Page 12 of It Happened Back Then
“Ahh, and now you’re calling me. I’m honored.”
“Bennett! Stop it.”
I laugh at her annoyed face. “I’m just teasing you. Talk to me.”
She lowers her phone as she climbs under her covers and I see her nipples poking through the white tank she’s wearing.
“Peach,” I call out the nickname I’ve had for her since wewere teenagers.
The phone comes right back to her face. “Sorry, I dropped you for a second. It’s cold here and I’m trying to get under my blanket.”
“Mm hmm. I noticed.”
She frowns slightly then glances down, her eyes widening as she realizes she was putting on a show. Giggling, she responds, “Sorry about that.”
I adjust myself and say, “Tell me what’s on your mind. Something is bothering you.”
She doesn't make eye contact with me on the phone. “I don’t know. Sometimes things feel so off without you here. I can’t just crawl in your window and talk to you anymore.”
I laugh. “Well, you could, but you may find my mom in my old room. Dad still snores like a truck driver and she’s been sleeping in there.”
She laughs. “Maybe I’m just being weird tonight because I miss you.”
I hum in response. I don't know what to say. There’s so much I want to say, but I know she’s not ready to hear it. She never wants to hear it.
`“You know, losing my dad so young left me feeling like there’s a piece to the puzzle I’ll never learn. Like, little girls are supposed to learn what a good man is by watching their dad. I remember how good he was to my mom, but at eleven I wasn’t paying attention, you know? I know he opened doors for her, he brought her flowers, and he always held her hand. He knew her favorite dessert and how she took her coffee.”
I want to remind her I do all that for her and know all of her favorites, too. But I let her speak; she needs to get whatever this is off her chest.
“My date tonight? He didn’t open the door for me. It was so dumb, but I saw him pull into the driveway. I waited amoment, checking my makeup in the mirror and grabbing my purse. I looked out the window again and saw he hadn’t gotten out of his car yet. I waited another moment and then I heard the horn blow.” She scoffs into the phone. “He fucking honked the horn at me, Bennett.”
My anger builds, and I stifle a noise in the back of my throat.
She pulls the phone close to her face. “Did you just growl at me?”
I laugh even though there’s nothing funny about any of it. “He honked the horn at you, and you went on the date with him anyway?”
She waves her hand in the little square on the phone, dismissing my comment. “But do you know what I thought about the whole time we sat at dinner?”
“What?” I ask quietly, nervous about what she may say.
“That you would never do that.” She takes a breath like she’s afraid of what she’s about to say. “So maybe I do know what a good man is.”
My chest tightens at her words. I should be in Bluemoon. What am I even doing out here in Seattle? Savannah keeps pushing for me to do more than just work the line in a local kitchen. She just wants her dad to fast track our lives to something big, not allowing me the time to build it myself. And the more we fight about this, the less I think we can make a relationship work when it seems she’s embarrassed I just work in a kitchen. Blossom never pushed for fast; she just supported my dream. She loved that I worked in our local bar throughout high school. She never made me feel bad about starting slow, even on nights we would stare at The Luxury, wishing for more.
“Ambition isn’t a race, it’s a drive we support together,” she’d say.
“I’m sorry, Peach. I should be there with you.”
She shakes her head no, but her eyes are sad. “No, you’re right where you’re supposed to be. You’re living your best life, making a great future for yourself.”
I hate that she speaks about me in a singular sense, repeating those same words she’s used since I left for college. “I’m doing it for us. And I won’t be living my best life until I’m back with you.”
Her frown deepens, and I cringe at my confession. It slipped out before I could think, but I don’t regret saying it. I see her turning something over in her mind.
“Do you think we’ll be friends forever?”
“No.”
