Page 34 of Rim Shot Rebound

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Nine

 

 

Kelsey unzipped her duffel bag and stared at the empty thing. She’d been filling this bag and carrying it from new home to new home for most of her life. At least she was leaving on her own terms now. And she knew where she was going this time.

She had a cousin, Lily, in Alabama. Kelsey had lived with them for a few weeks before Lily’s family ended up in court and Lily was in foster care right along with Kelsey. They were never in the same place after that, but they kept in touch. Sort of as each other’s emergency contacts. When Kelsey called, Lily wasted no time telling her to get her butt over there. She said she didn’t have much, but she had a futon Kelsey could crash on until they figured everything out. It was the safest landing place she’d ever had lined up.

She had every intention of coming back, eventually. Still, she wasn’t a teenager with nothing to her name but a change of clothes and a couple of notebooks filled with half-written stories and verses. She was an adult now, with belongings and jobs and friends. How was she supposed to fit her whole life in this one bag?

She glanced at the clock on her bedroom wall. 6:05. She reminded herself she was just bailing on one gig. The band had a month before the festival, and Eric could probably pull in a friend from the music school to play drums. She would’ve had to take a break soon anyway. She couldn’t keep hauling all of her equipment much longer. And if she was going to have trouble getting up from couches, she couldn’t imagine how hard it would be to get up from that throne sitting so low to the ground a few months from now.

Still. She would miss it. She would miss them. Right when she needed them most.

Her phone buzzed on the comforter, but she didn’t look at the notification. She knew who was texting her, and she didn’t plan on responding.

She did, however, need to let someone over there know she wasn’t planning to show up for rehearsal. But who to call?

Natalie was the obvious choice, except Natalie would immediately confront Eric. That was the last thing Kelsey needed right now. She didn’t want Eric to know she was leaving until she was already gone. She didn’t want anyone to try to talk her out of this.

Kelsey had known from the start that they would never work out. No matter how hard she and Eric tried, this just wasn’t something they could get past, and she couldn’t make him love her as much as he loved the idea of a full-blown family with her. If she was second-guessing his feelings for her now, when he was completely attentive and trying so hard to make things right, there was no way she could be confident in his feelings for her a year from now. Ten years from now.

If she stayed, she’d always be questioning their relationship. But being with him was so easy. She didn’t have the self-control to be around him and not be with him. Especially with her hormones all jumbled up and raging like this. So she had to leave. She had no other choice.

Her phone buzzed again. This time she flipped it over so she didn’t have to see the name and worried message.

Kelsey thought about her options some more. She liked Lauren and was pretty sure she would be understanding and helpful, but Kelsey didn’t know her well enough. Not well enough to plop her in the middle of this.

That left Robin.

She owed Robin this call. Even if Robin’s disappointment stung the way Kelsey knew it would, she didn’t have any other choice.

She picked up the phone and lingered for a moment over the last notification. Eric was worried. Of course he was worried. She was pregnant with his kid.

Her finger swiped the notification away, and she found Robin’s contact listing. Then she took a deep breath and made the call.

 

* * * * *

 

Eric woke his phone on the music stand for the fifth time. Six thirteen. He glanced at Kelsey’s practice kit with no Kelsey behind it, as if she might magically appear beside him if he looked just once more.

He’d told himself that everything was fine. That she needed time to process things. That eventually she’d remember all the ground they’d made up these last couple weeks. That she’d accept in her heart how sincere he was this time. That he was going to be there for her this time.

But he’d been wrong.

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