Page 101 of Red Mountain Burning
Veggie Chips
“Joan Tobey, is this really what your idea of a breakup depression looks like?” Margot didn’t know whether to give her friend another hug or burst into laughter.
Knowing Joan had just broken up with Otis that morning, Margot had come bearing white lilies and a bottle of Canvasback cabernet sauvignon. After putting the flowers into a vase, Margot had followed Joan to the back of her riverfront home.
The large deck looked over her lawn and garden to the vast Columbia River, where a paddle-wheel steamboat was chugging by. Since moving in with Otis, Joan had replaced the vegetables and fruits in her garden with flowers.
Margot pointed at the scene on the deck hosting Joan’s heartache. A turquoise beach towel was stretched over a lounge chair, which was arranged perfectly under an umbrella. Joni Mitchell sang through a wireless speaker on the nearby table that also happened to host the most absurd prop of them all.
“Veggie chips and a glass of ice water and lemon?” Margot asked. “I collapse intopommes fritesand Champagne, and this is what you do? I have so much to learn.”
Joan wore a one-piece swimsuit with a sarong wrapped around her waist. She sat back in her chair. “When I get down, I need to be outside with Joni.”
Margot sat in the other lounge chair and adjusted her sundress before crossing her legs. Letting go of the jokes, Margot said, “I’m so sorry, my friend.”
Joan lay back on her beach towel and frowned. “Thanks. Things didn’t go the way I’d hoped.”
Trying not to focus on Joan’s red eyes, Margot thought back to when she’d first met this extraordinary woman. Margot had thought she was bulletproof. When Henry Davidson had shot her in the neck, not only had Margot learned that Joan wasn’t bulletproof, but she’d also been reminded that Joan was human and could hurt emotionally like everyone else. Even though Joan had fought back from her injury, Margot always tried to remember that her friend had vulnerabilities. It was actually a wonderful lesson Margot had learned, that even the most enlightened humans are still human.
“What can I do for you?” Margot asked.
“Oh, Margot, it’s just nice to have a friend here.”
“I’m surprised your house is not full of friends.”
Joan shook her head. “I haven’t been answering my phone. Only for you.”
Margot felt so lucky to have a friend like her. “That’s really sweet of you to say. Isn’t itmyturn to be there for you, anyway? Not that we’re keeping score, but if we were, I’d say you’re safely in the lead.”
“Oh, c’mon. Friends don’t keep score.”
Margot glanced at the steamboat fighting the current. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Apparently needing to talk about it, Joan turned to her side. “The tough part of my line of work is hoping we can change people. We can point people in the right direction, but wecan’tchange anyone. I love Otis for so many reasons, but he’s hurting inside. I knew it that first night when Morgan introduced us.” Joan smiled at the memory. “He was so far from my type but just what I wanted at the time. I knew within minutes that we’d have a future together.”
She dipped her chin. “I also knew because of the way he suffers so from the past that there would be a long road ahead. I thought I could love him so much that he’d break through all of his loss. In hindsight, my hopes for him were our downfall.”
Joan sat back and looked at the river with a long breath. “I can’t fix people. That’s not what I’m here for.” Joan took another long breath. “I think I became more of a nuisance than anything else. These past few months, I’ve driven both of us crazy, nagging him, but I couldn’t help it. I was watching him kill himself. He’s gone unhinged with this Drink Flamingo thing, and I don’t know if he’ll survive it.”
Along with the rest of the wine world, Margot had seen the footage on YouTube of Otis’s fight. “As much as I can’t stand Harry Bellflour, I felt very sad watching that video.”
“I had to witness it firsthand. All those people egg him on. He hears the way they talk about him, and it pushes him into living in a dream world where he has to be the grapefather. He’s become a caricature of himself. There was nothing I could do.”
Joan raised a finger. “I take that back. I guess I realized that the best thing I could do for him was to set him free. Let him fight his own battle. So here I am, heartbroken and hoping that he’ll be okay.”
Margot sat next to Joan and took her friend’s hand. “If anything will wake a man up, it’s losing a good woman. I bet he’s kicking himself right about now.”
“Maybe. But he’s got one eye on Harry Bellflour, and that’s the problem. I’m telling you, Margot. When I first met him, his devotion to the mountain was adorable. I’d never met a man so committed to something. This year, he let his dedication get out of hand.”
“You think it’s over for good between you two?”
Joan inclined a shoulder. “It’s a very real possibility. I refuse to endure any more of the suffering he’s putting on himself. I…I can’t be around it. I’m an empath, and when he’s going through his stuff, I feel it almost as much as he does.”
“You did the right thing. He was pulling you down with him.”
“Ugh. I hate to think that I’m abandoning a drowning man, but there’s nothing else I can do for him.”
“You’re not abandoning him. I’ve seen his changes too. Everyone on the whole mountain has. Part of me gets it. We’ve seen our share of disasters and challenges around here. But…in the end, it’s just a mountain, right?”
