Powering Through: A Sequel to Learning To Swim For Real

Chapter 23: Chasing Kelsey

Jack bent down and picked up the dolphins, feeling their smooth, cool weight in his hand for a moment before he swept them back into the bag. He quickly walked into the house, moving between the people gathered in the entry, heading toward the staircase. Jack's feet sped up as he took the stairs three at a time, something he hadn't done since he was thirteen years old.

"Jack? Son? Where are you going?" he heard his mother call after him.

He didn't bother to answer, but simply ran to his room, rifling through his belongings until he found the small box, wrapped in red foil, that contained the dolphin charm bracelet. He crammed it in the gift bag with the dolphins and ran back downstairs, shoving his feet into the first shoes he found, which happened to be his boots.

Jake was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, holding the keys to his own car, a truck with 4 wheel drive, along with his own coat, a puffy down thing for when he had to haul lumber and stuff for his furniture business. "My car's better for driving in the fog," he explained, pressing the keys into Jack's hand. "And I just filled it up, too."

"Thanks," Jack said, kissing his brother. "She can't have gone far, right? Not in this? She's not used to driving in fog--"

"Just go," Jeremy urged, making a shooing motion.

Jack waved at everyone on his way out, telling Marian, "I'm sorry to leave like this."

She shook her head, but she wasn't happy, Jack could tell.

He started Jake's truck and took off into the cold night, trying to guess where Kelsey would go. She'd have to take it slow with visibility being so bad, but even so, Jack knew how ridiculous it was to try to chase someone whose destination he didn't know on a foggy night, someone who had at least a five minute head start.

He thought back to what he'd seen in her car when he was standing next to it. She definitely had her overnight bag in the back seat, so she must be on her way to her family still. And the best way to Iowa from Warren would be SFO.

Which would mean the freeway.

Jack got on the westbound freeway , where he assumed he'd make up a little time on Kelsey, even though she was in the faster car, simply by virtue of the fact that he knew the roads so well. Visibility on this night before Christmas Eve was barely fifty yards, but Jack had grown up in the valley and was used to driving in the heavy, dense, Tulle fog that frequently blanketed it, sometimes for weeks at a time. He gave the truck more gas and began passing the slower vehicles, many of which were filled with holiday travelers who were nervous about the bad visibility.

He looked at every light-colored car he passed, especially if he recognized the BMW logo on the trunk, but none of them was Kelsey's little sports car. He reached the Altamont Pass and hoped that the fog would lift, but aside from a brief clearing at the summit, it was just as dense on the Livermore side.

He risked breaking the law and sent Kelsey a text:

"I'm right behind you I think. We have to talk, please, Kelseylove. Tell me where you are?"

He didn't even know if she was receiving his texts anymore, or if she'd blocked him. He tried calling her, too, but it went straight to voicemail. Hearing her voice, even her voicemail recording, made Jack smile in the darkness of Jake's truck.

"Hello, you've reached Kelsey's voicemail, though if you're still using voicemail, I don't know if I want to talk to you, haha! You can try if you want, though, and leave a message after the--" beep

"Kelsey? Sweetheart, look. I'm here on the Altamont Pass, in the most awful fog you've probably ever seen. I hope you're headed for the San Francisco airport, or I don't have a hope of finding you. Please, please, call me back, or text me or whatever, so we can talk? Please. Marian's just trying to get to her house in Red Bluff, her flight got canceled so she came with me as a last ditch try to get to her house, that's all, okay? I love you. Please call me. Text me--"