Page 24 of Waiting for Tuesday

Iglancedfrom my phone to the back room, growing more impatient with each second. It was already seven thirty, an hour and a half past our normal cut off time, but here Eddie and I waited.

Tuesday hadn’t come out all night, and I couldn’t hide the fact that I was pissed. Her friend had left hours ago, yet Tuesday continued to pound away in the back room, doing God knows what.

I flipped open my laptop and began writing an update for Jake. My family was expecting me a half hour ago. Part of me didn’t mind the delay. I knew Lisa was itching to hound me about her friend again, but when I spoke to my mom this afternoon, she’d soundedstrange. Even when I’d stayed on the phone five minutes longer than usual, she didn’t say what was wrong. For that reason alone, I was anxious to get going.

I looked down to my cell and shook my head. “Okay, we’re done.” I ripped my tool belt from my body and threw it in a pile on the counter. As much as I hated leaving her alone, I couldn’t stick around all night. Especially a woman who hadn’t said a word to me in two days.

“Start packing up, Eddie, you win. I’ll go tell Ms. Patil we’re leaving.”And give her one last opportunity to go with us. But when I pushed through the plastic to the back room, I stopped.

She was crying. Not loud—but not quiet either. The sounds caused my heart to clench. A reaction fostered from being raised with three sisters, no doubt. I couldn’t stand the sound of it. Not any tears, but especially not from her. Tuesday’s cry was different. Lonely, desperate—hollow.

The back room was a mess. Open boxes and packing peanuts littered the floor, and she sat in the middle of all of it, her head down, alap filled with a handful of small brown boxes, and her shoulders shaking so hard I could almost feel the vibration from fifteen feet away. I retreated back through the plastic.

Shit!

She didn’t like me. She’d stated as much, and proven it over and over by not speaking to me for the last twenty-four hours. I knew the last thing she’d want was my awkward consolation… but I couldn’t leave her alone. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to figure out what to do then turned around.

“Sorry Eddie, but there’s something I’m going to need you to do.”

His brows pinched together and he muttered under his breath. “Ahh fuck…”

“Ms. Patil has had a rough night,” I began. “I need you to escort her to her car when she’s ready to leave.”

He retrieved his tool belt from the top of the counter and began fastening it around his waist again. He nodded. “Sure thing, boss.” Then he patted me on the shoulder and gestured his chin toward the exit. “Go, I’ll take care of her. Go see your family.”

It was exactly what I wanted him say. Exactly what I wanted him to do—but for some reason, I didn’t like his answer one bit.

Not one little bit.

Chapter TEN

John

* * *

It wasfive after eight when I pulled in front of my parents’ house. I knew they’d already eaten. Just as I was sure a plate would be waiting for me in the microwave. My family was like that, which was what made it so nice to come home. There were no expectations, no complications, just a family who was happy to see me walk through the door. No matter how late I was.

I jogged up the front steps of the two-story house, past the cherry tree in the front yard that had been my safe haven, and the brick pedestals I’d carved my name into when I was six. I took a deep breath, pushed open the front door, and stepped inside. The sounds of my family carried down the long hall, the familiar sound filling me with a sense of peace. Voices big and small echoed in the foyer from ceiling to wooden floor. And when I walked around the corner, the sight of them all together still made me smile. Mom was in the kitchen doing the dishes with Penny and Margaret. Dad was watching baseball in his favorite chair with a couple grandkids curled up on his lap, and Lisa was sitting on the couch with my niece and nephew.

“It’s about time,” she said, taking my niece Frances and placing her back on the couch cushions.

“Sorry, I got tied up at work.”

She nodded and tucked the blanket back around her kids’ shoulders before moving toward the kitchen.

Mom turned around and smiled at me, her hands covered with yellow plastic gloves. “There’s a plate of food for you in the microwave.”

I smiled, patted my nephew Johnny on the head, and then made my way across the kitchen to heat up my food.

Lisa came to lean against the counter and frowned. “How’s Katie?”

“She’s good. She’s home, seems to be doing well, but Jake’s a mess… He hates not being on site, but there’s no way he’s ready to leave her alone just yet.”

She nodded. “I’m glad she’s okay. How’s the new job?”

I lifted my shoulders and pulled a fork out of the drawer. “Good.”

Lisa tilted her head and examined me, surely sensing my frustration with the whole situation. It was thirty minutes later, and my shoulders were still rigid like rocks from seeing Tuesday like that. I was pissed at myself. Pissed for my actions the first night we’d met. Pissed atherfor being so damned stubborn she couldn’t just forget about the whole thing. Maybe if things had gone differently it wouldn’t be like this between us now. Maybe her tears would have landed on my shoulders instead of her sweet, little hands.

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