Page 21 of Taking Adalisa

Margery grabs a pair of scissors and cuts through the tape. I watch, trying not to hover to see what’s inside. It’s not my box,even though I want it to be. I never get any packages delivered to me. She pulls a multicolored zebra out of the box.

“Oh, my goodness. That is so cute! And look, it has your name embroidered on it!” I squeal. “Wait, what is that?”

I squint my eyes, trying to see if I’m really seeing what I think I am. That can’t be, could it?

“Is that a binkie?” I questioned.

“Do you know who gave it to you? And why would they put a binkie around the neck of the zebra?” I ask. “I know you said you’ve been on a couple of dates. Maybe one of them gave it to you. But the binkie wouldn’t make any sense.”

Margery nods but stays silent for a couple of minutes. “I don’t know. Maybe it could be one of them, but I don’t know,” she whispers. “I’m going to keep it though, just in case I see one of them again. Then, I can ask.”

“Why don’t you just message them?”

She shakes her head. “Not happening. I don’t want them to think that they need to send me gifts. They also don’t know that I’m talking to multiple people. I’m not dating any of them. They don’t know I’m keeping my options open. And as for the binkie, I have talked about wanting kids. Maybe one of them sent it as a ‘I want to have kids with you’ gift? It is weird, and if I see one of them, I’ll ask if they bring it up.”

I don’t really understand why she won’t just message them. It’s a simple question to ask. If they don’t, then she rules out who it might be. But it’s not my life so I can’t do anything about it.

“How was your date last night?” I ask as Margery puts the stuffed animal back in the box.

“It was all right, but the person was missing something,” Margery answers with a shrug.

“What do you think he was missing?” I inquire.

“I don’t know. He’s not the love of my life,” Margery says, sitting beside me. “I know. I know.”

“Nobody is going to be Ethan. You need to get that out of your head,” I tell her, looking at her sympathetically.

“I know, but it’s hard. I grew up with Ethan. We talked about getting married. We weregoingto get married,” she sighs.

I feel bad for her, I really do. “But now you can’t. It’s harsh, but someone needs to tell you. You need to stop comparing every man to Ethan. Because they won’t be Ethan, and you’re going to end up disappointed every single time.”

“I know. I’m trying to, but it’s so difficult,” Margery replies. “Let’s just get to work. We’ve got things to stock, and no doubt customers are going to be flocking in soon.”

“I have food for an Adalisa?”a man announces, walking into the store.

My eyebrows pinch together as I stand up. “Food? I didn’t order anything. I don’t eat food I don’t prepare so it can’t be for me.”

“I was told to come here with food for Adalisa. A man has already paid me and given me a tip. Have a good day.” He hands me the food and leaves.

I sit down and look at the bag in my hand. I know who it is. Out of spite, I want tonoteat it, show him I don’t need him to take care of me, but my stomach has been grumbling all morning. Not having breakfast really left me hungry. The whole interaction with his mom threw off my morning.

“You ordered food and didn’t get me any?” Margery asks. “I would have paid you, you know that.”

I shake my head, still staring at the food sitting on the counter in front of me. “I didn’t order this.”

Margery sits beside me and smiles. “So, who bought it? I thought you didn’t know many people in New York.”

“I don’t,” I mumble.

When I open the bag, I see a note placed on top of the take-out container. I don’t dare pick it up, not wanting Margery to see the note and ask me a million questions. I’m not ready for them, not when I haven’t really been able to focus on anything this morning.

“Is it from the guy who sent you the bracelet the other day?” Margery asks. “Is he trying to make up for lost time? Wait!”

I look at her. “Wait, what?”

“Was he at your house last night? Did you guys do the nasty, and he didn’t allow you to eat breakfast, so now he’s giving you food as an apology?” Margery narrows her eyes at me.

“No, he wasn’t, and no he didn’t,” I brush it off.

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