The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 170

"Seriously, Dr. Foster, I just don't get it. If you love your wife so much, why the hell did she bolt to Antarctica?" Wyatt asked, his face a mask of genuine curiosity as he loudly crunched on his peanut brittle.

Garrison leveled a death glare at him.

For a brief, agonizing second, he severely regretted his decision to bring this obnoxious ex-cop along!

Outside the cabin window, a massive rift tore through the cloud bank, allowing a blinding shaft of sunlight to pierce through the glass, stinging their eyes. Garrison stared into that widening corridor of light, remaining dead silent for a long time.

"Do you actually think I love her?" he finally shot back.

Wyatt blinked, momentarily stunned.

"Well... yeah, I guess so. I mean, back at the chemical plant, your wife was the one who charged straight into the fire to save your son. And you looked..."

"Shut up." Garrison was teetering dangerously close to a complete mental breakdown. "Say one more word, and I will personally throw you out of this plane!"

Wyatt immediately clamped his mouth shut.

He looked down, carefully smoothing out his candy wrapper, folding it into a perfect little square, unfolding it, and folding it again.

The jet cruised smoothly above the blanket of clouds. The blinding sunlight flooded the cabin, washing the interior in a harsh, sterile white.

Wyatt didn't push his luck with any more questions, and Garrison didn't utter another syllable. The only sound left was the dull, monotonous roar of the jet engines, echoing like the heavy, secretive heartbeats of the two men.

*

Antarctica. Day four of the expedition.

The snowcat continued its agonizingly slow crawl across the endless white wasteland.

The sky was still an oppressive, suffocating black, but the crew had finally adjusted to the relentless dark of the Polar Night. Diego gripped the steering wheel, happily humming a song. He was completely off-key, but he didn't seem to care in the slightest.

"How's our fuel looking?" Professor Harrison called out from the passenger seat.

Diego checked the dashboard gauges and then glanced over at the GPS mapping software.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify