A little over an hour had passed when Casimir pulled into the gas station, and Hutch hurried himself outside, after thanking the clerk for letting him wait inside where it was warm.
Having heard the doors unlock as he approached the expedition, he opened the back passenger door and put his bag on the floor, saying, "Thanks again for this," and closing the door before Casimir could reply. Climbing into the front seat, Casimir reached over and banged his fist against his shoulder.
"Don't thank me yet," he remarked as Hutch shut the door. "I've been thinking about this the entire way here. If there is any possibility of salvaging this situation, I need to take you back home. If I talk to her, maybe I can get her to compromise on whatever the issue is."
"That's the thing, there is no issue. At least not one she wants to make clear," Hutch replied. "I know you mean well, and I'm grateful, but if you think about this from a different perspective, it really is for the best. Now when I go and disappear, you'll be the only one to miss me. And we can drop this whole bullshit cover story."
"Firstly, it's not bullshit, but we can discuss that later. Right now, I'm more concerned about what happens when she realizes you're missing and calls the police to come find you. To her, you're still seventeen."
"Exactly, I'm seventeen. What are the cops going to do? Drag me back kicking and screaming? It's not like you're taking me against my will. I had you pick me up here because there's a camera that just recorded me getting into your truck of my own volition. And I know the clerk inside. His name's Fred, and I told him I was waiting for my friend, and that you just showed up. So, if the cops come looking, let them. If they want me to go with them, I will. But it won't change the fact that she just told me to leave, and I interpreted that as her giving me permission to take this job. Plus, we are technically family, since you're married to my cousin."
"That is just, very odd, to hear you say out loud."
"Agreed. I won't do it again."
"Appreciated," Casimir replied, as he pulled out of the parking lot. "Just do me a favor, Hutch. Don't let this come back to bite my immediate family in the ass, okay?"
"Trust me, Cas, that is the last thing I want to have happen."
Hutch hated that in order to find his family, he had to give up on his previous one, but regardless of how he looked at things, his conscience remained clear. Cherry had been the one unwilling to compromise. She had made her choices. She'd called his bluff and lost the game. In the end, he truly believed this was the better outcome. While there might still be some lingering consequences, he was certain, he could handle them.
Celina, Clara, and even Julian, who was called Jay, more often than not, were as welcoming to Hutch as Casimir had always been. They'd made up the guest room and prepared hot tea for his arrival, and for the remainder of the evening, until they opted to go off to bed, they shared stories and spoke like normal people in a normal family, doing a normal thing. It was comforting.
Hutch slept sound that night, and the following day, he discovered that he was just another member of the Salvador household. Celina had roped him into helping with breakfast, Julian was late to the table which Clara had set, and Casimir was already on his second cup of coffee. The atmosphere had a strange feeling of organized chaos, as schedules were shared, plans were laid out, and food disappeared.
Clara was the first to leave the table, wanting to leave early for work, even though it had stopped snowing late last night, and chances were, the main roads had already been cleared. Julian then followed Casimir out to the lab, while Hutch helped Celina with the dishes.
Hutch has been told he could take a few days to find his footing and settle in, but in an unexpected way, he didn't find that he needed it. They had a way about them that made it feel as if he had always been there, and to him, it already felt like a home.
"Alright!" Celina shouted as she clapped her hands together in a brisk fashion. "Dishes are complete, and the kitchen is spotless! Perhaps I should hire you as our butler instead."
"Contracts not signed yet," Hutch quipped with a smirk. "Nothing's stopping you from testing me out for a day or two. Maybe see if I meet your expectations?"
Celina smiled, her eyes glittering like diamonds in the early morning sun, "I was hoping you were going to say something like that! Go put on your shoes and bundle up! We're heading into the city."
"Ma'am," he replied, with a grandiose bow, before she spun around and ran for the stairs.
By the time Hutch was bundled up and ready to head out, Celina had come back downstairs, wearing a heavy coat with a fur lined hood.
"Sorry, had to grab my wedding ring," she told him as she slid on her boots. "When I leave the house, I have to wear it. No exceptions. Considering that it's the only rule Cas has ever given me, I feel obliged to follow it. But what about you? Do you have everything you need? Wallet? Sunglasses? Hat? Gloves? Other things I might be forgetting?"
Hutch chuckled, finding her to be unexpectedly amusing. "Yeap. I have everything," he replied as she grabbed a set of keys from the hooks by the door.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go tell the boys we're off, and then we can get out of here."
Hutch followed her out to the lab, and after a quick goodbye, they headed into the garage, where he followed her over to the aspen green, ford explorer on the far side. As the garage door opened, they climbed in and buckled up, before Celina turned over the engine.
It was a newer model, as pristine on the outside as it was on the inside. The dark grey fabric interior still hosting the famous new car smell, and the engine purred like a kitten as they drove off.
They weren't very far into their drive towards the city when Celina started up a conversation.
"So, I've been meaning to ask you something. And I realize that this might be a bit strange or sound as if it's coming out of nowhere. Which fair enough, it sort of is, but you're the only person in this world that could possibly answer my questions," Celina spoke, as he continued to admire the scenery of Cauthard Hills moving passed their windows.
"You can ask me anything," he replied, turning to give her his full attention. "If answers are the only thing you're charging, for everything you're doing for me, I'd say I'm getting off cheap."
"Answers and the continued enjoyment of your company. If that's not too steep of a price, of course." She giggled.
"Not at all."
"I'm glad. Casimir has never really had any close friends. Not for as long as I've known him anyways. He was even less trusting of others after his time away."
"Reasonable, given how things turned out for him."
"I… I suppose," she replied, a touch soft. "The thing is, he…" she paused as if searching for the right words. "Well, he's sworn, up and down, that, well, how do I put this…"
"You're curious about his time on Illimev? You want to know if there was someone else, don't you?"
"Yes. That's exactly it! I mean he's told me thousands of stories, but not so much about the people around him. He's always told me that I'm the only one he's ever loved, but that doesn't mean he didn't care for someone else, and it's the one question, I've never been able to ask him directly. I know after all these years I shouldn't be wondering, but now that you're here, I have the chance to find out if he left someone behind, like you did. Please, don't get me wrong, it's not like I would blame him or even hold it against him. He was gone for so many years. I can't even imagine how he managed to cope. It would break my heart just as much to hear him tell me that he was lonely."
"Celina?"
"Oh, yes? Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble."
"It's fine, but I don't think you have anything to be concerned about," he said, setting his hand on her shoulder giving it a gentle reassuring squeeze. "While I can only tell you about the time when I was there with him, in all that time, I can promise, that although it was rare for him to do it, he only ever spoke about one woman, and that woman, was you. I never saw him alone with a woman, and never, not once in all the years we spent together, can I remember him showing interest in anyone either. Now, I can't in good conscience tell you spent his days miserably pining for you, but from the first moment we met, until our final battle, there was always a sense of sadness about him, even when he was obviously happy and enjoying himself. Unfortunately, I didn't recognize what that was for a long time. Maybe if had, things would have turned out differently, but I do know, for an absolute fact, that what it was, is completely gone now."
"Are you going to make me ask?"
"No," Hutch replied with a faint laugh. "It was grief. He wore it like a shroud. It was so much a part of who he was, that I didn't recognize it until he finally told me your name, moments before he came back to you. Speaking your name was what broke him. I don't think he'd spoken it out loud in years, but when it brought him to tears like I had never seen him shed before, that was when I realized what it was, and when a man grieves like that, trust me, there's no room in his heart for anyone else."