Page 12 of Rim Shot Rebound

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Four

 

 

Kelsey scribbled in her spiral notebook. Scratched out her scribbles. Scribbled some more. Scratched those notes out as well.

She grimaced at the page. It was crap. Along with all the rest of the crap she’d written down that day. Even on her worst writing days—lyrics, poems, stories, anything—the words were better than this. It was like she was growing a brain-sucking alien in her belly instead of a baby.

Maybe.

Nothing in this life was guaranteed. Not your brain spitting out a song. Not parents or a family. Not a baby. Not the man you love sticking around.

I want to show you what you mean to me. To earn your trust and love again.

Did he really mean that? She didn’t think for one second that he was lying to her, but was he lying to himself?

Her brain was a mess. The more she tried not to think about everything Eric said two nights ago, the more her brain obsessed about it.

She sighed heavily, then ripped the page out of the notebook, crumpled it, and tossed it on the coffee table. Her turtle, safe beneath the removable, Plexiglas tabletop, stretched his neck up toward the ball of paper beside three other crumpled pages of discarded crap. After a few twists and turns of his head, he went back to work, patrolling the mesh wire walls of his giant coffee table terrarium.

Kelsey had no other choice. She’d have to back out of this whole songwriting thing. Robin would understand. Kelsey wouldn’t even have to tell her about the pregnancy, just that it wasn’t working out. Or maybe she could tell her that Camille had been the genius in all their partnerships. It wouldn’t be a lie.

A steady knock on her apartment door momentarily saved her from her spiraling mediocrity mope. Kelsey glanced at her phone for a missed message, since she wasn’t expecting anyone. She was almost never expecting anyone. Especially not on a Sunday afternoon.

When she looked through the peephole, she shook her head and opened the door. Natalie was flashing a giant smile.

“No Cadence?” Kelsey asked.

“Dropped her off at her dad’s on the way. You’re stuck with just me tonight.” Natalie took her arms from behind her back and held them up along with her offering—box of saltines, a can of loose herbal tea, and a package of sour candy straws. “Up for a movie?”

“Nope. But I’ve got a better idea.” Kelsey nodded inside. “I was just about to kill stuff.”

Kelsey and Natalie might have come from very different backgrounds and dealt with life in very different ways, but they did have one reliable shared self-care activity: video games.

“Sweet!” Natalie made a beeline for the living room, but paused before sitting on the couch. “That thing always creeps me out.”

“That thing has a name.”

“I know. Which one is he again?”

“Michelangelo.” Eric had given the turtle and the custom terrarium to her two years ago for her thirtieth birthday, because he knew she loved turtles. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her. Unfortunately, as much as she loved the little guy, he was a permanent reminder of Eric right in her living room.

Natalie chuckled and scratched at the mesh while the turtle hobble-ran over to her side. “The loud, flashy one who always wants attention. Just like the man who gave it to you. I should remember that.” She frowned and gave Kelsey a sideways glance. “Is this thing even safe?”

“We’ve had this discussion. He doesn’t have teeth.”

“No, I mean with you pregnant and all.”

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