Page 86 of Falling Backwards
…Shit, we didn’t even think about that detail.
I go with a vague, “A while.”Then I clear my throat.“I’ll talk to you later.”
I think I hear a quiet sigh.
“Okay,” she finally says.“Have fun.”
“Thanks.Bye.”
“Bye-bye, dear.”
We end the call.I try not to stomp around as I get ready to leave, but it’s hard not to.It’s hard not to feel upset by this information I learned only because Aunt Joni mentioned receiving her own holiday card and I muttered about not knowing how my dad sent me one.
Who gives out someone’s address without fucking asking them first?That could go so wrong in so many ways.
On the drive to Maggie’s apartment, I also find it hard to stay out of my thoughts.I think about how much it stung to get that card, and about how my dad told me family is important during our last phone call, and about how it felt to be fifteen and hear he was marrying the woman he cheated on my mom with just a few short months prior—he was going to build a brand new life, not care about what happened to the one he left behind, be a full-time dad to two teenagers and neither of them were m—
Startled, I jerk my mind from that not only because it burns at my insides but also because an oncoming car is turning across my lane, cutting right in front of me to go to Burger King.I rush to brake while they don’t even look my way.
“Asshole!”I yell at them and at my dad.I honk my horn for an aggravated second, but the other car has already sped away from me.
Also like my—
“Fuck off,” I snap to my brain now.“Shut up.I don’t wanna think about this shit anymore.”
Well, I do my best not to, but my mood doesn’t calm very much.
When I get to Maggie’s building, I slip into what is already becoming a habit: looking around to see if Kyle is lurking anywhere.He isn’t.Not in the parking lot, not in the lobby, not in the second-floor hallway she lives on.
Two minutes before the agreed-on time of ten o’clock, I knock on her door, then cross my arms and think about our plans.We’ve got some shopping to do; she said she needs workout clothes, and I decided upon waking this morning that I could use some, too, because I don’t want to completely give up on trying to exercise.I also need to replenish my laundry detergent and body wash.Lunch is probably in there somewhere.We should be able to get all that done within a couple hours, leaving us with enough time to get ready for work at one.
Except that when Maggie answers the door, her body is wrapped in a short green bathrobe and her hair is so messily bunched into the small towel in her hand that some of it is falling out, clearly wet.
She’s nowhere near ready to leave.
In fact, she looks surprised to see me.
My irritation goes up another notch.
“Oh, hi.I—uh—” She backs away from the door, wordlessly inviting me in.“I didn’t think you’d get here so fast.I—”
“What do you mean‘so fast’?I’m here at ten because I said I’d be here at ten.”I enter the apartment with a frown, thinking about how much hair she has and how long it’ll probably take to fix it.“Did you think I wouldn’t know how to show up on time just because we don’t have work yet?”
She frowns too.“No, I—”
I groan.“Well, please tell me you haven’t turned into the kind of girlfriend who takes a fucking eternity to get ready to go places.”
She’d just begun to shut us into the apartment, but now she stills, her frown becoming a glare.It almost looks like she’s thinking about pushing me back out the door.
“Number one,” she says, “you know me well enough to know I respect people’s time.Number two, it’s not my fault our hot water went out and only got fixed, like, twenty minutes ago.What are you biting my head off for?”
I glare back.“Are you serious?I’m annoyed because you could’ve told me you got delayed so I—”
“I did!”She cuts a disbelieving look along me, then scoffs.“Oh, okay, Luke.Haveyouturned into the kind of guy who doesn’t pay attention when his girlfriend texts him?”
I start to retort—but my words wither as that last part registers with me.
All too late, I remember she did text me a little while ago, but I never….
