Page 23 of The Road Sometimes Taken

“I told you I was going to work on this trip, so don’t listen to my brother. Send me important messages and anything that needs to be handled ASAP. Okay?”

“Will do. I apologize, again,” she adds. “Anything else I can do?”

“No, Lucia, that’s all. Go ahead and send him an email with a new calendar invite for a Zoom meeting. Add me to it and make it as early as he’ll allow so I can try and get it done before we get on the road from wherever we are at the time. Talk to you soon.” I hang up the phone and immediately text Gus because what the hell.

Me: Augusto, stay out of my business.

Gusti: Disfruta tus vacaciones, Manuel. Dejate de estar contestando el teléfono

?3

Me: ¿Y los clientes que se van a buscar otracompañía que? ¿A la mierda esos?

?4

Gusti: If people can’t understand that you took your first vacation in years, they don’t need to stay with our company. That’s not the people we want around.

Me: You let me handle my shit.

Gusti:

I put my phone in my pocket and get up from the chair. My mood is sour now. Nobody is listening to me and the whole damn company is putting me in a time out. But I can pretend everything is fine and dandy in front of Cara. I refuse to ruin her trip over that.

1 Shit, What the fuck happened?

2 What an actual shit

3 Enjoy your vacation, Manuel. Stop answering the phone.

4 How about the clients? Should those just leave us for another company and we can send them to fuck themselves?

10

MY TOESIES NEED SOME DIRT

STARGAZING, MYLES SMITH

Cara

Manny’s callseems to have stressed him out so I didn’t want to push when he sent me on my way to the river. The path between the tent and the river is beautiful. Trees, bushes and flowers framing the slight descent to a trail. The tree’s canopies cast shadows on the ground making the area cooler. The scent of damp leaves and flowers is subtle and welcoming. Like I’m Alice walking through the forest on the way to Wonderland.

I’m sitting on the riverbank with my bullet journal, jotting down the adventures from today. I take a quick picture of the journal with the river in the background and post to my Instagram stories with a little text that says ‘adventuring.’ I post on social media often. Some people say I post too much but I like to share my life with people even if we don’t talk every day. I’ve gotten a lot of followers from adults who want to prioritize time outside, too, so this will be perfect for them. After that, I goback to the journal to add doodles to the page and check the itinerary for tomorrow. I hear footsteps behind me and when I look, I see Manny jogging slowly toward me.

“Carita!” he shouts, plopping his body next to me.Carita—the damn nickname he gave me ages ago. I don’t hate it but it makes me feel like a little sister as opposed to a woman—a woman he might be interested in.

“Hi, welcome back!” I add and smile at him.

“Whatcha doin’?”

“Doodling in my journal. How was your serious call, Mr. Business Man?” I add, changing my voice to mock him when I call him a businessman.

“It was as fine as a business call could be,” he adds and his playful tone before now sounds serious.

“Hey, it’s okay if you have to work, Manny. You’re already doing so much and going above and beyond. Really, if you need to, go ahead. I’m sure this is the longest you’ve been away from work in a while, right? That’s what Allie is always complaining about,” I urge, setting my hand on top of his thigh. I used to be like that too.

He takes a deep breath before answering, “I’m not going to lie. I usually don’t take time off but maybe it’s needed now. I will have to work some but not too much. Palabra de honor?1.” He kisses two fingers and lifts them up like swearing or taking an oath.

“Goofball,” I tease and we both laugh.

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