by Omasta, Ann
I went to Courtney’s room for nail polish, and beat Tab to the punch by hissing at her when she glared at me from Court’s bed. I settled on deep blue for my toenails and seashell pink for my fingernails. Once my fresh mani and pedi were dry, I glared at the drawer with the cell phone in it.
Surely he had called or texted me back, right? It would be rude not to. But what if he hadn’t? I was almost scared to look, but knew that I needed to. “Here goes nothing,” I muttered as I blew out a breath and looked at the phone. Nothing.
I plopped down on the floor as the tears started to roll down my cheeks. I tried to think of any other logical explanation for why he wouldn’t have contacted me. I knew that if he was sick or had been injured, his family would have contacted me. I wondered if maybe he had lost his cell phone with my contact number, and almost became hopeful, but there had been plenty of time for him to stop by to let me know.
I devised numerous scenarios to try to come up with a valid excuse for his silence, but shot each one down. I didn’t want to admit what I knew the truth to be. I was being blown off. That was the plain and simple explanation, but it hurt like hell to face it, especially knowing that it was completely my fault for saying too much, too fast.
A sob escaped my throat as I curled into the fetal position on the floor, devastated. I fell asleep that way and didn’t wake until morning. My body was sore and my eyes felt like they’d been rubbed with sandpaper. I stretched and scowled at my cell phone.
I hadn’t turned it off silent mode, so maybe I had missed something. I couldn’t keep the hope at bay, even though I knew it would be in my own best interest. I took a deep breath and pushed the button. Nothing. It was like having my heart ripped out.
I knew that I should enjoy my day off, but I just didn’t feel like doing anything. I climbed up on my bed and went back to sleep. Courtney’s knock aroused me from a deep sleep. She entered my room with a tray of food. I rolled away from her and tried to re-enter the sweet oblivion of sleep. “You need to try to eat something.” Her voice was filled with concern, but I steadfastly ignored her, and she left me alone.
I slept and slept until I had no concept of what time it was. The next time Courtney knocked on the door, she came in and sat on the edge of my bed. She saw the untouched tray of food and chastised me. “Ab, you didn’t eat any of this.” I didn’t respond, so she tried a different tact. “Time to get up. You need to get ready for work.”
“I’m off.” I grumbled at her.
“I talked to Annie and she told me she gave you yesterday off,” she responded. “Today is Saturday, and it is time to rise and shine.”
I was shocked that I had slept through an entire day, but I didn’t have any desire to get up. “Call Annie and tell her I’m not coming in today.”
“You never call in sick.” Her eyes were filled with concern.
I didn’t want her or Annie to worry, so I said, “I just need some more time, Court. Tomorrow is Sunday, and the shop is closed. I’ll be back to my mean-old self by Monday, I promise.” I made an effort to smile at her, but ended up just wincing. I hoped that I would be able keep my promise to her, but it didn’t feel possible.
After she left, I went back to sleep. It was the only place where the weight of sadness didn’t feel like it was crushing the breath out of me. Even my dreams were troubled, though, and I awoke in the dark, covered in sweat.
I tried to sleep more, but my stomach was rumbling. I rolled over and grabbed a couple of stale potato chips from the tray Courtney had left, then I took a few sips of water and sat up.
My cell phone was sitting on the table, mocking me. Court had plugged it into the charger for me. I vowed not to get my hopes up, even as I felt my heart rate increasing when I reached for it. I cringed as I pushed the button. Nothing.
I curled back up on my bed and pulled the covers over my head, seeking oblivion.
When I awoke again, it was daylight, and I was starving. Life has to go on, I reasoned with myself. So, I got up, threw the duvet over my bed, picked up the tray of leftover food and went downstairs to make some breakfast and try to get over Seth Davis.
Chapter 20
I was showered and somewhat presentable when it was time to go meet Courtney at Joe’s for girls’ night, and I had transformed from being desperately sad to totally pissed. How could he not at least give me some closure??
Being angry was probably overkill because Court was mad enough for both of us. “What an ass!” she grouched as soon as I joined her at our booth. “Give me your phone. I’m going to call and give him a piece of my mind.”
I tucked my phone deeper into my purse, determined to guard it from her reach. “I’ll call him later,” I promised her. “I deserve better than just being ignored.”
“Hell, yeah!” she agreed. “If he wants to stop seeing you, then he needs to at least have the balls to say so.”
“Talking balls tonight, ladies?” Neither of us had heard Joe approach the table. He seemed to have a knack for sneaking up on us and hearing key phrases.
“Yes, we are, and I’d like to have a pair on a platter.” Court crossed her arms angrily as Joe visibly winced and took an exaggerated step back.
