The Reunion

Chapter 1: Now

Casey turned the radio up louder, washing out her sobs with the ironic sounds of Katey Perry's Roar. Where was this song last week, when she needed it? She thought morosely. Casey tucked her chin length, curly brown hair behind her ears and nodded her head along with the beat, smiling as the tears fell. 

How long would it be until she stopped crying? She sniffed. More importantly, how long would it be until she stopped seeing the image of Clint in bed with that woman, every time she closed her eyes? 

Casey sighed. She was an emotional mess. As she rounded the corner she shifted down a gear and her little car's engine whined at her poor choices. She sighed again and shifted up, causing the car to shudder. Ugh, what was wrong with her? Even her driving was a mess. As if the mountain grade wasn't hard enough on the car, she had to add her distracted driving. She'd burn the motor out before she got there if she wasn't careful. And then she would probably lose her job.

Casey looked out at the snow that lined the side of the road. It was beautiful, if one was in the state to appreciate that type of thing. She was definitely not into appreciation at the moment. If she was, the perfectly snow dusted pine trees would definitely have made an impact. That, and the bright blue sky above them. But Casey saw little of it. All she could see was Clint's expression when she had walked in on him. Had it been relief? Why would he look relieved to be caught? Ugh, what was wrong with her life?

Casey's phone rang and she turned down the stereo. She frantically fumbled for her purse, swerving dangerously as she went around another corner. Swearing, she at last got her phone out and put it on speaker.

“Hello?”

A shrill British voice shouted, “Casey, do you have the port glasses that were on my desk?”

Casey groaned inwardly.  She cleared her throat and responded confidently, “Of course Neil.”

“Because they are a central part of tonight's celebration.”

She grimaced and Neil continued, “And if they were to be forgotten…”

“They haven't been forgotten Neil, they are right here… on my passenger seat.”

Casey's eyes flickered to the empty seat. God damn the port glasses.  She had picked them up -of course she had, but where for the love of god, had she put them? Casey glanced in the backseat, then swerved the car back into her lane. Goddamn it.

Neil continued, “Tonight is a very important night Casey. I don't think I need to repeat that.”

Casey waved her hand in the air expectantly, and he continued “But tonight is very important.”

Casey nodded her head in jest. “Yes Neil, which is why I'm already on route to set up.”

“On route! You mean you're not already there?”

Casey glanced at her watch, then swerved the car again when she looked up. God what was wrong with this road? Were there no straight sections?

Her voice rang out in frustration, “Neil the party isn't for 6 hours and I'm only 20 minutes away.”

Neil's voice went up a notch, “Casey, the board are expecting a very high calibre. Everything has to be perfect. If I hadn't broken my leg…”

She cut him off, “Yes I know you want to be here Neil, but don't worry. I have everything in hand.”

“Did you remember the canapes?”

Casey nodded her head, “Yes Neil.”

“And the balloons? Did you get the helium tank? Did you get the correct grade of balloons? They can’t be regular balloons. The helium escapes.”

Casey scrunched up her nose. Neil was technically not her superior. If anything he was her co-worker, senior only by a few days. But he always acted like her boss. For the last 4 years in a row Neil had arranged the mid winter board convention and she knew it was killing him that he couldn't be there this year. Casey had had to sift through 5 pages of handwritten instructions. Double sided! She knew if it wasn’t for doctors orders to keep his leg elevated, Neil would have ubered up there and supervised Casey setting up if he could have. She thanked the Gods for this small favour.

“Yes Neil, I've got the correct balloons and the tank.”

“And what about flowers-”

Casey cut him off, “Going through a tunnel now Neil, I'm losing you.”

She reached for her phone and rubbed the mouthpiece, laughing as he shouted angrily  “There are no tunnels, don't you-”

Casey hung up, then quickly turned her phone off before Neil could ring back.

When she looked up at the road again, she swerved, this time gasping as the tire caught a chunk of snow on the side of the road. She fish tailed, then straightened out.

“Jesus”. She quickly put two hands on the steering wheel and let out a deep sigh. Neil was a total pain, but he was good fun to wind up. Tonight wouldn't be that big of a deal. She had enough booze in the trunk to put a football team into a coma. Everything else was just a garnish on the side. Casey was in accounting for God's sake- she wasn't even in PR. The board didn't care what kind of snacks and balloons they had. They wanted free booze and a swanky place to drink it. She’d hired a karaoke machine too. She hoped that fact wouldn't make it back to Neil. But who didn't want to sing when they drank? The board had been at a convention in town all week and tonight was the cherry on top. Karaoke was perfect. And if it didn't go down well, she'd say she had misread Neil's handwriting.  She didn't anticipate it being difficult to make the party a hit. She just had to get her head in the game.

Casey turned the radio back on. The haunting melody of Crimson and Clover came on. She smiled sadly, remembering slow dancing with Clint at Tamsin and John's wedding last year. Clint had looked so good in a tux. A tear ran down her cheek and she wiped at it. She missed Clint. It had only been a week but she missed him so much it hurt.

A sign for the chalet appeared at the slide of the road and Casey slowed the car and turned off. The driveway was narrow so she carefully manoeuvred into a parking spot and turned off the car. Casey looked around. It was pretty gorgeous. Up ahead was their chalet- rented for the night. It was a stunning A-frame wooden building, nestled in between two pine trees. Everything was covered in a few feet of pristine white snow. There was noticeably more snow here than on the drive up. 

She looked up at the grey clouds in the distance and reached for her phone- it might pay to check if that storm was any closer. Then she paused. No, if she turned her phone back on Neil would definitely call again and pester her. He’d dictate play by play setup instructions and suck the fun out of the evening. No, she'd leave her phone off, for now. She looked at the clouds again. The last weather report had said the storm was arriving tomorrow afternoon. She would be tidied up and on her way before then. 

Casey got out of her car and carried the first box into the chalet. She crouched at the doorway and she retrieved the key that the rental company had left under the mat. When she stood up, Casey looked down the driveway towards the other chalets. They were all private holiday homes and she hadn't been able to book them for board members to stay in. Instead she’d ordered a shuttle to take members to and from their hotel at the bottom of the mountain. She sighed again, tonight was going to be a long night.