Page 38 of Anywhere with You
There was a rustling sound as Cara moved out of her bed and a tilting sensation as she crawled into mine. Then her phone screen lit up with enough lumens to scar my corneas.
“Ow,” I said, closing my eyes.
She tapped, and after a moment, I heard Bridget’s voice.
It felt like years since I’d heard her. Often, even when I was rewatching the same video over and over, I muted it for privacy. Or out of shame.
But there she was, speaking, her voice as familiar as my own. It nudged something in me that I thought she’d killed. I actually missed her, just for those first seconds.
“We made some new friends onboard. This is Shea and Darren.”
Shea was a tall white woman with a gentle smile. She was probably fifty years old, but something about her and Darren’s matching red Hawaiian shirts made her seem older. Darren was Black, probably around the same age, and almost as tall. He smiled at the camera, too.
“They’ve been married for twenty years. Can you believe that? We were so happy to get to be a part of their anniversary celebration. Do you have any tips for us? Any secrets to a long and happy life together?”
She leaned close to Shea without moving her own face even slightly offscreen.
Shea had a calm voice. I imagined she’d rather be doing literally anything else on her anniversary than being interviewed by random strangers, but maybe I was projecting. She certainly didn’t seem annoyed.
“All the usual stuff,” she said, “communicate, make time for each other, make an effort to do little acts of thoughtfulness…and the dishes.” She laughed. “And don’t think that just because you’re committed you can be less polite. This person might be living with you for the rest of your life. Say please and thank you. Ask them about their day. Close the door when you poop.”
Beside her, Darren burst out laughing. “Good advice,” he said, with a slight accent. Maybe Jamaican?
“Do you have any advice of your own?” Bridget asked. She seemed a little taken aback by Shea’s advice. Maybe she was wondering when she’d last said please. I certainly couldn’t remember.
Darren shook his head, but he said, “Coffee and plants.”
“My two favorite things,” Shea explained. “I can’t count how many times I’ve woken up to a fresh cup of coffee beside the bed or come home from work to find a new plant waiting for me. Hundreds. Maybe thousands.”
“Plus a new toy occasionally.” Darren winked.
Shea covered her grin, and Bridget’s face went slightly pink.
Oh,toys.
Then Shea launched into a description of her current favorite toy. I caught the wordssuctionandspeed settingsbefore Bridget yanked the phone back toward her own face and started walking away.
“Just another beautiful day in Cozumel,” she said, her voice high and squeaky.
When the reel looped back to the beginning, Cara turned off her screen. We lay there in the dark, in the quiet.
I understood why Cara had shown this to me. It wasn’t to be mean, which was my first assumption. Maybe it was, in part, a confirmation that Bridget and Lorenzo were doing more than escaping Cara and me. They were thinking about the future, planning it together.
But mostly, I think she wanted me to see Shea and Darren, happy after all their years together. Maybe Cara didn’t have people like that, like my parents, to make her believe that love was more than the thing that happened in between heartbreaks.
“Hey,” I said, turning toward her.
Cara snored in my face.
I laughed quietly, took the phone from her hands and plugged it in to charge, and lay back down, too tired to move to the other bed or to care when Cara threw one leg over both of mine and murmured something about climate change.
I patted her hand. “It’s just a nightmare,” I whispered. “The oil industry is dead and all the trash has been recycled.” I paused, remembering. “And Melissa with the Elton John glasses really did like you back.”
Cara smiled in her sleep.
Chapter Sixteen
“It’s Grand Canyon day!” Cara announced.
