“That’s awful,” I said. No wonder Tate said that he and Crater had unfinished business. I imagine I would be angry too if someone sabotaged my mode of transportation and left me alone to cope—injured. “How long ago was that?”
“Hmm, maybe eight or nine years ago? We were all on leave at the time. I remember that Tate’s girlfriend, Shannon, was angry about what happened. She had been in town waiting for Tate to return, and she really freaked because Tate didn’t show up and he hadn’t called her to say he was okay. She didn’t like Tate going on adventures and leaving her behind. She was a mess.”
“I think I would be upset too if my husband went missing for a day with no explanation,” I replied, unintentionally defending Shannon.
“No, I mean, she was a mess. I don’t know what Tate saw in that woman. Yeah, she’s pretty, but Shannon never trusted Tate. She always insisted on tagging along on our adventures and booking a room at a nearby hotel to keep an eye on him. She never trusted Tate to do the right thing. Is there any wonder they split up?”
I shrugged. I wasn’t one to judge their relationship. I’d never been in a relationship longer than a year, and that was at college. My life had always been too hectic to accommodate a long-term relationship. At least that’s what I told myself.
“How about the rest of you? Are you all married?”
Tony laughed. “I almost bit the bullet—once—but no. Mike and Abe...” Tony lowered his voice, “Mike and Abe are a couple, and Jonah, he is married.” Tony’s face suddenly looked serious like he just remembered he left the stove on. He rubbed his forehead, “Man—Rebecca—Jonah’s wife. I hope the authorities contacted her. I think she was out on a trip herself. I wonder if she knows what happened. Man, maybe one of us should reach out to her.”
“I’m sure the police will find a way to notify her soon.” I paused for a moment, and said, “I take it that the rest of your group wasn’t fans of Shannon either.”
“No, not really. Shannon is a difficult person to like. We all tried, we did, but Shannon is difficult. I remember that night when Tate didn’t return from our bike trip, Shannon refused to calm down. Jonah eventually got her to drink some Scotch and go to her room to lie down while we tried to locate Tate.”
“Wow. It sounds like she had quite an attachment to him.”
Tony shrugged. “Yeah, she was a bit like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction except no one’s bunny got boiled.” He laughed until he noticed that I wasn’t laughing with him. I shook my head. I didn’t know what to make of Tony and his friends. Tony seemed weirdly irreverent considering he lost a friend just the day before.
“Well, it was nice meeting you, Tony. I am sorry for your loss.” I stood from my seat and placed some money on the counter to pay for my breakfast. “I have to get going. Oh, but one last thing. Why do you think Crater took off that night?”
Tony grinned. “Jonah did things like that. Sometimes we’d get back to camp and he would be there, other times he wouldn’t. The guy liked to keep us guessing.”
“But when you woke in the morning, and Crater wasn’t there, you all looked for him, didn’t you?” I remembered what Tate told me on Saturday. He made it to the camp last—around 2 a.m.—and when they all woke later that morning, Crater was gone. The four men searched for Crater without success, and Tate left when he realized he needed to meet his daughter at the Chalet.
“I guess we looked around for a bit. Mostly, we just needed to find our gear. Jonah took our phones, keys, wallets, and he hid them in camp. That was part of the game. Finding everything took a while. Once we had our things, we cleared the campsite and left.”
“So, you believed that Crater was okay; that he just took off as he did sometimes?”
Tony shrugged. “Sure. None of this was abnormal behavior for Jonah.”
I nodded, paid my bill, grabbed my things, and left the diner. I wondered how long the group actually spent looking for Crater. From Tate’s account of things, I assumed they looked from early morning until the early afternoon, but from Tony’s account, it sounded like they did a quick search, found their confiscated possessions, and left the campsite. Had Tate lied to me?
