THE SEASON I NEVER LOVED

The Escape 2

Did she have something against men with tattoos? I wasn’t a tattoo lover myself; this was the only one I had, and it was there for a specific reason, to remind me of a mistake I had once made, which I couldn’t afford to make again.

‘Now that I had it on me, was she going to reject me because of this?’ I wondered, I didn’t mind having it wiped off, if it made her uncomfortable, and I was about to tell her that, when my phone rang.

Distracting her, but it certainly didn’t distract me, because I was scared by the look on this woman’s face. If we didn’t talk about whatever was going on, she might disappear again.

“I…” I began ignoring the ringing phone…

“Pick it up.” She said hurriedly, interrupting me just as the phone stopped ringing.

“No, I think…” I wanted to tell her that what we had here right now was more important than the phone call, but it began to ring again.

“Please, pick it up…” She said with her eyes closed,

“I...,” She swallowed before letting out a shaky breath, which only made me more confused, “…I need a moment.” She looked at me with pleading eyes.

I frowned. No matter how much I wanted us to talk about what was going on, which I had no idea of, I couldn’t just reject her, not when she was looking at me with those eyes.

Pulled my hands out of her pants and tried to help her tidy her clothes, but she avoided my hands, and I stopped, though this made me even more unhappy. I didn’t know what I had done to make her mood shift so quickly. Was it just because of the tattoo? If she really wasn’t ready to go that far. I could have stopped if she told me.

It was hard, but I was a gentleman, and I would never force a woman I liked into doing what made her unhappy.

I stepped back to give her the space I believed she needed, then pulled the phone out of my pocket and glanced at the caller ID. It was Charles, a business partner and a good friend of mine.

‘See, I knew it wasn’t anything important'. I looked up at Carla, who was still staring at me, the expression on her face unreadable. I knew she still needed that moment, so I decided to give it to her.

“Don’t go anywhere,” I told her, “I’d quickly pick this up in the cubicle, and then we would talk, okay?”

“Okay,” She nodded in reply, and I heaved a sigh of relief as I walked into one of the empty cubicles I had checked earlier and shut the door behind me.

“Charles.” I greeted the moment I picked up the call, not bothering to hide my dissatisfaction one bit.

“Hey man, where the hell are you? We have a meeting in thirty minutes, and you’re not here yet.” Charles told me over the phone, and I groaned in frustration.

Of course, of all the times in the world, it had to be at this very moment that I found her that I had to deal with company issues. Of all days, why did the meeting have to be today?

I owned a furniture company, one I had built with my friend, Charles, from scratch, after working at the lumber factory for a few years. The dream that fueled my success was nothing more than the desire to give my daughter, who was abandoned by her mother at a very young age, a better life, and that was what I have been working hard for, for the past twenty years, I would not say I haven’t achieved it, I know I have, but I also know we could have more, hence the desire to expand the company that took me to Rovaniemi, where I had met Carla, one year ago.

All these years of hard work, I was what one would call a great dad and a hard worker. I successfully juggled CEO and father duties for so long that it didn’t feel as hard as it felt at the beginning anymore. The only thing that I did when not working was caring for my daughter, so in all these twenty-two years, this was the first time I forgot about a meeting with a potential client, one that could better help our standing at Rovaniemi, and the reason was not Racheal, my daughter.

I glanced at my wristwatch with irritation, and a frown creased my brow, “Postponed the meeting, I won’t be able to make it.”

“What the hell do you mean, you can’t make it, man? You know how important this business meeting is to us and Shellman furniture; you also know how busy Mr. Crawford is. If we miss this deal, we lose it.” Charles tried to convince me.

“I just said I couldn’t make it. What don’t you understand? I have some serious issues going on here. I’d call you when I’m free, and we’d reschedule the meeting.”

“Serious issues? Is it Racheal? Isaac, Racheal is no longer a child, she’s twenty-two man! It’s time you let her live her own life, do what she wants with her friends. She had been singlehandedly taken care of by you for so many years; I’m sure she’d understand if you want to spare some time to attend this meeting. It is really important, you know that. We have all been working so hard for this. You and our entire staff have been working overtime to make this a success. Why are you cancelling now?” Charles asked with a mixture of shock and frustration in his voice.