“I think I’ll keep mine at a safe distance, then. I’ll bring you the usual.”
We laughed as he pretended to place a protective hand over his nether region and turned to flee. “I can’t even imagine all of the crazy topics he has overheard us discussing at this table every week.” I shook my head.
Court laughed in agreement and started listing some, “tampons, sex toys, purses, bubble butts, shoes, boobs.”
When she paused, I listed a few. “Don’t forget about waxing, plucking, trimming, manscaping. And those are all just about pubic hair!” By this time we were both cracking up with laughter.
When our giggles subsided, I turned serious. “My non-existent sex life and my brief, but fantastic sex life, which I seem to have ruined with my big mouth.”
Court looked down as she added, “my way too promiscuous sex life.”
“Nothing scares Joe off, though.” I reached for Court’s hand. “I think he’s one of the good ones.”
“Too good,” she nodded with tears in her eyes.
“Oh, rubbish!” I declared, in my best English accent, and we both dissolved into hysterics again.
Chapter 21
When we finished off our margarita pitcher, I told Court I wanted to walk along the water for a while, rather than ride home with her. She looked concerned that I was going to slip back into depression mode, so I reassured her with a hug. “I just want some alone time, so I can work up the nerve to call him to get some much-needed closure.”
She still looked skeptical, so I added, “I’m okay. I promise.”
I must have seemed sincere because she hugged me, whispered the words “Love you,” and jogged off to hop into her beat-up, little car.
I moseyed along the beach until I found a good rock to sit on. I stared at my phone for a long while, and finally decided that I just needed to get it over with. Without knowing exactly what I was going to say, I pushed the button to dial Seth, before I could chicken out.
It rang several times before his voicemail picked up. He’s probably screening his calls, and I didn’t make the cut. After the beep, I almost hung up, but I knew that I needed to get this out.
“Hi Seth, it’s me. Um, Abby,” I stammered. This wasn’t sounding at all like I had hoped it would. I wanted to come off as confident and perturbed, so I changed my tone. “Listen,” I commanded, sounding much more forceful. “It has become obvious that you don’t want to see me any more. You should have just told me, instead of keeping me waiting and wondering. I deserve better.”
With that, I hit the End Call button, without saying goodbye, let’s stay friends or kiss my ass. Overall, it was a pretty good message. Watching the phone shake in my hand, I was grateful that my voice hadn’t betrayed my nervousness.
I decided to go for a long, clean
sing walk. The shoreline was beautiful in the twilight and I took deep, long breaths of the detoxifying fresh air.
I don’t know how long I walked, but I made it to a section of the sandy beach that I was not familiar with. When I noticed the long trail of boulders leading out into the lake, I couldn’t resist exploring it. The wet stones were slippery, so I made my way carefully. The rock path jutted way out into the water.
When I reached the end, I turned to look at the beach. With the water splashing up over the rocks, it almost felt as if I were standing out in the middle of the lake. I turned a slow circle, admiring the view from all angles.
That’s when I saw the house on the cliff. It blended so well with the scenery that I hadn’t noticed it before. I craned my neck to get a better view of the beautiful, gravity-defying stone and slate structure that seemed to be impossibly placed, hanging out over the water.
It was an amazing house and I wondered briefly if the owners would mind if I took a closer look. I didn’t see any lights, but it was so secluded that I was apprehensive about approaching.
Just then, a big wave crashed over the boulder I was standing on and knocked me sideways. As I fell, my ankle twisted painfully. I went completely under in the frigid water and surfaced spluttering, cold, mad and with a searing pain in my ankle.
I managed to climb back up onto the slick rock and lay down. When I looked at the sky, I realized why the waves were kicking up. A huge storm was rolling in.
“Great,” I muttered as I tried to stand up. I wasn’t able to put any weight on my injured ankle, so I tried hopping on one leg. I realized the rocks were too slippery for that when I almost slid in again.
I sat down and reached for my cell phone. It was waterlogged and completely dead. Guess I should have sprang for the expensive, waterproof case, I chastised myself.
I looked around, considering my options. Realizing there weren’t many, I started scooting on my butt towards the shore. After what seemed like an eternity, I looked up, only to see that I didn’t appear to be much closer to land than when I had started. I was cold and frustrated and my ankle hurt. I just wanted to go home and relax by the warm fireplace, but it didn’t appear that I would be doing that any time soon.
The closest house was the one on the cliff, but I had no way to climb up there. My ass would be raw if I tried to scoot all the way there, and the rocks were too slippery to try to hop on one foot. I really wasn’t sure what to do. When the rain started, my tears started as well. It was just too much.