EIGHT
“Being strong does not mean that you never fall down, but whenever you fall, you get up again.” - Confucius
“THAT’S REALLY GOOD, Skye,” I encouraged the youngster as she showed me her moves on her skateboard. Clearly, she’d been practicing before we’d met. She was doing a great job riding the board. I’d shown Skye some beginner moves, and let her practice. Tate and I were watching Skye from a bench in the park. We had a pleasant lunch in town earlier and then headed to the skateboard park down the road. I showed the little girl a few moves—flipping my board, turns, catches—it was fun. By now, Skye had been skating for nearly an hour, and it was hot outside. I used the heat as an excuse to take a break and talk to Tate while I was still giving his daughter encouraging feedback. Tate was openly cringing every time his daughter tried to go fast or use the curb to do a trick.
“Wow, you really are nervous,” I observed. Tate’s protectiveness of his daughter was definitely an endearing trait.
“Yeah, somehow I think it would be better if Skye learned to snowboard first. Then if she fell, at least it would be in the snow.”
“She’s doing great. She’s already picked up on the nose grab. She is a tough kid. Sometimes you just have to let them fall, Tate.” I heard my dad’s voice in my head when I said the words. My dad is my biggest fan, and he let me make my mistakes so that I could learn from them. I sighed. I needed to visit my parents.
“Yeah, with a mom like Shannon, it’s probably a good thing that Skye is so tough.” Tate crossed his arms over his chest. His face looked serious.
“What’s the story with her, anyway?” To be honest, I was more than just a little curious about Tate’s former partner. I wondered what she was like. How did they meet? What happened to break them up? Were they still married?
“Shannon?” Tate leaned back on the bench and stretched his long legs. He was wearing board shorts and a t-shirt, and I couldn’t help but notice the bruises and scratches that crisscrossed his bare skin. I wondered if all of the wounds were from his Friday night adventure. “We met in a bar when I was in the service. She was smart, funny, pretty. To be fair, I hadn’t seen a girl in several months.” He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Got it.” I didn’t need or want details about their sex life. Nope!
Tate glanced at me and then looked ahead, “No, I mean, our relationship was good at first, but then she got really possessive and anxious. I don’t know why Shannon became that way. I used to go on these trips with the guys, and one day Shannon told me that I couldn’t go unless she went too. I had the feeling that she didn’t believe me when I told her that we were in the wilderness doing a survival game. I think Shannon thought we were out chasing women or getting into trouble.”
“Were you? I already know Crater’s reputation.”
“No, not at all. We were strictly out chasing adrenaline. Sure, we did some dangerous stuff, but I wasn’t out meeting women.” I was glad that Tate didn’t seem to take offense at my question about his fidelity to Shannon. Tate didn’t seem like the kind of guy to cheat on his partner, but you never know, do you?
Tate stopped speaking and waved to his daughter. That’s when I noticed that Tate’s fingernails were messily painted red. Obviously, he let Skye paint them. I wondered how long he would leave the garish varnish on his nails. I wondered if he had any nail polish remover. I smiled inwardly at the thought of a tough guy like Tate allowing his daughter to paint his nails.
“When Shannon got pregnant, she told me I couldn’t do the guy trips anymore. She was worried I’d get killed and she’d be left alone with a kid. I guess Shannon was a bit insecure.”
I looked at Tate to see how he felt about the ultimatum Shannon gave him, but his face remained neutral. He didn’t seem a bit bothered.
�
�And you agreed?”
“Yeah, I mean, I was going to be a dad. It was exciting. We were going to do the whole white picket fence thing. The other guys don’t have kids. They didn’t really understand.”
“Are your outings that dangerous? Could someone get killed?”
“No one’s been killed or seriously injured, but yeah, some of the things we do can be dangerous if you aren’t careful. Jonah always liked to push the limits with us. He considered us to be elite when it came to our adventures. You’ve seen his show; I think you get it.”
“I ran into Tony at the diner this morning. I could tell he isn’t a fan of Shannon’s.”
“No. None of them are.” Clearly, Tate knew about his friends’ feelings towards his ex. “They all thought she was a nightmare. They gave her the benefit of the doubt at first, but when I stopped going on the trips, they didn’t bother hiding how they felt about Shannon. That’s why my relationship with them pretty much ended. The guys and I lost touch with each other. Until Friday.”
“How long were you and Shannon married?”
