Selfish? This kid, this little shit who is doing his best to make my head explode, is calling me selfish? “You know why I can’t go—”
“Yeah, because of me! Except, I’m fine.” He gestures to his wheelchair. “It’s not like I’m just out of the hospital. I’ve been doing this for six months and I’ve pretty much got the hang of it now. I can go three days without you, especially if Z, Luc and Cam are here. Between them and Sarah, I won’t have to do anything. They’ll take care of it all.”
“But it’s not three days anymore. It’s a trip to Chile. For—” I glance at Tansy, who looks horrified. She also looks more than a little concerned, which probably means I’ve got my crazy eyes on. God knows, I feel more than a little nuts.
“Eight days,” she says.
“Eight days? Are you kidding me with this?”
“You don’t have to be there the whole time,” she points out quickly. “But that’s what the anonymous benefactor sent enough money for—”
“Anonymous benefactor?”
“Yes.” She beams, literally beams. “The day after I talked to Alan—umm, I mean—” She gestures to my brother.
“Logan,” he tells her with a grin.
“Logan.” She smiles back. “The day after I talked to Logan, a letter showed up from a local attorney about the trip, along with a very large check to pay for it.”
“Oh, it did, did it?” I think about Z and the millions of dollars he doesn’t know what to do with. Of the unflagging campaign he and the others have launched to get me to go along with this Make-A-Wish thing. To get me back on the powder. I end up glaring at my brother. “I wonder where that came from?”
“Don’t look at me.” He holds his hands up in front of him. “I have no idea what happened. I just wanted to get you to Oregon. Once Chile was brought up, I kind of freaked out a little.”
“So you just stopped answering her emails? That’s awesome, Logan. Really classy.”
“I was trying to think of a way to convince you to go.”
“Yeah, but that was never going to happen. So now you’ve caused all this trouble for nothing.”
“Why isn’t it going to happen?” Logan demands. “You love boarding in Chile!”
“Excuse me,” Tansy interjects, but we both ignore her.
“I love a lot of things. That doesn’t mean I’m going to run off and do them right now.”
“See, there you go again. Freaking out because I’m in this stupid chair. It’s fine. Go. I’ve got this.”
Goddamnit. It’s like we’re not even speaking the same language. “You are fourteen years old. You don’t have this. You don’t have anything. You’re not supposed to yet.”
“Oh, and you do?” He looks me over with obvious disdain. “No offense, Ash, but you look like shit. You should probably spend a little time worrying about yourself instead of spending all your energy on me.”
“Umm, excuse me?” Tansy tries to interject again, but again Logan and I are too wrapped up in our personal battle to pay attention.
“So what do you suggest? That I just pack my shit up and head out to Chile for a week?”
“Actually, yes. You could use the break. And so could I. So go!”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do. You’re not in control here.”
“Yeah, well neither are you. You’re my brother. You’re not my dad. You’re just my brother and you don’t get to tell me what to do every second of every day!”
“All right,” Tansy interjects a third time. “Can we all just—”
“What?” I whirl on her, feeling as out of control as my brother just told me I was. “Can we all just what?”
“I was going to suggest that we all take a couple deep breaths and—”
“Ash doesn’t know how to do that,” Logan tells her snidely. “He’s too busy ordering everyone around to remember how to breathe. Isn’t that right, Ash?”