Page 111 of Moonstruck at Midnight
We sat in the living room, and Heather was the first to comment on the apartment’s smell.
“Is something burning?” She sniffed a couple of times. Ben sat next to Heather and intertwined fingers with her.
Oh, my God!Finally!
I got distracted for a second and then replied, feeling embarrassed, “Oh no, I um—burned a cake yesterday.”
“How did it happen, Billie? Are you okay?” Nolan asked with genuine concern on his face.
I told them the whole story and how I would be joining them tomorrow at school since the doctor wanted me to take a day off. They were just glad I was okay.
My father came out of the room and was surprised by the visit. I introduced everyone and offered them cake afterward. The cake Caleb bought was huge, so it was a great idea to share it with them.
We sang happy birthday to my father while he kept chuckling—his way of channeling his shyness from the unexpected situation. We even encouraged him to make a close-eyed wish, and I couldn’t avoid laughing at his commitment.
Mimi seemed pleased with the fact that I was eating something. And I just wished I could be the one to make the wish instead.
We talked and laughed for hours, but my father eventually excused himself and left. He had early meetings the next day. My friends left soon after, and I was finally alone in my apartment.
Having people looking out and caring for me made me happy, but I needed some well-deserved alone time too. Alone so that I could stare at my phone in peace—waiting for a message that wouldn’t come to magically appear on my screen and pull me out of the abyss I’d voluntarily launched myself into.
August 14, 2009
THREE WEEKS HAD GONE BY, and I feared William had returned the courtesy of blocking me. I tried calling him on two different occasions, but the call never went through.
Touché!
A fresh flower arrangement arrived every week from Thomas, but I kept ignoring his calls.
There had to be a glitch in the Universe because we were all trying to get a hold of someone who wasn’t willing to pick up the phone.
I even made a mental note about placing a fresh set of flowers under my pillow next year on Midsummer because, again—the glitch.
Breaking up with Thomas and having William out of the picture was all Caleb needed to go back to being the best version of himself. I’d never seen him happier, and because of that, I never found it in me to talk to him about everything like I wanted to—afraid I’d somehow ruin things. And well, I wasn’t leaving the house much either, so we didn’t have many opportunities to be alone and talk freely.
I had finally agreed to have dinner with Nina and CJ tonight. And since I was done with my photography course and I hadn’t felt like going out to run in the past few weeks, I—drumroll please—sat in the living room to read a book.
I canceled Grant’s training sessions. After the fire, Dr. Lindström asked me to take a break from boxing until my hand healed. But even though I was cleared for resuming exercise, I preferred to keep my distance. I would have to bump into Tobias every day, and the thought of it made me uncomfortable. That meant I had a lot of free time on my hands, which I usually spent inside my head.
Ten minutes into my reading, and I was sound asleep.
I woke up feeling disoriented with the book open on my chest, but the twinkling night lights gave me an idea of how late it was. My cell phone indicated it was almost midnight.
Shit. It was much later than I thought.
My phone was bustling with texts and missed calls from Nina, CJ, and my security group chat—all wondering if I was going to show up for dinner or not.
Should I throw my iPhone away?It would always remind me of William.
All the unpleasant memories and feelings came flooding back to me—reminding me of the mess I’d made of things.
All cats are gray in the dark.That much I knew.
Going back to sleep wasn’t going to happen. I texted Nina and CJ back instead, apologizing for not showing up. I also wanted to let Aaron, Caleb, and David know what had happened.
Me:Good evening. I fell asleep and missed dinner. I’m going to head out to the rooftop to get some fresh air.
Aaron:Thank you for letting us know, Miss Murphy. I’ll meet you up there in a few minutes.