“Together you mean? We were never married. I asked her to marry me when I found out that she was pregnant, but Shannon turned me down. I don’t think she ever trusted me, and not marrying me was Shannon’s way of proving that. We were together for three years. Skye was only two when I moved out. It took months to iron out a custody arrangement. I moved around a lot, and Shannon claimed that I couldn’t be a good dad unless I settled down. She didn’t want child support, but I insisted. Shannon doesn’t make much money at her job. I think not asking for child support was Shannon’s way of justifying keeping Skye from me as much as possible.” I watched Tate’s jaw twitch. I guessed that he wasn’t happy about how little time he got to spend with his daughter.
“But even after you and Shannon separated, you didn’t go back on Crater’s trips?”
“No.” Tate looked away from me. “Not until this weekend. I lost touch with the guys over the years.”
“How often do you see Skye?”
“Some holidays and every other weekend, usually, unless Shannon changes her mind,” Tate confirmed in a low voice. “I was lucky to get a few extra days with Skye this weekend because Shannon needs a babysitter.” Tate’s face looked angry.
“Daddy look!” Skye interrupted us when she tried to do a jump on her board and completely missed it. She landed on her bottom on the ground. Tate and I both gasped at the sight. Thankfully, Skye was wearing all of her protective gear and she landed on a soft patch.
Tate jumped up from the bench and quickly jogged to his daughter.
“Hey, are you okay?” He reached out to Skye, and she grinned. This brought a smile to Tate’s face. He checked his daughter for cuts and bumps and determined that she was okay.
“Mandy said you were tough. I guess she was right.”
“I’m okay, but I’m getting tired,” Skye confirmed with a small smile.
“Oh yeah?” Tate lifted his daughter into a bear hug, then he combed his fingers through her messy brown ponytail to untangle it.
“I think ice cream might make me feel better,” Skye teased.
“Okay! Mandy, let’s get this skateboarding superstar some ice cream.”
“Hey, there’s that place at the top of the slopes. We could ride the gondola up, and get ice cream and explore a bit if you have time,” I offered. Tate smiled at me. My heart thumped.
“Daddy, can we ride the gondola?” Skye asked. I smiled happily because she liked my idea. Horrible exes aside, I started to wonder if dating a guy with a cute kid would be so difficult after all.
“Sure. Let’s fix that ponytail first, okay?” Skye turned and let Tate remove the elastic band from her long dark hair, and he skillfully adjusted her ponytail. I was impressed with Tate’s parenting skills. He even styled hair. I got the impression that he liked being a dad, and I felt a bit sorry for him. I felt badly for him because he didn’t get to see Skye more often.
We locked our skateboards up in a locker, bought our ride passes, and hopped on the gondola. The three of us occupied a single car. The gondola hummed and bumped a bit on its ascent and the cabin warmed from the bright sunshine. I love riding the gondola in the summertime, there’s so much to see from above. You can see wild animals like foxes and deer; you can watch the mountain bikers as they traverse on winding trails, and hikers climbing the slopes. I watched as Skye excitedly raised to her knees on the gondola seat to peer out the window to watch the other cars and wave at the passengers who were headed back down the mountain.
We disembarked from the gondola several minutes later and headed in the direction of the ice cream vendor. Quite a few people were congregating at the top of the mountain, which is typical for the holiday weekend. It was a bit chillier and windier at the top than it was at the bottom of the mountain. Many people were wearing jackets or hoodies. I shivered a bit in my shorts and t-shirt. Noticing my chill, Tate wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and I was a bit surprised by the intimate and unexpected move. I appreciated the heat generated by his body though.
“The ice cream is over there!” Skye happily shouted as she jogged away from us through the throngs of people milling around. I pointed towards the crowd ahead of us and tried to watch Skye as she ran off.
“Is she okay?” I asked Tate a bit worriedly. I didn’t like the idea of Skye running off alone like that. She was only eight.
“Yeah, she knows her way around up here. The kid has a great internal compass,” Tate smiled and squeezed me tighter. I decided that Tate’s response was oddly casual for a man who was so worried about his daughter 30 minutes earlier. How could he be so careless about her safety?
I wasn’t simply concerned that Skye would get lost, although that was a possibility. I worried more about stranger danger. I can’t help it, growing up, my best friend’s dad was a police officer. I am all too aware of the dangers that children face out in the world. My parents always made sure I checked in with them when I was out and made sure that I went places with friends rather than alone. Tate must have perceived the look of apprehension on my face because his flirtatious smile went flat.
“I’ll just go catch up to her,” Tate said. “We’ll meet you by the ice cream stand in a few minutes. Okay?”
I let out a sigh of relief and nodded as Tate jogged off into the crowd.
I waited by the ice cream stand for a few minutes before Tate and Mandy reappeared. I was quick to notice that Skye was sulking and Tate looked hot and exasperated. “Sorry about that,” Tate said to me as he ran his fingers through his hair to brush it off his forehead. “Skye thought she saw her mom and she chased after her.”
“I did see her, Daddy,” Skye protested. “Mommy was over there and she ran away,” She pointed out into the distance towards one of the vacant ski lifts.
Tate shook his head, “I think you saw someone who resembled your mom, honey. You know your mom is in California this weekend. She’ll be back to see you on Tuesday.”
Skye’s face grew an angry pink and her lower lip jutted out a bit. “It was her, Daddy.” The kid was adamant; she really believed she saw her mom. I felt a ping of sympathy for her.
“I know you think you saw her, but your mom would never run away from you Skye, you know that,” Tate argued.
The little girl began to sulk even more. Ugh. I decided to try to help smooth things over. “Skye, they have cookies and cream ice cream here,” I said, remembering Skye’s favorite ice cream flavor.
“I don’t want cookies and cream. I want chocolate chip,” she replied angrily. Her lip jutted out even further and she crossed her arms over her chest defiantly.
“Okay, let’s see what they have,” I turned to face the ice cream stand and bit my lower lip. I didn’t know what else to do. I was learning that cute kids can turn crabby in less than six seconds flat. Admittedly, my experience dealing with kids was limited. I don’t have any siblings and therefore, I have no nieces or nephews. My past interactions with kids
were usually things like signing autographs and saying, “Hi, what’s your name?” and “Do you want to be a pro snowboarder when you grow up?” You see my point, I was a bit out of my depth when it came to dealing with an upset eight-year-old. It didn’t help that I felt guilty. I mean, I got the distinct impression that Tate was distracted by me, and that is why Skye ran off in the first place.
Tate tapped my shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay, she’s just tired,” he said in a soft voice in an attempt to pacify me.
I nodded. I wondered if every day of parenting held so many ups and downs.
I GUESS TATE WAS RIGHT about Skye being tired because she fell asleep with her head against his shoulder practically the moment we sat on the gondola for the ride down the mountain. I was tired too, but my mind kept working. Something was bothering me. “Tate, why do you think Skye was so insistent that she saw Shannon up there?” I whispered in an effort not to wake Skye.
Tate sighed. “I don’t know. She has an active imagination, she’s a kid. Skye said the woman looked just like Mommy but she was wearing a jacket with the hood up. I think she saw someone who resembled her mom,” he whispered back. “Maybe she had the same kind of jacket.”
“There isn’t a possibility that Shannon is still in Colorado, is there?”
“Not you too!” He exclaimed softly as he shook his head. “No, Shannon sent me photos from California the other night so I could show them to Skye. She’s definitely in California.”
“Oh, okay.” I accepted Tate’s explanation, but my gut wasn’t sure that Skye was wrong. I mean, I get that she’s a little kid, but wouldn’t Skye recognize her mom if she saw her? And, Skye was really upset. I’ve never seen her act so grumpy. Then again, what do I know about the complicated workings of an 8-year-old’s brain?
I SAID ‘GOODBYE’ TO Tate and Skye around four in the afternoon. Tate asked me if I would like to attend the fireworks with them that evening. I was free to go because I didn’t have any plans for the evening. The truth was, I was feeling a bit exhausted by our day together. I decided that maybe it would be better if I opted out. I made up an excuse about needing to see my parents, and Tate didn’t question me. He offered to give me a lift back to my townhome, but I said that I needed to stop in town. We did not kiss goodbye if you’re wondering. I convinced myself that the outing wasn’t a date and I was okay with that.
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