Page 44 of Semi Sweet
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not. It’s done. It’s over. It should have been years ago,” I replied. I didn’t have the strength to go any deeper than that right now.
“So I take it you will be a no call no show tomorrow?”
I hadn’t even thought about the fallout of this choice until he’d mentioned it. A grocery store job wasn’t worth putting up with Evan anymore, but calling out made it real. There would be no turning back.
I nodded. “Yeah, I think it’s safe to say you need a new clerk.”
Half smirking, Sean said, “I didn’t need you as bad as I made Russel believe.” He shook his head to get us back on track. “What do you need?”
I looked at the two bags over by the door. “Well, most of my stuff was damaged, destroyed, or left behind. So pretty much everything. But to get through the next few days I’ll need to eat, sleep, and shower. Oh, and probably see about getting a new phone number. I turned it off once I got a hold of you. I’m sure Evan knows I’m gone by now and is blowing up.”
“We can take care of that when I get back tomorrow,” he assured me. “We can sort it all out then, but I should probably go to bed.” He pulled a blanket out of a closet and handed it to me. “I have fallen asleep many a night on that couch so I can swear to its comfort level.” He whistled at Bear. “Come on, buddy.”
The dog didn’t move, its dark eyes still on me.
“It’s fine, I could probably use the company.”
Sean shrugged. “Good night, then.” He began to walk toward the bedroom.
“Thank you. You didn’t have to do this,” I said. “I promise I’ll do my part.”
“The only thing I want you to promise to do right now is to rest.”
I nodded. “I will do my best.”
This time when the door shut, the silence that followed felt like an offering. I got up to hit the light, but not before giving Bear a nice pat.
***
I woke up to light streaming in through a small window in the kitchen, but I couldn’t tell if my ordeal had caused me to sleep past noon or if it was early morning. I jumped when I noticed Bear had his head resting on the couch down by my feet like he was waiting for me to wake up.
“Hey there,” I whispered and reached over to scratch behind his ears. I’d never had pets, even before I’d met Evan. My mom had very sensitive skin and some allergies. “Let’s be friends, okay?”
I noticed that there was a piece of paper stuck to the refrigerator with a magnet. Sean’s sloppy handwriting was on it.
Help yourself. I’ll be home around 6:30.
I opened the door to find that the fridge was moderately stocked for one guy. If I were a braver person, I’d venture out to find a smaller store myself. I wasn’t going to a Cash Value Market anytime soon.
I found the bowls and spoons and helped myself to some cereal, realizing I hadn’t had anything to eat since before my class the night before. I ate two bowls before I looked through my bag for what was left of my wardrobe, found a change of clothes, and went to take a shower.
After standing in the warmth longer than I probably needed to, I decided I’d put off the inevitable long enough. I changed, wrapped my hair in a towel, and got my phone. I tried to have patience as it booted up. Then the notifications started to explode. Fifty text messages. Twelve voicemails. Sixty something missed calls. I groaned and opened the message folder. It was not pretty. I wasn’t sure if Evan had gotten more drunk or sobered up, but things went from bitter to upset and back again, several times. The voicemails were not much better.
Where the hell did you go? What the hell do you think this is going to solve?
Really? You think you're going to leave me over this? You have nowhere to go.
I love you. My family does, too. They want to make you a part of things. Why can’t you be happy with that?
You have to come back, Olivia. I’ll replace what I broke. I can’t be alone.
After everything I did for you, how can you just walk away?
Eventually I just started deleting them without listening or reading. I was grateful I’d finally woken up, but upset that I could have been free a lot sooner. I was upset with myself for being so afraid. I wondered where I would be if I hadn’t been so worried about not having a job or a place to live. I knew what the common denominator was here–Sean.
Not ready to think about what that meant, I moved on to calling Chloe Richardson to ask about getting new onboarding paperwork.
“Did something happen to the one I sent before?”
