Everyone seems to care so much about what I do, that I’m letting you know what my plans are. I caught the last Greyhound out of Frisco into Vail. I’m going to finish the season with some friends there. I appreciate all that you’ve done for me, Joe. All the Mother Hens that converge on me in Summit County are driving me crazy. I have my own life, and I can’t take everyone telling me how to live it. I wish you all the Luck with whatever you may find in the future. You have a really bad deal going, Joe, I tried all I know how to do. I hope our paths will someday cross again. Toby ‘Point em downhill and stand on em.’ Sara, you deserve better, I’ll write once I get myself sorted out. This is not the way I wanted any of it to turn out.
Joe set Tom’s letter down on his desk. Sipping at his mug of coffee, he missed Tom already. He felt he had failed somehow, if he only could have kept his mountain. He might have been able to teach the boy how to look at life differently, how to deal with his problems instead of running away, exactly as he had done when he was young. When you don’t like the way things are going, you pick up and head into the next mountain. Once you have done it, and are no longer afraid, you see how easy it really is. You leave them all behind. It’s what had drawn him to Arapahoe Basin in the first place, that and the Ski Patrol. He was the ultimate escapist. His wife of ten years had wanted a divorce because they were unable to have children, his parents were getting a divorce because they were never in love. The last thing he remembered was his sister saying to him,” They only stayed together for us. They were never in love. They got married because they were having you. He knew it to be true, he hated her for telling him. It seems she always made things worse than they actually were, kick him when he was down. He had run away, and never looked back. Now, he was paying the price, no one to turn to, no one to be there. You had better damn well be ready to pay the price when it comes due.
“Joe?” Toby’s blonde head appeared around the corner of the door. “Have you seen Tom?”
“He’s gone, he left. The kid can’t take the heat.” Joe held up the letter for Toby to read.
“Damn,” Toby read through the note. He let his arm fall limply to his side.
“I think it’s all my fault,” Toby confessed.
“It’s nobody’s fault. He’s a runner. He always runs, never stays and deals with anything.”
Joe leaned back in his chair, folded his arms across has chest, and stared out the window, at the massive mountainside.He rocked gently in his chair. Toby stood in silence and looked out into the distance with Joe. He didn’t want to loose Tom. He was his best friend. There are only a few people who become best friends. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, fighting back the tears. Tom had to come back. He just had too. He had too.
