Page 16 of Suddenly Single
It rang again.
“You should answer it,” he said.
“It’s a friend.”
“I donna mind,” he assured her.Probably so she’d stop talking to him—this was not Jenny’s first rodeo. “Okay,” she said, picking up the phone, as the ring seemed to grow louder.“But if you hear some yelling, don’t be alarmed.”
“What?”
“Hello?” Jenny said into the phone.
“Turner Tots! It’s Bethany.What’s up?”
“Umm...not much.”
“Not much? Not anything you want to mention to a friend? Maybe about how you and Doofus broke up?”
Jenny glanced sidelong at Edan.His interest had expired; he was watching the road ahead of him, his expression like someone who was miles from where they actually were.“Well hello, Bethany,” she said.“Can you turn it down a notch or two? And how do you know about that?”
“No,I cannot turn it down a notch or two.I just got a call from Bozo, because he lost your number in some weird phone accident where he could only see some numbers, not all of them, I don’t know, it made no sense, but anyway, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.What did he want?”
“Money, probably. I refused to give him your number. Whereareyou?”
“At Lake Haven.”
“East Beach?” Bethany asked.
“Nope.Other side of the lake,” she said, glancing from the corner of her eye at Edan. “A darling inn.” Itwasdarling.It was so unique.
“What happened? What did that asshole do?”
“Now is not a good time,” Jenny said, and to Edan, she rolled her eyes and made a whirling motion at her head to indicate Bethany was nuts.
“Why not? What are you doing? Jesus, Jenny, go to Vanessa’s.”
“I’m fine!” Jenny insisted.“I don’t need to go anywhere.I mean, not at this precise moment.It happens to be very beautiful here.And peaceful.”
“Is it like, a camp?”
“No!”
“Please promise you’re not going to go off and try and camp by yourself.”
Jenny was not going to do that, but she didn’t like the insinuation that she was somehow incapable.At least Misty Pachenko had taught her how to pitch a tent before fucking Devin. “I really like it here.It’s where I want to be right now.I have a lot to think about.”
“Jen-ny,” Bethany said. “This is what you always do! You jump from frying pans to fires.”
Jenny’s pulse began to quicken.She was getting angry. She tried to shift around in the passenger seat so that Edan couldn’t see her face.“Please explain to mewhy,when I do something different than any of you would do, that the assumption is that something is wrong withme? Different strokes, baby.”
“Well here’s the big difference,” Bethany said.“We all havejobs.Listen, it’s your life to live and all that, but come on, Jen, you can’t live like this forever.We say something because we care.You can’t live like a gypsy.”
Jenny blinked.Her heart leapt with indignation.“Since when did everyone become my mother?” she exclaimed, forgetting Edan.“I am fully in charge of my life, Bethany.I am mindful and centered and I know what I’m doing.”
“No you don’t,” Bethany said. “You yourself have said you don’t know what you’re doing with your life. Don’t make me come and get you.”
“Please. You wouldn’t leave your jobfor a moment or the whole telecom industry will fall apart, remember?”
