Page 48 of Stuck With Mr. Frosty

Honey takes off bounding through the snow, her nose to the ground following Mia’s tracks, catching up to her just before she goes around the corner.

Even my own dog doesn’t want to stay with me.

I’m not about to beg people to love me, though. I’m certainly not about to beg Mia to change her plans for me.

It’s time to let her go.

CHAPTER 19

MIA

Rosie sits down on the bed, bouncing and looking at me. For every item I fold and put into my bag, she pulls it out and tosses it aside. I grab another stack of clothing from the dresser and stuff it in. She tries to take it back out.

She gives me a sheepish smile.

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but I have to pack.”

“There’s a staff party tomorrow night, and then we’re done for the season. And that’s it,” she says.

“I can’t keep going on like this. I have to get ready to go because if I don’t, I don’t know that I’m ever gonna leave.”

Rosie reaches over and takes me by the hand, holding it tight. “I know this is hard for you right now, and to be honest, I can’t believe that Aiden is acting like this. In all the years I’ve known him, he’s never been cruel. A little cold and aloof, sure. But making you feel like you don’t matter to him? I don’t know what that’s about. Anybody can tell that when he looks at you, he sees his entire world.”

“Thanks, Rosie.” I pull my hand away and turn my back to her to grab more clothing from the dresser. “But I can’t listen to that right now. If he really cared about me the way that you all seem to think he does, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“You still don’t know what happened?”

“Not a clue. All the times I asked him, he didn’t have anything to say about it. When I tried to talk to him the other day at breakfast, he had nothing to say. So does he care about me? I can’t keep forcing him to talk to me.” My voice breaks and more tears gather in my eyes. I don’t know how much more I can cry this week before I finally get to go home. I grab the papers inside a drawer.

I still haven’t filled out the paperwork for Southwood Elementary. I don’t think I can. Each time I pull up the contract and start reading through it, even looking at that number on the front page for my salary, it doesn’t feel right.

At this point I’m not sure what would feel right, but I know that’s not it. Maybe I should take some time for myself. Travel overseas and teach English to kids in China or Vietnam or somewhere where nobody knows my name and nobody knows all the shit I’ve been through the last couple of years.

I take the papers and hold them tight, trying to figure out what to do.

Rosie nods at the papers in my hand. “What’s that?”

“My teaching contract. Ever since I arrived here, it hasn’t felt right.”

“Does this have anything to do with him?”

“No. It started the moment I got off the bus and felt like I was supposed to be here. Like this is where I should have been all along.”

Rosie looks at the papers before looking back at me. “So, you’re not going to take the job, then?”

“I don’t think I can.” I stuff the papers in the bag and grab more of the clothing she threw to the side, stuffing that in as well. “I thought it was what I wanted, but now the things I want are so different than they were when I first got here.”

“And now you don’t know how to make those two things line up.”

“I realized it wasn’t probably a good idea since I didn’t know what I wanted to do or where I wanted to be. I was thinking that I could just come for this season and not leave an entirely changed person. And all I see is my mom, but in a good way. It’s not like I’m sitting around here and thinking about all the things that we could have done together if she’d only had two more years. I came to this resort to find her, and I think to find myself.”

“I can tell you that in the time you’ve been here, things changed. You’re not the same person you were when we stepped off the bus.” Rosie’s eyes gather with tears and her lips purse before she lets out a wavering breath. “I don’t know how to say goodbye to you.”

“It’s not like we never get to see each other again.” I zip up my bag, leaving out only what I need for that night. “My friendship with you has been one of the best things that’s developed since I’ve been here. You’d be crazy to think that I’m not going to call you every week so we can talk and catch up on everything.”

Rosie laughs and wipes the tears from her eyes. “You better.”

I set the bag on the floor and drop down beside her on the bed, leaning back against the mattress and looking at the ceiling. Have you thought about what you’re gonna do once the season’s over?”

---