would tell me that it was wrong, and I had been too shaken up to hear that.
I heard faded cheering as JJ and Kenyon landed. Everyone in the crowd gave at least a polite clap. Everyone but three piece suit man who was staring intently at Britton and me. Apparently he had dropped the pretext of being a subtle shadow and was now full blown stalker. The thought wasn't comforting.
"This needs to end now." Without telling Britton my plan or waiting for his consent--nevermind that he was my partner in this bizarro adventure, I was still mad at him--I stomped over to the Grocery Stalker and pulled him away from the crowd by the collar of his shirt.
Could it have gotten me in trouble or hurt? Yes. Was it worth it? Definitely.
Learn from my decisions, kids. Live vicariously through my mistakes.
"What do you want?" I growled at the Grocery Stalker. It was probably the most intimidating I have ever sounded because he cringed away from me. It must have been quite a sight because I immediately drew the attention of the entire crowd away from JJ and Kenyon's landings. Just imagine, a purple haired shortie in a field of dust. I was still in my hang gliding harness and my hair was a rats nest from my short flight. Plus I was viciously gripping the tie of a well dressed business man and shouting threats.
Not my finest moment. But I didn't care. The whole month had been filled with less than fine moments, but this one was inevitable since I saw the Grocery Stalker at the Bees Game. It needed to happen.
"What do you mean?" he answered my question with a question. Side note: That is the worst thing. If I asked someone a question, I wanted an answer. Not some clarifying question.
"You know what I mean. I saw you at the store and at the baseball game. You're following me, and I want answers." I heard Britton swoop in to save me--or the poor guy I had by the tie--before I felt him pull me back. He didn't pull me completely away. Probably because he knew I would start throwing punches if I didn't answers soon.
"Let's try to be civil about this," he added with a glance over his shoulder at JJ and Kenyon who were beginning to think this wasn't just some bucket list I was trying to complete.
I understood that Britton was trying to deescalate the situation and keep me from getting in trouble. He's perfect always except when he's keeping things from me. That's been established. But at that moment in time, with adrenaline pumping through my veins and fear bubbling in my blood, I didn't think he was perfect. I thought he was just as bad as the Grocery Stalker. "Civil? This guy has been following me around for who knows how long. And you're asking me to be civil!"
"Indi."
"No, she has a right to upset," the Grocery Stalker said. Both of us turned to him. I never thought he would be on my side in this argument. "Maybe she's a little violent, but I understand. Nothing has been explained to her and she wants to know what's going on. I can explain."
I threw Britton a pointed look. From our mental conversation at brunch I knew he understood what I was saying. Haha, I'm right. You're wrong. I win. You lose. Just you're average gloating.
"Go ahead."
"I'm Henry Rhodes. Your great aunt hired me."
And suddenly everything made sense. Minnie was behind this. Of course she was. She had orchestrated this whole month to be exactly what she wanted. My greatest pleasure with every task was to try and twist it to be different than what she wanted. She asked for a tattoo of her face? I gave her a semi permanent tattoo of her with Mickey Mouse ears. She wanted me to ghost hunt? Britton pulled a prank. Interrupt a sports broadcast, presumably by running across the field or getting in trouble? How about a failed proposal instead.
Which led to Mr. Henry Rhodes, AKA the Grocery Stalker.
"My job was to make sure you were completing the tasks and following the rules. I believe your aunt mentioned that you were under constant surveillance?"
I thought back to reading the instructions in Aunt Minnie's mansion. My mansion if Rhodes decided I was fulfilling my end of the bargain.
Rules three: No looking ahead. Someone is always watching. I had almost forgotten. My planning began and ended with the list Britton and I were currently working on. After that there were a mere three pages left to complete. The final bound section in the notebook I hadn't taken a peek at in days.
I nodded my answer to Rhodes' question. "Someone is always watching. That's you?"
"Yes." He held up a notebook identical to my own. The only difference was the lack of rubber bands. Apparently he wasn't bound by my same limitations and could peruse the journal at his own leisure. "I check off the tasks you have completed and relay my findings to your aunt's lawyer, Mr. Spradley."
"And how are we doing so far?" Britton interrupted. I glared at him. This man was still the Grocery Stalker and I hadn't decided to like him just because he held the fate of millions of dollars in his hands.
"Very well. There were a few stretches but you're making good progress. Might I ask how the puzzle is going? I saw you buy it a few days ago."
There he went again with the creepiness like stalking us was an acceptable activity.
"It's coming along."
"Keep me posted on when you complete it so I can check it off." As if reminded of his job he pulled back out the journal and a pen to tick off another task completed. He stashed it away in his coat pocket before pulling out a business card. "You can contact me at this number at anytime. And-" He scribbled an address on the blank backside. "If you need to contact me in an emergency I'm staying at this hotel." There was fear in his eyes when he looked at me. I felt proud. "Don't visit if you don't have to."