Page 44 of About Time

I make some kind of barely coherent noise as a reply.

“Long shift?” she asks.

“Yeah. It’s been a long fucking week of them actually. Today was the worst. I got pissed on by an old man when I tried to insert a catheter, and after I changed my scrubs I was puked on by a toddler with a rhinovirus. If that didn’t suck bad enough, a bunch of dumbass teenage boys thought it would be cool to build their own BMX course. Spoiler, it wasn’t cool, but it was bloody.”

“Well, I don’t have to keep you on the phone,” she says.

I yawn loud, but we’ve been playing phone tag for two days now. “No, just let me put you on speaker.”

With that done, I set the phone down and start stripping out of my scrubs. Thankfully the hospital had extras, but I can still feel the remains of other people’s bodily fluids on my skin. I scrubbed myself thoroughly in the shower when I changed, but I kinda feel like I’ll never be clean again.

I crank on the faucet and turn the water to as hot as I can stand it. I set the phone up on a shelf close to the shower before I step in. “So what do you have going on tonight? It’s date night, right?” I shout.

“Yep. Martin got us tickets to a play at the university in Centralia. We’re going to grab dinner before the show. Should I wear that blue dress I got when we went shopping the last time I came to visit, or the red one you got me last Christmas? It’s supposed to rain, a lot.”

“Definitely the blue. It goes better with your one and only umbrella. Call me tomorrow and tell me all about it? I’m getting out of the shower, and then I’m going to sleep for the next day,” I tell her.

“Hey kid,” I hear Martin shout in the background.

I can hear him clearer, letting me know I’ve been put on speakerphone too. “Hey bro, what’s up?”

“Just trying to get your sister out the door. We love you kiddo. Think about coming home for a visit? Wren’s in high school, and we’d all really like it if you came home before she is away at college. She’s already secured a full ride to Central Valley, isn’t that amazing?”

I love hearing him brag about her. My stomach clenches knowing that my time of avoiding my hometown is coming to an end. At the very least, I’ll have to mentally prepare myself to come back for her graduation. Charlie and I haven’t seen or spoken to each other in over six years. It’s about time I pull upmy big girl panties and move on. That can wait for an epically long nap though. Priorities and all.

I wake disoriented, wondering why my alarm is going off. I’m in that state after a much-needed rest where you aren’t sure where you are, what time it is, and what you’re supposed to be doing. It takes me several seconds to realize it isn’t my alarm going off, but my phone ringing.

I’m still waking up when I flip open my phone and rasp out a greeting.

“Hattie, come out and join us,” Clark begs.

I open my mouth to give him my standard refusal. We’re friends, but he’s made his intentions to win me over very clear. It isn’t that I’m not attracted to him. I just think there’s a part of me that broke when Charlie pushed me away, and I can’t muster interest in a romantic relationship.

How sad of a life would it be if at twenty-six I decide this is all there’s going to be? If I put aside my dreams of having a family of my own I think I’ll hunt down Charlie Storm and kill him. He doesn’t get to dictate the rest of my life.

Keeping that in mind, I roll myself out of my cocoon of blankets. “I need to get ready really quick. Where am I meeting you guys?”

“I can come and pick you up,” he offers quickly.

I resolve right then and there to try and be more open to the idea of the two of us together. I need to be careful because his friendship has been a balm on my lonely soul. I won’t move forward with him unless I’m sure it can be forever.

“I’ll be ready in thirty,” I agree and we get off the phone.

Ready or not life, I’m coming back.

Chapter Nineteen

Hattie Present- Age 43

My hands are shaking.I know Charlie wants me to go back and sit with him, but I can’t. Not with all of this poison creeping back into my head. I know all of this is in the past, but it’s hard for me not to let those feelings back in with the memories.

I can see Wren is bracing herself for this part of my story. Her green eyes are glassy with unshed tears. By the time I’m done with this, I don’t think I’ll be the only one who has cried tonight.

“I can stop,” I tell her.

When she doesn’t say anything I continue. “Donovan thinks that you need to hear this. That you need to know why I took off when you needed me the most.”

“I was fine. Really, I—” she starts, but I make a wiping motion with my hand halting her mid-sentence.

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