R. Allinson - The Long Road Home

“Does she?” Claire was briefly pleasantly surprised and then didn’t know how to feel.

“Mmm.” Lisa leaned back into the couch and closed her eyes. “How are we going to get through the next couple of months?”

Claire studied her sons for a few moments. “One hour at a time.”

TOM stared out from his hotel room over the Burrard Inlet. He couldn’t even see the North Shore mountains today. Thick, dark clouds hung heavy, blocking his view. There was a cruise ship in the dock. He couldn’t tell if it was the same one as yesterday or not. Tom wondered idly about the people out on cruises. There must the thousands of them. Tens of thousands. What would they do? Could you even get internet access out on a cruise ship in the middle of the Pacific? Tom wasn’t sure; he’d never been on a cruise.

His thoughts drifted to people away from home. Kids doing a gap year. Newlyweds on their honeymoon. High school and college students on exchange in foreign countries. People on their regular, normal holidays in Mexico or Florida or wherever they went. Even just people on business trips, like him.

Stranded. What would they do?

Tom sighed and turned his back on the view. He finished packing his carry-on bag and pulled on his coat. It was too warm in the hotel to wear his scarf and toque, so he just held them. He glanced around the room, checking that he hadn’t forgotten anything. Hopefully he wouldn’t be back.

He shut the door firmly behind him, strode up to Mike’s door and knocked. Mike answered after a moment, looking a lot more dishevelled than he had yesterday morning.

“Hey, man. I’m almost ready, give me a sec.” Well, some things hadn’t changed.

“Do we check out, or what?” Mike asked as they walked into the lobby. A few people from work were hovering around, but none that Tom was close to. Tom shrugged.

“Tom, Mike. There you are,” a voice called from behind them. It was Fred, their boss.

“Hi, Fred,” they both said at the same time.

“I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to talk to you yet. I’m afraid we’ve decided to cancel the conference.” He paused and looked meaningfully at the two men.

“Yes, we thought that might happen,” Tom said eventually after a quick glance at Mike who was looking at Fred like he’d grown a second head.

“Yes, yes. Terrible news. Yes. Hmmm. Half of the delegates have left already. I’m afraid we won’t be able to do your demonstration this afternoon, Mike. I know you put a lot of effort and hard work into it and you must be disappointed. I wanted to thank you for it.”

“Er… Thank you, sir?” Mike said after a moment.

Fred held out his hand and Mike shook it. Tom’s turn was next. Fred clasped Tom’s hand in a tight grip and pulled him in close.

“I have it on good authority that they’re going to nip this in the bud. Blow it to smithereens. We’re going to be fine,” Fred said with a confident grin.

“Sir?”

“I have connections. My son-in-law’s cousin works at NASA. He assures me that everything is going to be just fine. But I understand that people want to be with their loved ones right now until we get the all clear.”

“That’s… good news,” Tom said uncertainly.

“Yes. It is. I wish they’d hurry up and announce it so we could get back to business. This is going to hurt the bottom line. The conference will have to be written off. Such a shame. Janice and her team put so much effort into it.” Fred paused and looked morosely over the crowd. “I’m giving everyone two weeks paid vacation. This little problem should be solved by then.” Fred nodded firmly.

“That’s, uh, very generous of you,” Tom said. Fred laughed.

“Oh, no,” Fred chuckled. “It’s coming out of your annual leave balance. We can’t afford to lose this much business.”

“Right,” Tom said. He saw Mike shake his head slightly out of the corner of his eye.

“Well, I’d best let you two check out, and yes you do have to check out. I don’t want them charging me for people who aren’t here!”

“Goodbye, Fred,” Mike and Tom both said.

“I’ll see you in two weeks. Maybe sooner if it gets sorted out tonight.”

“Yes. Looking forward to it,” Tom said.

They all shook hands again.

“Looking forward to it?” Mike smirked and shook his head. “The man’s mad. This isn’t all just going to blow over in a few days.”

“Are you sure?” Tom asked. He hoped like hell it would blow over in a few days.

“Well… not one hundred per cent sure, but if I was a betting man — and I am — I wouldn’t be putting any bets on us having our usual Monday morning briefing in two weeks time.”

“It feels strange to wish for a Monday briefing…” Tom mused.

They checked out of the hotel and waved goodbye to some of their colleagues. It was too soon for formal goodbyes, and Tom had never been any good at them anyway, not that he was particularly close to any of these people. He wasn’t even entirely sure if the man with the messy black hair and glasses was named Aaron or Andrew. He’d been meaning to find out, but now it was too late.

“Hey, Mike, what’s his name?” Tom jerked his head towards Aaron or Andrew.

“Who? Harry Potter over there?”

Tom tried not to laugh. “Yeah, him. Is it Aaron or Andrew?”

Mike stared at the man who was too busy looking at his cell phone to notice.

“You know what? I don’t actually know. I always just called him Harry in my head. I thought it was something like Jim?”

“Nah, I don’t think so, I would remember it if it were Jim.” Tom’s favourite uncle’s name was Jim.

Mike shrugged again. “What’s it matter? He’s not in our department. You’re probably never going to see him again.”

“I don’t know. I don’t suppose it does. I just always intended to find out, that’s all.”

“If it matters so much to you, why don’t you go over there and ask him?” Mike said, practical as usual.

“That wouldn’t be awkward at all.”

“It’s Lucas,” a voice said from behind them. Tom and Mike both whipped around. The pretty young woman who had driven him to his grandparents house the night before was standing there, looking bemused.

“Emma!” Mike brushed his fingers through his hair. “We were, uh…”

“It’s all right. It’s a big company. But his name isn’t Aaron or Andrew. It’s Lucas.”

Tom frowned in the direction of Lucas. He wondered where he’d gotten Aaron or Andrew from.

“A guy called Aaron Andrews used to work for us. He sort of looked a bit like Lucas,” Emma helpfully added.

“Oh,” was all Tom managed.

“How were your grandparents?”

Tom was relieved at the change of topic. “They were… good.” He almost mentioned that they were in denial about everything, but it didn’t seem relevant. “Thanks again for taking me. I really appreciate it.”

“It’s okay. You’d do the same for us if we were stranded in Toronto, right?”

“Sure we would,” Mike said quickly. Tom wondered briefly if he actually would have — he would have been in too much of a rush to get home to Claire and his sons to think about anyone else if the news had broken a few days ago when he was in Toronto. He honestly wasn’t sure if he would have spared a thought for any visiting business colleagues, and it made him feel a bit ashamed.

“Are you leaving now?” She glanced down at their bags.

“Yeah, we’re heading out to the airport to try and get on a flight out east,” Mike said.

“Do you know if the SkyTrain is still running?” Tom asked.

“I think so, I haven’t heard anything about it being shut. I can give you a ride out there if you want though. Don’t take a taxi, they’re ripping people off like crazy.” That didn’t take long, Tom thought.