The Wizard's Herbarium: The Wolf Child

Part 14

In the coming weeks, Colt stayed with Lorayne and Chuck, sleeping in a room that was part junk room and part spare bedroom. He chose to impose himself on them because he paid no rent. With what he planned to do, Colt was broker than broke, but it wasn't as though he hadn't been in that position before. Instead, Chuck just kept the money he owed from when Colt had been working with him, rather than paying him out. That was fine with Colt, more than fair and he just asked for a little money for ingredients to test recipes.

The first time Colt had spread his chefs knives over Lorayne's kitchen counter, his hands shook so much that he thought he'd slice his hand open. He tried again on the second day with the same result. He'd went shopping for ingredients the day before and they wouldn't last more than a few days. Not to mention that some ingredients were hard to find without the convenience of the big city. Colt didn't want to waste his time, or the lovely produce. He'd have to figure this out. So, he got his money in order. He contacted his friend and lawyer in the city, someone Colt had dealings with in business for years. Colt used the landline in Chuck's house.

Myles answered the phone, his voice sounding far away, like he wasn't focused on their conversation, and he likely wasn't. His friend was extremely busy.

"Hi Myles," Colt said. "It's me."

There was a pause in the line and the shuffling of papers in the background ceased. "Colt?" Myles said, almost incredulously.

"That's right. How're you?"

"Shit, how are you?" Colt heard a chair squeak. Probably Myles leaning back, his busy work forgotten for the moment. "Where are you? You're calling from a different area code."

"I'm in BC. Listen, Myles, I need some funds."

"Uh-huh. I figured."

Over the years of their friendship, Colt had asked Myles for many things. The conversation was a familiar one.

"What is it you're planning?" Myles said. "Don't forget about your divorce. Now isn't a good time for new business ventures, Colt. You abandoned everything here."

"I did not."

"Have you heard about Nero? It's not the same since you left."

"That was the point." Colt felt a familiar sensation of irritation rising in his chest. He'd had this conversation before, with Myles, with the press, with the whole goddamned world.

"Listen," Colt urged again, getting them back on track. "There must be money from the sale of the restaurant. I need it now."

"I told you before, Colt. I'm no divorce lawyer, but you picked a shit time to sell, man. Your wife, she's still entitled to half of it, maybe more now that you've run off on her. There won't be much left."

"I don't need much."

There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the line. "Call your wife, Colt." Myles' voice was muffled as though he were pinching the bridge of his nose. "She's always been a reasonable woman. I don't know what you're doing over there, but maybe if she knows that you're trying to build a life for yourself, she'll go easy on you. Once you've done that, then we'll talk more."

Before Colt could argue, Myles said that he needed to go and the line went dead.

It felt as though Colt had swallowed a glass of ice-water. His stomach was cold and his palms broke out in a sweat. To avoid racking up a bill on Chuck's phone, Colt turned to his cell phone. He dug it out of the bottom of his backpack with its charger and plugged it into an outlet next to the bed.

Then, he turned it on.

Colt had long-cancelled his plan, but his phone still held all the messages received before that he'd left unread. He continued to ignore them, keeping the messaging app closed because he knew he couldn't face whatever words of comfort and worry they reflected.

He connected his phone to the house WiFi and used Skype to call his wife. There was no way of knowing whether she would even pick up. Did she still have Skype?

When her face appeared on screen, his heart lurched. This was going to be more difficult than he'd thought. Kate's face was drawn. There were dark bags under her eyes Colt could see, even through the makeup she wore to try and hide them. To make things worse, she smiled, her lips drawn into a thin line.

"I'm glad you called," she said, the words may as well have been a hundred knives that sliced through him.

Already, he could feel the hot tears gathering at the corners of his eyes as the pain he'd kept bottled up the last several months spilled over. He wished that she'd just be angry with him and scream, but they were both beyond anger now. He knew that much.

"I'm sorry it took so long." Colt's voice was rough, husky with the pain of talking to her again.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her face through the screen reflecting concern.

"I don't know," he admitted. "What about you?"

She gave a half-shrug. Yeah. That's where they both were.

"Anyway," he continued. "I'm going to need money soon. I want to make sure it's fair, the sale, being your half and all. I don't need much."

Kate drew a sigh much like Myles had. "Are you sure you should be doing this right now?" she asked. "Making another major decision?"

In Colt's mind, all the major decisions had already been made. Getting his business running again, that was just where he felt good and comfortable.

When he didn't answer, Kate leveled him with a stare he'd seen many times before. It was a look that told him he was on thin ice.

"As long as you come home," she said, her voice clipped. "And finalize the divorce."

That was it. Their moment of kindness and tenderness was overpowered by anger and grief. It was why they couldn't stay together. Colt didn't think that anger would ever go away.

"I can be back in a couple of weeks," Colt said quietly.