Chapter 4 - The Ruined Mountain Getaway
Two hours west of Denver, the winter sun was dipping behind the jagged peaks of the Rocky Mountains, casting long, bruised shadows across the snowdrifts along Interstate 70.
Inside Jason’s Lexus SUV, the air was thick with tension, stale french fries, and the sharp, sour tang of baby spit-up.
Sky was finally asleep, her tiny chest rising and falling in the car seat, while Oliver quietly tapped away at a muted tablet. Emma sat with her arms crossed, staring out the frosted window at the pine trees rushing past.
"I don't want to talk about it right now, Jason," Evelyn’s voice buzzed through the car's Bluetooth speaker. She was calling from her pristine, silent living room in Cherry Creek, her voice carrying that tremulous, fragile cadence she used whenever she was cornered. "I did what I thought was best for your marriage. If anyone should be grateful, it’s you."
Jason gripped the leather-wrapped steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned paper-white.
"Grateful?" Jason’s voice was dangerously quiet. "Grateful for what, Mom? For losing nearly two thousand dollars on a cabin we can't use? For having building security threaten to arrest us for trespassing? Or should I be grateful that you posted a picture of my sobbing wife on Facebook so your church friends could shower you with pity?"
"I was defending you!" Evelyn cried out, her tone sharpening into self-righteous outrage. "Riley humiliated me! She humiliated *us*! She knew we were coming! She could have answered the door, she could have stayed home, she could have—"
"She didn't know we were coming because she explicitly told us she wouldn't be there!" Jason roared, his voice bouncing off the car windows with such force that Oliver flinched in the backseat.
Stephanie reached over from the passenger seat, gently placing a hand on Jason’s forearm. "Jason, watch your blood pressure," she whispered. "The kids."
Jason took a ragged breath, lowering his voice, but the venom in it didn't dissipate. "You lied to me, Mom. Look me in the eye—metaphorically—and tell me you didn't lie. You looked at me two weeks ago and said, *'Jason, don't worry about Riley's text. She was just stressed. I took her to lunch, and she told me she'd be thrilled to watch the kids.'* Did you say that to me?"
Silence hung heavy over the car's speaker system. The only sound was the hum of the winter tires against the pavement.
"I was trying to facilitate a family Christmas," Evelyn muttered, refusing to give an inch. "Riley always says no at first. You know how dramatic she is. She always throws a tantrum, and then she comes around. If I hadn't pushed her, she would have spent the holiday alone in that apartment like a hermit! I was trying to help her be part of this family!"
"By dropping three children on her doorstep with an old emergency key while she was out of the country?!" Jason yelled. "She wasn't being dramatic, Mom! She was setting a boundary! And because you couldn't stand the fact that she told you no, you dragged my entire family into your sick little power game!"
"Jason Campbell! You do not speak to your mother that way! I gave birth to you! I put you through dental school!"
"And I paid off every single cent of those loans myself!" Jason shouted back. "Do not bring up dental school! Do not bring up your sacrifices! Every time you do something for this family, you keep an itemized receipt in your head so you can hold it over our necks whenever we don't do what you want!"
In the passenger seat, Stephanie closed her eyes. A tear slipped down her cheek. It was the first time in their marriage that Jason had ever voiced the reality she had lived with for seven years.
"Delete the post, Mom," Jason said, his voice cold, steady, and final.
"I will not," Evelyn said stubbornly. "Riley needs to learn—"
"Delete the post, or do not expect to see Emma, Oliver, or Sky for Christmas Eve. Or Christmas Day. Or any day in the foreseeable future."
A sharp intake of breath whistled through the speakers. "You wouldn't dare keep my grandchildren from me."
"Try me," Jason whispered. "You have thirty minutes to take it down. And then you are going to call Riley, and you are going to apologize."
"I have nothing to apologize for!" Evelyn wailed. "She humiliated me in front of the entire family! Did you see the comments Carol made? Did you see what Linda wrote?! My own friends think I’m a monster!"
"Because you acted like one," Jason said flatly.
He reached forward and tapped the red button on the dashboard console, severing the call.
The car fell into a suffocating quiet. The wipers swept back and forth across the windshield, clearing away the falling sleet.
Jason pulled the SUV onto the shoulder of an exit ramp near Idaho Springs, put the vehicle in park, and dropped his forehead against the steering wheel. His shoulders heaved once, twice, before a ragged sob tore through his chest.
Stephanie unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned across the center console, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I'm sorry," Jason wept, his voice muffled against her sweater. "Steph, I'm so sorry. I let her do this to us. I let her treat Riley like garbage because it made my life easier. Every time Riley took the kids, every time Riley cooked, every time Riley gave in, it meant I didn't have to deal with Mom’s wrath. I used my own sister as a human shield."
Stephanie stroked the back of his neck, her own eyes wet. "You were conditioned to do it, Jason. Since you were a little boy. She taught you that keeping her happy was your job."
"It's not my job anymore," Jason choked out, lifting his head. His eyes were bloodshot, his face pale in the dashboard light. "It almost cost me my sister. It's costing me my sanity. We're going home. We're taking the kids back to our house. We're going to make hot chocolate, we're going to order pizza, and we're going to spend Christmas alone."
In the backseat, Emma leaned forward between the front seats. "Daddy?"
Jason wiped his eyes quickly, turning around with a forced smile. "Yeah, sweetie?"
"Are we not going to the cabin?"
"No, baby. Not this time."
Emma looked down at her hands, then looked up at him with surprisingly sharp perception. "Is Aunt Riley mad at us?"
Jason reached back, taking his daughter’s small, warm hand in his. "No, Emma. Aunt Riley isn't mad at you. Aunt Riley is brave. She taught Daddy a really important lesson today."
"What lesson?"
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"That sometimes, you have to say no, even when people get mad at you. Because if you don't, you forget how to say yes to yourself."
***