Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

Chapter 51

Saturday, 12 March 2022 – 9:45 p.m. MST

Jordan Sorensen received First Runner Up in her Junior Miss pageant. She had performed a wonderful violin solo and scored well in all other categories. She was sure that her interview was the one area in which she had scored poorly. She reacted well to not winning the pageant overall, but she was disappointed.

As they drove away from Mountain View High, Jordan sat with her head on her mother’s shoulder. She didn’t want to talk about the pageant any more. It had exhausted her and she was ready to do something different.

It was late, but she was hungry and in the mood for just going out as a family. She suggested her personal favorite, The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant that she had loved since she was little. At first she looked forward only to the final course, the chocolate fondue, but as she had grown she found that she actually preferred the cheese fondue. Occasionally she craved it. Tonight was one of those nights.

The family agreed and invited Valerie. The six spent the next few hours in pure enjoyment. Quinn had relaxed when Valerie messaged him that Bryan had partially contained the infection. He assumed that if Bryan could slow it immediately, he would eradicate it eventually.

As the dinner drew on, young Julie Ann fell asleep in the booth. At that, the family decided it was time to finish. They said goodnight to Valerie and returned home. Quinn and Laura put the children to bed and retired.

Quinn lay awake for a moment reveling in the joy he felt. Never in his years of exciting corporate growth had he ever felt that type of peaceful joy. There had been happiness, pride, excitement in his work, but never true joy. He realized how much he looked forward to moving on. His plan had always been to step down at Q-Morrow when Laura won the senate. He had never voiced his plan. He wanted to surprise her with it. He hoped that he would be able to follow through.

At six a.m. as Quinn sat in his study looking over the morning news he received a distressed message from Ramesh. He replied.

I will arrange the return flight immediately. Please call.

Quinn passed the return flight planning off to Valerie. She knew better than he how to make the arrangements. The call rang in.

“Ramesh?” Quinn answered.

“Yes.” His voice was low and raspy.

“Are you okay?”

“No.” The answer clearly denoted incredulity that Quinn had even asked. “I’ve just come from the house of my best friend where I found him dead and I’ve just caused a multiple-car collision on the N3. Quinn, I’ve just spent the past few days dealing with this disaster you created. I am most definitely not okay.”

Quinn had no response. He had meant to ask if Ramesh was physically well and out of danger. “I’m sorry.” He truly was sorry, but sorry offered nothing.

“So am I.”

“Valerie is arranging your return.”

“Thank you.”

“Ram?” Quinn wanted to ask if he had found out anything that could help. He wanted to know if there was some bit of information that could help them get back on track. He deferred. “Take care. I’ll see you when you arrive.”

Ramesh heard the pause. He knew that Quinn was anxious and resented that Quinn was still interested in his personal agenda. But it was not in Ramesh to be vengeful. No matter what happened, Ramesh was above that.

“Yes. I’ll see you then,” he responded. “I’m sending you a recording that Brad made for you. It will help you with the current problems. He seemed so pleased that you would have come to see him. It’s unfortunate that you didn’t.”

Quinn felt both a wave of relief and a wave of shame. “Yes. Yes it is,” he said quietly.

“It appears that Valerie has just messaged me. She has arranged a flight already. I’ll see you soon.” Ramesh said then ended the call.

Quinn sat in his study. The peaceful joy he had enjoyed during the night was now replaced with anger, fear, doubt, self-loathing, emptiness and loneliness all wrapped up in one ugly package. He leaned forward and held his head in his hands. This was not the life he had endeavored to create. This was not the future he wanted.