Page 9 of Anywhere with You
I nodded, even though I knew she couldn’t see me. “I’m actually looking forward to this.”
I expected her to laugh and sayof course, but she didn’t. There was a long pause. Then she said, “I am, too. It’s the first thing in weeks.”
“Getting away will be good. Even though…” I took a breath, hoping she would ignore me. If she hadn’t seen the Mesmio reel, I didn’t want to be the one to tell her.
“Even though they’re on their way to Cozumel,” she finished with a sigh.
“Yeah.”
“Screwing their way through the Caribbean.”
“Yeah.”
“Can I just say,” she said, “they both really suck.”
“Yeah, you can definitely say that.”
There was a pause, then the sound of thumping, as though Cara was punching one of her throw pillows.
“Okay,” she said, returning to the phone a little breathless. “Now, let’s talk about snacks. We’ll need chewy options to stay awake while driving, so jelly beans, taffy, maybe some dried fruit? And popcorn. I’ve got the popcorn covered. I buy it in bulk.”
I talked to Cara about snacks, but my mind was on the price. I knew hotels were expensive, and though the state park fees and other attractions we’d chosen were on the cheaper side for vacation destinations, we had the cost of eating every meal on the road, too. One day of restaurants would easily outstrip what I usually spent on groceries in a week.
Bridget had been making enough money for both of us, for so many years, that I’d kind of gotten out of the habit of thinking about daily expenses. It was an incredibly privileged position to be in, I knew.
But now I was splitting the cost of a spring break trip, and I needed to take a serious look at my bank account.
When Cara and I got off the phone, I opened the bank app with my breath held.
When it loaded, I relaxed. Not as bad as I’d feared. It helped that I hadn’t gone anywhere or done anything for fun in months. If I postponed paying the house’s electric bill and my car insurance, I’d be in excellent shape for the trip.
I wouldn’t be at home anyway, I reasoned, and neither wouldBadger, so it didn’t matter if the electric company got a little fussy, and my car would be parked for the week, too. We were taking Cara’s.
The most important thing was that the store was still afloat. My employees and my vendors were all paid.
For now.
What I would keep or lose in the divorce…I couldn’t make myself think about it. Not yet. This year had already been too hard. I couldn’t conceive of losing anything else.
Chapter Seven
Friday at five a.m., my phone vibrated with a text.
I fumbled my phone off the nightstand and had to hang half my body off the bed to see the screen.
The text said,Alicia Keys.
I smiled. I fell back asleep without looking at the wedding picture on my bedside table. But I was thinking about it. I seemed to always be thinking about it.
Four hours later, I was awake and caffeinated. I stopped by the shop to give Florence and Doug last-minute instructions that they did not need. Florence hugged me, and I patted her back.
What would happen if I couldn’t keep the store afloat? Now, without Bridget’s salary as a life preserver, I could already feel myself sinking, and it was terrifying to imagine pulling Florence and Doug down with me.
But I tried to shake it off as I left. I couldn’t solve it all today, and today was the last day I would think about it. I was going on vacation.
I picked up ice for the back-seat cooler full of drinks because according to Cara, “Convenience stores are the biggest scam ever.”
I argued that they were, instead,convenientbut was ignored.
