The Truths We See

Chapter 14

Lilly basically dragged me down the hallway to breakfast the next morning. I hadn't slept at all, my mind keeping me awake with nagging thoughts and worries. When we got to breakfast, my board was in a pile with Ben and Jimmy's things near the entrance in full view of where we were going to sit. The only thing that worried me at the moment was that Ben wasn't meeting my eyes. He smiled at me, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. No one else seemed to notice, but I was also probably the only one paying it any mind.

We ate mostly in silence. I welcomed it, actually. My head was hurting, as were my legs. I knew I was pushing myself too hard on that treadmill but I didn't regret it.

"You okay?" Ben finally asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I looked at him. True concern was in his eyes, along with something else I couldn't quite place. I nodded and sat up straighter. "Just tired. And sore."

"You should've taken it easier on the treadmill yesterday," he said, sounding every bit like the older brother he was. 

"I'll keep that in mind," I told him. I shoved a big bite of my bagel in my mouth. He removed his hand and I found I kind of wished he'd left it there. No matter what he did or didn't do, I loved him. For as much as I wanted him to have no part in the theft, I knew he at least knew who it was. I couldn't just ignore that - no matter how much I wanted to.

Ben dropped the subject and we all finished breakfast in silence. Afterwards, Lilly and I went to our room to get our stuff and met Ben and Jimmy in the lobby fifteen minutes later. Like we did the morning before, we went over our plans. Jimmy and I were going to do one run on a harder slope, then I would go down the double black diamond with Ben, and then I'd do a few runs on the easier slope with Lilly. 

We headed off to the lift, but I made sure Jimmy and I lagged behind. Ben and Lilly got on the lift and I stopped Jimmy. "I need to check over my board," I told him. I checked the straps, but they were fine. I strapped in and slid a little bit, but something felt off. I got out and checked the bindings. One side was loose. On a hunch, I grabbed it and pulled. With only a little resistance, it came off my board. 

Jimmy's jaw dropped. "Why did you do that?"

I checked the screws. Stripped. "Because it felt weird. Now, can you let me into yours and Ben's room? He has some extra screws somewhere."

"Yeah, sure." We headed back into the lodge and I followed Jimmy to his room. He unlocked the door and let me in. "Will you be long?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not sure where he put them, so I kind of need to go through it all. You could wait in the lobby, though, if you'd like."

He nodded. "I'll leave you to it." He closed the door behind himself. 

Taking a deep breath, I looked around the room. If there was one thing I knew about Ben it was that he was lazy. If he did change out my screws like I suspected, he would have put them in a place that was convenient that he wouldn't think I'd check if I suspected anything. Which was a place like the trash can.

I walked over and dug around. No screws. Now what?

I sat on the bed and glanced around me. There was a single table between the beds with one drawer. I opened it, but there was only a Bible. I closed it and looked at the luggage. His bag was leaning against a chair. I picked it up and sat it on the bed. 

On the bag, there was one pocket I knew he never used, so I opened it. Inside were the screws I was looking for. Tears stung my eyes as I sank onto the other bed. Oh, Ben. Why are you doing this?

Knowing Jimmy was waiting for me, I wiped my eyes and hurried to change the screws on my bindings. 

When I was done, I went out, found Jimmy, and hit the slopes with him. By the time we were at the bottom, laughing and bantering, Ben was waiting with Lilly. "What took so long?" he asked, a small frown on his face.