Page 31 of Heart Me Up
Craig
I was having a quiet,mostly boring evening at home with my TV and a bottle of Shiner Bock I didn’t really want. I’d stopped paying attention to the show and was instead actively debating whether or not to text Foster.
I’d initiated the last round of texting, and I was concerned I’d come across as too needy if I was the first to contact him again. But his job did have odd hours, so he might not have had a chance to even think about texting me today. Right?
And, if Ididdecide to text him, should I go with the classic,Hey, or should I use the more emotionally vulnerable,Just thinking about you? I could always go with the middle ground,What are you up to tonight?
I’d decided to put off the texting and instead trade the beer for something stronger when my phone chimed with an incoming text.Holy shit, it was Foster!My heart started pounding like I was back in eighth grade and my crush was calling. Damn, I had it bad, didn’t I?
Foster: Hey, do you want to come over? I’m having a sort of impromptu game night with some of the guys from the station and I told them about you and they want to meet you
Wow. Meeting the friends already? No pressure there or anything. On the other hand, Squee! He wants me to meet his friends!
A little notice would have been nice, though. I looked ruefully down at my threadbare sweats and ratty KATE-FM t-shirt that proclaimed,Rick Rollin’ you with all the 80s hits!
My phone chimed again. I must have taken too long to think.
Foster: But no worries if you can’t make it. We’re just hanging out here. You and I can get together another time
Oh, hell no. I was not missing out on time with Foster, cop coworkers or not.
Me: I’d love to come over. I need to put on some clothes, but I’ll be there as soon as I can
Okay, so maybe it was a little mean, making him think I was texting him while naked.
Foster: Well, shit. Maybe I should come to your house
Me: [thinking face emoji] Nah, I’ll be there. Don’t want to disappoint your friends
The flurry of panicked rummaging through my closet for something nice-yet-not-trying-too-hard lasted way too long for my nerves. I finally settled on a striped short-sleeved button-down over a white t-shirt, my favorite jeans and some Chucks. I scrunched my hair with some water to get the curls back where they’d flattened and decided it would have to do.
Twenty minutes after his texts, I’d made it to Foster’s house. His driveway was blocked by two cars so I parked across the street a little ways down. I sat in the car for a moment—okay, maybe a couple of moments—trying to psych myself up for the meet-the-friends event. Finally I couldn’t put it off anymore and I got out of the car.
I shut the door to my SUV and a woman’s voice came from behind me.
“Hello.”
I shrieked. I have no other word for the sound that came out of my mouth. Spinning around, I faced an elderly Hispanic woman in a fuchsia track suit holding a covered plate. She backed up a step and frowned.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you okay?”
Catching my breath, since I’d lost all the air in my lungs making that unholy noise, I nodded. “Yeah, sorry. I’m a little tense tonight.” I glanced at the otherwise empty street. “Are you headed to Foster’s?”
“Si, I had a church meeting so I’m a little late. Amy said he had an announcement about his job.” She looked me up and down. “Maybe you’re another announcement?”
“Oh, hah. Um, I don’t know about that.” I finally remembered my manners. “I’m Craig.” I put out my hand.
The woman shifted the plate she was holding and shook my hand. “I’m Silvia.” Uh oh.
“Oh, um, Silvia. Right.” Shit, Foster had said she wasn’t still mad at me and Greg, but still.
“That’s me. Has Foster been talking about me?” She smiled broadly and twinkled her eyes. Fuck.
“Um, yes. But, see I’m, um, one of the owners of Bark & Purr Pet Resort.” She stopped twinkling. “Yeah, Foster and I met when he came to the pet resort to talk about the condolence card. I amsosorry you saw it; we really thought at the time that she was, um, I mean, that it was real.”
Silvia reached out and took my hand again. “Foster explained everything. It was all for the best. Sometimes God puts messages we need to hear in unexpected places.”
“Wow, that’s beautiful.” Somehow Silvia’s hand had ended up in my elbow and we were walking quickly, very quickly in fact, across the street.