I understood him. We have indeed been preparing for this lucky break for so long, hoping to have a meeting with Mr. Crawford just to convince him. If we can, it would be easy for Shellman furniture to step into the scenes of the Rovaniemi business world fully. So, when we got the appointment with Mr. Crawford, we had all spent days at the office, preparing and perfecting our pitch, taking breaks only to eat and rest. I, in particular, had been living at the office for the past one week. I had only stepped out today to get some fresh air before the meeting under the instigation of everyone, actually, and now, I’m saying I could no longer make it, I understood how he felt.

But I had wanted to see Carla for a year, tried to get her contact, looked for her in Rovaniemi for a year, but couldn’t find her. Now, I found her, but there is some kind of misunderstanding. I know I can’t walk out of here until it is cleared, or else I might never see her again. When I clear whatever misunderstanding this was, and I’m sure I could meet her again, then I would hurry to the meeting, but from the look of things and how much time I have left, I wasn’t sure that could be achieved.

It might take a while to convince her to give me her number. So there is no hope, the meeting can only be missed. There would still be other opportunities to meet Mr. Crawford again, but Carla was here on a visit, and if I didn’t secure a way to contact her before she leaves again. We might never be privileged to meet again.

“Isaac...” Charles called from the other side of the phone when my silence lasted too long, “Racheal had, in fact, complained about you to me a few days ago. I wanted us to be done with this deal before I brought it up.”

“What did she say?” I frowned

“She complained about you not approving of the guy she likes and…”

“She told you that?! Ha! Have you seen that guy? If she had chosen a responsible guy, would I have bothered to disagree?” I asked angrily.

“…But she’s not a child anymore, and our company right now needs your attention more than anything else...”

“She’s just twenty-two, Charles, and nothing is more important than her.” I sighed. This wasn’t even about Racheal right now. “Charles, don’t worry about all this, just do as I say, cancel the meeting, and we’ll talk later.”

I hung up before he could give any more protests. Life isn’t always all gains. We win some, we lose some. I’m not so old, but from how much I have seen and experienced, I have grown to become someone who knows what he wants and knows how to prioritize what those important things are.

But despite my determination, I walked out of the cubicle to find the bathroom empty.

“Carla?” I called as I walked to the other cubicles to check if she was easing herself or something. “Carla!” I called again, but got no response. There was no one there, she wasn’t in there.

Having a terrible premonition that she left, I ran out of the bathroom to the bartender, not even bothering to fix my clothes. “Where is she? Where did she go?!” I asked him quickly.

He only glanced at my half-opened shirt and then pointed towards the door. I rushed out the door almost immediately, but found nothing, no one. No sight of her, no sign of her walking past that route, nothing. She was gone.

“f**k!” I yelled in anger as I kicked at the scattered gravel on the sidewalk.

After all my damn mental motivational speech, I lost her again.

I stood there under the feather of the light snow that began to fall, feeling dejected and confused. The last time I felt this confused was exactly twenty-one years ago, when Marcel had dumped the barely one-year-old Racheal, whom I didn’t even know existed until then, at my doorstep and bounced.

At that moment in my life, I question everything about my life, regretted every decision that led to that moment and wished I could turn back to the hand of time. After all, at that time, I was a stupid, reckless teenager who knew nothing, had nothing, was barely even able to pass each grade, and suddenly, I became a father.

A future that seemed not so bright at that time instantly became bleak.

This moment felt kind of similar to that. I regretted it that instant, regretted inviting her into the bathroom, making a move at her, kissing her, I should have taken things slow. Even if she was drunk, even if she was tempting, I should have taken things slow.

“Isaac! Hey Isaac! You should put on some clothes, or you’d catch a cold.” The old bartender called after me, standing at the door of the pub himself.

I glanced back at him and nodded in response, while still looking around the empty parking lot and road, clearly hoping I could still find her silhouette. Maybe she was still here, maybe I could explain, get her number…

My phone rang again, and this time when I picked it up, I heard Charles from the other side of the phone say, “Isaac, Mr. Crawford is here. Do you still want me to cancel the meeting?”

I sighed, “No need, stall for time, I’d be there in a few minutes.” I replied sadly, then hung up before heading for my car.