Page 2 of Beg, Borrow, or Steal

Contact the city about the pothole on Main Street

Call Annie’s Internet provider and haggle for a lower price

The last one is more fun than chore for me. Annie, the most tenderhearted out of us four Walker siblings, mentioned the other day that she was dreading making that call, so I gleefully offered myself up as tribute. There’s nothing I love more than going head-to-head with a salesperson.

And believe it or not, I’m not the oldest sibling of our bunch. That title belongs to Noah—but part of me wonders if my parents were too sleep-deprived somewhere along the way and forgot that I was actually born first based on how laid back he is in comparison to me. Too bad my parents are dead, so I can’t ask them. Actually there’s no one I can ask about my family history now because as of November, my grandma—the woman who raised us after my parents kicked the bucket—died too. Everyone is dead.Dead, dead, dead.

And yes, I do like to throw startling little facts like those into conversation whenever I can because shock is always preferable to pity.

The last guy I dated seemed really freaked out when I delivered the dead-parents line with a smile on my face. But these days, I’m happily single by choice. (There’s also a chance that I’m single because I’m an unlovable porcupine and got tired of the constant rejection…but that thought is terrifying, so I slip it inside my Metal Treasure Chest of Doom and leave it there right next to the memory of my first and only love shattering my heart.)

Virginia tips my head back into the million-year-old plastic salon sink to rinse and shampoo my hair. Rather than relaxing, I spend the entire time convincing myself my neck isn’t going to snap. And it’s not until I’m back in the salon chair and Virginia is plugging in her blow-dryer that I hear the name that has me doing a mental spit take.

“Well, I’ve got my own bit of news to share. Did y’all hear about Jack Bennett?” I doubt Shirley realizes that with that one name she has successfully stopped my heart.

“The sexy teacher from the elementary school where you both work?” asks Virginia, her eyes a little too bright. They’re downright zesty.

Jack Bennett, aka my archnemesis since college who moved away four months ago, is supposed to be getting married today to a woman who I happen to think is completely wrong for him. But that’s beside any sort of relevant point.

“Yes. Well, turns out, he’s not getting married today after all. The entire wedding was canceled a few weeks after he moved away with her! How strange is that?”

My stopped heart resuscitates only so it can dramatically flatline once again.

Jack isn’t getting married today?

This can’t be true…

A rumor. It’s just a rumor.

But why am I hoping it’s true?

Hannah perks up and abandons all pretense of styling at this point when she angles her body toward us. “What do you think happened? It had to be something big to call off a wedding after moving away together.”

Jack. Isn’t. Married.

“I’m not sure exactly, but rumor has it that they’re not even together anymore,” says Shirley, so proud to have delivered this fresh slice of meat directly into salivating mouths. “But I know that Jack is the nicest guy, so it’s hard to believe he would have cheated or anything like that.”

And that’s the thing, isn’t it? Everyone feels this way about Jack. He used to swoop in each day draped with kindness, charming smiles, perfect hair, and eclectic outfits that somehow alwaysworked on him. He was excellent at playing the part of a Mr. Rogers wannabe.Maybe if Mr. Rogers had tattoos and was secretly a devil.

Jack truly was great to everyone. Everyone besidesme.I’m the only one who’s seen Jack’s true colors—who knows that under his cozy cardigans, he’s a conniving jerk.

Like any good hostile relationship, our animosity wasn’t built on one single moment but rather a collection of many, many little ones that have snowballed into something greater. And now, after a decade of interacting, we have collected so many we could open a museum full of hatred memorabilia.

Hannah cuts her eyes to me, and I realize I’m not breathing. It must have something to do with the fact that despite how much I hate, hate, triple-hate him…I’ve sort of missed him too. I know, it makes zero sense, and I don’t even like to consider it.

“Do you know anything about what happened, Emily?” asks Hannah. “He teaches in the same grade as you, right?”

Hedidteach in the same grade as me, but he had his last day at Rome Elementary just before winter break, after which he moved to Nebraska with his fiancée. A substitute teacher took over for him the rest of the school year. The day he left, he made his rounds and said goodbye to everyone in the school.Except for me.A thought that still needles me for unknown reasons. Of course he didn’t say goodbye, why would he? We weren’t friends. We were enemies. Enemies don’t pal around with a heartfelt goodbye.

All eyes are on me now, and listen, I truly do hate Jack with all my heart, but…for whatever reason, I also don’t want to talk shit about him when he’s not present. Not because I’m protecting him, but because I’d rather do it to his face where he can react. It’s more fun that way.

I shrug and carry a tone of someone who’s convinced there’s nothing to see here. “This is the first I’m hearing about it. But then again, I try to avoid interacting with Jack as much as possible.”

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