Page 36 of Something to Someone

“Hi, this is Caroline,” I heard her say before she shut the sliding glass doors. While I prepped the veggies, washing them and organizing them as I was told, Caroline paced back and forth across the patio.

I tried not to watch her, but I couldn’t help it. The longer the conversation went on the more I could see her excitement fade. Minutes later, she hung up the phone and squeezed it between her hands as she tilted her head up toward the sky.

When she pulled open the glass door and came back inside, I braced myself. But she didn’t say anything. She hardly looked at me as she slid her phone across the counter and surveyed the work I’d done.

“Thanks,” she said quietly.

My heart hurt seeing her dejected, and I wanted to yell at the person on the other end of the phone.

She pulled out a knife and a cutting board from the cabinet next to the fridge. “Want to talk about it?” I asked.

Her knee jerk reaction was to shake her head, which she did, so I changed the subject. She gave me instructions on how to help, and I chopped vegetables as she started the chicken on the stove top. We cooked in amiable silence for a while, but when I placed the cutting board full of vegetables next to her, she sighed.

“That was the owner of one of the largest companies in the city,” she said, flipping the chicken. “He called to tell me that they would be going with someone else to plan their huge fiftieth anniversary party. When I asked why, he said that I was too young and didn’t have as much experience as the other event coordinator.”

The desire to yell at the dickhead reemerged. Caroline was capable in all things, but she was especially talented at her job. I’d witnessed it firsthand how detail-oriented, efficient, and thoughtful she was. It was a killer trifecta, and that dumbass didn’t know what he was missing.

“What an absolute asshole. Does he need a firsthand account of your insane skills and talent? I’d be happy to call him back and let him know all my thoughts. But I’m not sure you want to work with such a lovely person anyway.”

She glanced over at me, and I caught the beginnings of a smile. But it didn’t stick around long. She turned back to the chicken and arranged the veggies in the pan around it.

“You’re right, but it’s not the first time it’s happened, and I know it won’t be the last either. It just sucks because I started my own business and worked my ass off to get where I am, yet it won’t ever be enough for some people.”

Reaching up, I squeezed the back of her neck and slid my hand down her back. “People suck. You’re incredible, and I know it doesn’t mean much, but I’m proud of you. You’re more than enough.”

Her hand holding the tongs froze, and she slowly looked up at me. Deep blue-gray eyes bounced between mine, and the emotion that settled behind them disappeared with a few blinks. Every time she reinforced the barrier between us, my stomach sank a little more.

But lucky for us both, I wasn’t easily deterred. And I knew exactly how to find that levity again.

I walked into the bedroom and found my phone on the bedside table. As I headed back down the hallway, I connected to the speakers positioned around the living room and kitchen and cued up the song.

I pressed play and the first notes of one of Caroline’s favorite songs reverberated through the speakers. Well, I wasn’t sure it was one of her favorites, but I knew it would make her feel better and lift her spirits if nothing else.

Dropping my phone, I smiled and started swaying to the music as Caroline slowly turned around. She braced her palms on the counter behind her and watched me with a raised brow. When I started lip-syncing and grabbed a wooden spoon to use as my makeshift microphone, I caught my first glimpse of a smile.

So, I ramped it up a little bit. I slid out from behind the counter with my free arm in the air and really started to sell it. Dancing and lip-syncing my way over to her, that smile grew. When I woke up that morning, I never imagined my day would lead to me lip-syncing Fergie shirtless in the middle of Caroline’s kitchen, but life was funny like that.

She crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her lips to try to hide that smile I was working so hard for. “I can’t believe you even know this song.” She had to almost yell to be heard over the music, but that was the only way to listen—at a volume that could possibly produce hearing loss.

I stopped and straightened. “Umm…this is a classic. Who doesn’t know this song?”

“Okay, well, how do you know thatIlike it?”

“You and my mom have listened to it more than once. Mostly when you’re both wine drunk, but that’s beside the point.”

Rolling her eyes, she pushed off the counter and took a step toward me, narrowing her eyes. “One last question: how old were you when this song came out?”

I chuckled and shook my head. Instead of answering, I grabbed another spoon and thrust it into her hands. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to,” I said. Because she was about seventeen at the time, since I was six, and that wasn’t something I wanted to call attention to. Twenty-three and almost thirty-four felt a lot less dramatic.

I didn’t give her a chance to respond. The music picked up, and I lifted the spoon to my mouth, pretending to scream sing into it. It took a little more coaxing, but Caroline couldn’t resist. She lifted her own spoon and started lip-syncing.

Eventually, the memory of her earlier phone call was miles away. The music and laughter were cathartic and brought a much-needed levity. And for a while, we were justus.

NINETEEN

GRADUATION DAY

Caroline

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