The lifeguard

Chapter 9: Packing our life up

The first one to speak up was Max,

“Go pack your stuff and the kids stuff up now. Pack enough for about 2 weeks.”

I didn’t ask any questions, I just knew I was scared and needed to listen to him, I immediately went upstairs and began packing as quickly as I could.

I heard Max explaining to the kids, “We are going on vacation, go each fill 1 bag of your favorite things.”

The kids were both happy packing there stuff up. I brought down two large suitcases of all our clothing, I was taking everything with us. Danny looked at me,

“We have about 3 hours if he were to immediately drive to town, I’m going to assume he needs to get a ride to a vehicle or something first. So let’s aim to have the kids in the car in 2 hours ok?”

I knew it wouldn’t take me long, I’ve been planning this pack up everyday in my mind. As I was packing Danny was loading the car up and Max was running around with the kids making sure we got everything.

After about an hour I was completely ready, Max ran home to pack himself a bag he said he would meet us at the gas station just before leaving town. We had both his car and Danny’s car packed up. Danny ran down to my landlords place and paid my rent for the next 3 months.

I could feel my adrenaline pumping, when Danny came back I asked him,

“Where are we going?”

“Max has a cottage about an hour from here. He ran home to get the keys and grab a bag of his stuff. We will stop at the grocery store and grab supplies for you guys before we leave town.”

I didn’t say anything I simply nodded.

We got to the grocery store and Danny offered to run in while I sat with the kids, Ali kept clapping her hands and Jeremy was asking several questions I couldn’t answer about our vacation.

“Sorry hun I’m not sure it’s a surprise for me too”

I heard my phone go off it was a text,

Max: Done at my place, I just need to stop at work quick then I’ll be meeting you guys there.

Then it dawned on me, he would have to leave his job and his entire life behind to come stay with us. I felt guilty he was going to go through all this to keep us safe.

Bri: You don’t need to come with us Max, you can just drop us off until I can figure a different plan out. I can’t ask you to give up your entire life for us.

Max: You didn’t ask, I offered. Your doing me a favor too, I need a vacation.

I rolled my eyes, as I seen Danny come out of the store with several groceries, he had diapers, all different food, and drinks. I looked back at the kids and thought this will be like a vacation, I won’t need to count my change in order to buy a case of diapers and we will be getting away. A little break from thinking about money.

We drove to the gas station as we waited for Max to show up, Danny ran in and grabbed some drinks and snacks for the kids. I was looking at the clock, it has been about 2 hours now he’s released, we really need to get out of here. I sent Max a text,

Bri: We are waiting, are you coming?

Max: Yes sorry just had to grab a few last minute things. I’ll be there in about 5 minutes.

As Danny got into the car, he passed everyone their drinks and I thanked him for everything.

“It’s not a big deal Bri, I love you guys so much your my only family. I want to make sure you arrive all safe. Max did bring up his cottage when he first found out but I figured that would be a good emergency place. It sounds really nice Bri, I think you guys will love it out there!”

I couldn’t help but smile, just then I saw Max drive up next to us and talk to Danny, he gave him directions to get there in case we got lost. He said there is no cell reception, but there’s a tower not far we can drive to if we needed to get a hold of anyone.

As we drove out of town I felt relief wash over me, I wasn’t sure if we were being a bit extreme running from town in case Derrick came to try finding us. Then I remembered everything he did and we definitely we not over reacting. All 3 kids have fell asleep as we left town, I was looking outside enjoying the view, I haven’t seen anything in a while besides trees, then there was a sign for a town, Dakota Falls. I looked out the window as we passed through the small town, there was a small convenience store with a gas station, a small restaurant and a small general store. There was a beautiful lake across the road from everything, it looked like something out of a movie, 3 small buildings surrounded by trees looking out to a lake.

We turned down a dirt road as we drove a bit and turned down another dirt road, after about 10 minutes of driving we arrived to a large wooden cabin looking at the water. I looked across the little lake and I could just barely see the 3 small stores on the other side, the cabin looked new and looked to be quite expensive. It was made entirely of wood, it had a large deck wrapping around it and big windows everything.

I got out of the car and looked around, we were completely covered by trees, on the lake there was a long dock with 2 boats attached. There was a big garage off to the side, it looked like one of those cabins you would see in magazines. I didn’t even notice Max was next to me until I felt his hand on my lower back, Danny looked over at Max,

“f**k bro, this place is nice! How much would you say a place like this is worth?”

Max laughed and shook his head, “Too damn much!”

I looked over at Max, this didn’t make sense how does a lifeguard who works 3 hours a day afford a place like this?

“How much do you make being a life guard?” I asked before even thinking how intrusive that sounded.

He laughed, “My life guard job, pays an entire $16 per hour! That’s just my side thing. I’m into stocks, when I was younger I took my birthday money and bought shares to a small company and they got insanely big. My entire $100 became wroth millions, then I tried my luck again and well it got even better. I just worked to keep busy and to put on a show for people, I don’t want anyone to know what I have.”

I simply nodded, I looked back and the kids were sleeping, so we began to unload everything, Danny stayed outside with the kids while Max helped me bring stuff in. He gave me a quick tour, we walked into a large entrance from there we went into a big living room with large windows looking out to the water. It had a stone fireplace, the next room was the kitchen and dinning room, it had lots of cupboard space considering it was a cottage. It had a dishwasher, large double door fridge and a little idnlland in the middle of the room. Off the kitchen there was a laundry room and bathroom.

I followed Max up the large wooden stairs and there were 5 bedrooms, each bedroom was completely furnished. When Max showed me the bathroom upstairs I could of jumped right in, it was gigantic, it had a jacuzzi tub, a large shower and double sinks.

This had to be the nicest house I’ve ever stepped into, I couldn’t believe I would be staying here for a few weeks, I then got anxious to show the kids. They would be so excited. As we were about to walk down the stairs, I asked him

“So which room do I get?”

He smiled at me,

“How about me and you share this room, and there’s a bedroom off of it that Angel can sleep in?”