Burgers, she likes burgers with cheese, no veggies or sauce. Fries, well, because who doesn’t like french fries. Twice-baked potatoes with bacon in it because without it, it doesn’t taste the same.”
“That is a long list,” I say, taking my wallet out and putting my card down for the server.
“It’s even longer, but those are the most important ones,” she says, slipping out of the booth. “I’ve got to go. She’s with the neighbor, and it’s almost dinnertime.”
“Okay, I’ll touch base with you tomorrow, and we can work out a time.”
“Sounds like a plan.” She nods and walks away from me. I watch her walk out of the restaurant.
She’s wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt with flip-flops. As she walks away from the door, she does it with her head down. The burning starts to form in the pit of my stomach, thinking maybe I upset her somehow. I’m about to go after her when my phone rings, and I look down and see that it’s Jenna.
“Hello.” I answer after the second ring.
“Hey,” Jenna greets. “Whatcha doing?”
“Just headed back to Matty’s house,” I inform her, nodding at the server who has come over to process my card.
“How long are you staying out there?” This morning, I hightailed it out of the hotel, leaving her with a plane ticket at the airport. We were supposed to be there for three days, but I said I had a work emergency and had to bail. She was not happy at all.
“Um,” I start to say and then nod at the server, who gives me a copy of my receipt. I slide out of the booth and head outside. “I haven’t decided yet.” I tell her the lie instead of saying my daughter lives here, so now this is where I’ll be living.
“What?” she shrieks.
“Listen, Jenna,” I start out saying, and even I inwardly groan at my tone. “I don’t think this is going to work out.”
“Excuse me?” she retorts, shocked. “What are you talking about?”
“I think it’s best if we just be friends.” I swear if any of my female family members were here, they would kick me in the balls. “I have a lot going on, and I need to focus on that.”
“Incredible,” she huffs out. “When did you come to this decision?” she asks me but then doesn’t give me a chance to reply. “You were distant the whole weekend.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—” I don’t finish the sentence because she snaps.
“Fuck off!” she shouts, and then I hear nothing. I look down at the phone and see she ended the call.
“Okay, then,” I say, putting the phone in my back pocket as I walk over to the truck and get in.
“Time to make a plan.” I look out of the window, knowing exactly who I have to call next.
addison
. . .
T he sound of soft bells wakes me up and I roll over in my bed. My hand reaches over to stop the noise. My head feels like it weighs five thousand pounds, while my eyes refuse to even crack open. This is what I get for staying up all night, replaying the conversation I had with Stefano in my head. Even when I finally fell asleep, all I did was dream of him. For the past five years, I would dream about him on and off, but now that I’ve seen him again, nothing can compare to being in front of him for real. I don’t know how I do it, but I press snooze and seven minutes later the bells ring again.
I know I have to get up. I slowly crack open one eye before turning off the alarm. I throw the covers off myself before I slip back to sleep. Walking out of my room to the kitchen, I press the button for the coffee machine. I stand here in front of the Keurig with my eyes closed as the machine puffs out steam, and then the smell of coffee fills the room. After the coffee spits out the last drop, I add a splash of milk to it. I take two sips of coffee before I make my way to Avery’s room. Before this apartment, we shared a room and a bed. It was the most I could afford, but she was young and didn’t know better.
I’m thankful she didn’t see the struggles I went through when she was younger.
Her bedroom is painted white, something I couldn’t change because the landlord wouldn’t let me, but everything else is pink, including her pink toddler bed I bought. I found the mosquito net at the dollar store, and with a little bit of YouTube and Pinterest, I turned it into a canopy bed. It was the best I could afford. I tiptoe into the room and see she is sleeping on her side, with the covers pushed to her feet. I slip into her bed with her, pulling her to me. I kiss her soft cheek as she softly snores in my arms. “Good morning,” I coo quietly to her. She groans in my arms like she does every single morning. The only thing my girl isn’t is a morning person. From when she was a baby, she was the best sleeper in the world. The doctor said it was because I was so calm during my pregnancy. I just went with I was lucky. “How did you sleep?”