50 - The idiot

Brett was furious when he came home that Friday afternoon--someone had broken into his truck while he and Ned had gone fishing to steal his stereo, $20 he'd left in the glove box for emergencies. and a thousand dollars worth of camping gear he hadn't needed because Ned had bought a motor home he wanted to try out. The insurance claim person he'd been dealing with for three days had tried to tell him it was his own fault until he pointed out that the vehicle had been parked in the private lot of an assisted living facility. To top it off, he'd pulled in the driveway to find Maisey's truck was gone and Tony on the step looking sick to his stomach with a large envelope in his hands.

Tony stood up when Brett came toward him, holding out the envelope, "Before you start swinging, you need to know she overheard us the night you left and I've been trying to call you all week."

"Where's Maisey," his blood was cold.

"Gone," Tony backed away, not wanting to be close enough for his cousin to knock out--not that he thought he would but Brett was very protective of Maisey and he really didn't know how the man was going to react.

Brett stared at him, the fury over his truck disolving into concern for Maisey, "Gone where?" he asked.

Tony stared at the ground, "I don't know." Brett's eyes narrowed, and Tony rushed ahead, flailing his arms while he spoke, "She was standing in the kitchen when I went in the house, she looked angry and tormented and she screamed at me to get out or she'd call the cops. I couldn't reason with her, Brett, she wouldn't let me explain. I tried calling you more than once, I slept in my truck, but I didn't even hear her leave, Travis said he saw her but didn't realize there was anything wrong. She hasn't been back."

Brett stared at the evelope in his hand, his eyes dropping, "And what is this?" he held it up.

"I don't know. Sheriff Curtis dropped it off a few minutes ago, he's had no luck tracking her down and that damn lawyer keeps citing client priviledge at us both." He paused, "Her phone number has been disconnected."

Brett's head shot up, then he looked back at the envelope a sick feeling in his stomach. He opened it: keys fell out along with a thick packet of papers. The deed and title to the house were clipped to a letter.

He read the words, concern turning back to anger at the abandonment. "Brett, Ned never should have left the house to me. I've had my lawyer transfer it to you, all you need to do is sign the last page and take it to city hall in Medicine Hat for filing. Maisey"

She didn't want to stay, he stared at the letter, she must have been feeling as suffocated as he was if she'd left like that. Anger coursed through him that she hadn't shared how she felt with him in person, that she had waited for him to go out and then snuck out like a coward. He was sorry she'd overheard him, he'd been very frustrated that night, but he hadn't realized that she hadn't really wanted to be there anymore. He took the papers into the house, "It's not your fault, Tony, I'm sure West Ridge needs you, and I know the Bogs needs me. Thanks for waiting for me and telling me yourself."

Tony watched his cousin's retreating back, knowing that this was not going to go over as well as it looked but knowing as well that there was nothing he could do about it. Brett would deal with Maisey leaving in his own way and he would not thank Tony for interfering. He took his leave and headed back to West Ridge, Brett was right about that, there was lots to do to prepare for winter.

Brett stood mutely at the kitchen, dropping the envelope on the counter: everything was clean and put in it's place. The floor had been mopped, the garbage taken out. Her leaving had been deliberate. He was furious, he wanted to break something. Their bed was made and not a single thing was left behind to make him think she had ever been there. He slammed out of the house and went to the barns--if Travis was surprised by him showing up, the foreman wisely kept it to himself--Brett grabbed a hay bale and followed his foreman to where they were being loaded onto a flat deck to be moved to one of the shacks.

The physical labour was intense neough that Brett didn't have time to think about Maisey, or her decision to leave. He threw himself into the work and refocused his priorities on the work the contractors were doing as well as the work going on at the Bogs. If he was avoiding West Ridge no one commented.

At night he left, becoming a frequent visitor at Andy's for poker, Lucas' lake for fishing and Slim's for pool and dancing and drinking, always coming in after eleven and falling into bed. On Sunday he drove up to Ned's to take the older man out.

"What's eating you?" the older man said as Brett walked into his small apartment home in thre assisted living building. "Where's Maisey, I thought we were going out for dinner."

"She left," Brett growled, his anger coming to the fore, "She snuck out in the middle of the night and changed her phone number," he threw an envelope on the table, "Delivered this to the Sheriff for me and slipped town." He put his head in his hands, "She used us and now that things are going poorly for her, she dumped us."

"I don't believe that." Ned said, "That girl loves...the Bogs." He changed his words when he saw the anger in Brett's eyes. His nephew wouldn't want to see what was right in front of him.

Brett scoffed, "Go ahead and open the envelope. Travis saw her leave at 4am the same morning I left and she threatened to call the police on Tony."

Ned read the note and glared at his nephew, "You're a fool" the old man held his gaze, and Brett couldn't understand the humour in his eyes. "What did you say to her?"

"Nothing," Brett said angrily, "I didn't talk to her, she waited until I left and then she snuck out without a word."

"Then who did she hear you tell that the house shouldn't have been left to her?" Ned demanded.

"I never said that to anyone!" he pushed away from the table, throwing his hands in the air.

"Never?" Ned asked.

"I told Tony I was feeling like I didn't belong anywhere," he admitted, "But she was sleeping!"

"You're sure?" Brett hesitated, remembering what Tony had said about Maisey being in the kitchen, Ned saw the guilt in his eyes, "You're an idiot," the old man scolded, not mincing words, "she did this because of that! Because what you said hurt her and she didn't want you to feel like you didn't belong in your own home." He shoved the envelope across the table and pushed back his own chair, "If you sign those papers you're a bigger fool than Junior." He glared.

"I am not a fool." Brett argued.

"You are if you think this is about a damn house!" Ned snapped, "You found that girl and stood by her for almost a year and now, when she's faced with reliving one of the biggest traumas of her life you tell her that you what? That you hate being idle? That you feel useless?" Pain lashed through Brett's eyes, "Of course you did! You couldn't just leave it at telling her you needed to go away for a few days, you had to make her feel like crap about being there."

Brett began to argue but Ned walked away and closed the bedroom door. He sat at the table for long minutes but only grew more frustrated. Ned had taken Maisey's side. How could his uncle do that to him? How could he do that? Maisey was the one who left.

Ned shook his head and stared at the door to his room wondering how his nephew had become so bone headed and blind. It was obvious that he loved her and this situation had riled him into uncertainty.

"You need to figure out how to make this right," Ned called through the door, "I am going to bed, I don't want to go out anymore."

Brett kicked the chair back to the table and stormed out of the apartment his uncle lived in. Back in his truck he hit the steering wheel in anger. Maisey left him. She pushed him away. She walked out and changed her number. It wasn't his fault.

He called Andy, to his credit his friend listened while he yelled about everything, "Are you finished yet?" Andy asked but didn't wait for an answer, "Not everyone is lucky enough to find the perfect person to share their life with like Ned and Lizzy. Look at what Nate's lived through and what it was like for Tony." He hesitated, "Sometimes we're lucky enough for second chances," Brett could hear the sorrow in Andy's voice, "My mom had that, if it hadn't been for Chad I can't imagine what would have happened. Whether or not you want to admit it, Brett, you care about Maisey, you might even love her, you shut her out and now you're pissed off that she protected herself." Andy paused, "You're the asshole."