When I saw the big, black head my self-pity quickly turned to panic-stricken fear. I wasn’t sure what kind of animal it was from this distance, but I could tell that it was huge, and it appeared to be looking in my direction. We stared at each other for what seemed like a long time as I tried to figure out what it was.
Do we have black bears in this part of Michigan? I wondered. My second guess was a wolf, and I really didn’t want to come face to face with either of those animals, especially in my injured state.
Suddenly, it began to run towards me. Fear took my breath away until it got closer, and I could see that its tail was wagging. A dog? This huge monster is a dog? Relief flooded over me, but I almost couldn’t believe it because I had never seen a dog of this magnitude. It appeared to be some sort of black lab on steroids.
By the time it reached me, I could tell by its body language that it was friendly. It plopped its big butt down right next to me and began licking my face. “Stop that!” I turned away, but the silly animal was adamant.
I laughed and started scratching its ears and chest. We were getting along quite well, until I saw the figure of the man standing at the edge of the lake looking at us. By now the rain and wind had kicked up enough that I was having trouble deciphering if he was friendly.
At this point, he was my only option, so I lifted a hand to wave. He didn’t wave back. Instead, he started walking towards us. I wondered briefly if the dog would protect me from an attacker, but then I saw it’s purple collar and realized the dog was probably the man’s pet.
As he stalked closer, I tried to determine if he was a threat. His hooded, yellow rain slicker obscured his face, but I could see by his walk that he was angry. When he came closer still, recognition began to set in. “Seth?” I didn’t understand how he had found me or why.
The glare he gave me could have frozen hot coffee. His voice oozed annoyance as he replied with an adamant “No.”
Chapter 22
Sam. My body was having its usual reaction to his nearness, but I had chalked it up to fear. My breath had quickened noticeably, so I attempted to slow it.
“What the hell are you thinking?” The level of anger in his voice shocked me, and I reared back as if I’d been slapped.
What right did he have to be mad at me? “I’m thinking that I’m cold, wet and injured; and the last person I want to see right now is you,” I snapped. It was probably a little harsh, but his unjust irritation with me had set me off.
“Well then, I guess I’ll leave you alone.” He turned to make his way back along the boulder path to the shore. The giant, black dog gave me a bewildered tilt of its head, before turning to follow its master.
He’s bluffing. I told myself as Sam continued to walk away. He wouldn’t really leave me stranded out here, would he? I began to think he might do just that when he reached the beach and continued on without so much as a backward glance at me.
I was stubborn and pissed off, but I wasn’t stupid. I didn’t want to take my chances out here alone and Sam was quickly moving out of earshot. I cupped my hands and yelled, “Wait!” in his direction. He stopped, but didn’t turn. “May I use your phone to call for help?”
He shook his head as if trying to talk himself out of something, and I began to wonder if he really was going to leave me out here. The rain had begun coming down in sheets, and I was already soaked to the bone. Finally, he turned and walked back down the boulder path to me. The black dog followed a couple of paces behind him.
When he reached me, he just stood there looking down at me. I reached my hand up and said simply, “phone, please.”
“I don’t have my cell with me. Where are you injured?”
I raised my affected ankle to show him. It was already swollen to twice its normal size. “Jeez, Ab,” was all he said before removing his parka and zipping me into it.
I was basking in the familiarity of the nickname when he wrapped his hands around my waist as if to pick me up. “Whoa! What are you doing?” I demanded.
“I’m carrying you to safety. You can’t walk on that ankle.” At my frustrated look, he asked, “How would you propose that we proceed?”
I rather liked his idea, but I wasn’t about to admit that. “I was thinking you could call someone for me when you get to a phone,” I answered.
“You want to sit out here freezing in the pouring rain, rather than go with me?” I could tell he was completely exasperated with me. “Fine, have it your way,” he turned before continuing, “I’ll go call my brother and have him come rescue you.”
Shit! I can’t have him call Seth, only to be told that he’s actively avoiding me. How humiliating. “No, will you call my friend Courtney?”
I had barely rattled off her number before he muttered, “Screw this,” and hauled me up over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I had never been manhandled like this, and I smacked at him hard. I whacked the only part of him that I could reach and was rewarded with a handful of his firm, mouth-watering ass.
“You like it dirty, huh?” he growled back at me. “I can be a bad boy.” I was sure that he could, and I tried not to picture him being bad, very bad with me. I couldn’t seem to stop the images from popping into my head, and they were hot.
I was on the verge of struggling for freedom when I decided that this was probably the best-case scenario for my situation. I’d let him carry me to a phone, then thank him and send him on his way.
My body had almost relaxed when I felt him start c
limbing. “Where are we going?”
“To my house,” he answered, pointing up to the amazing house on the cliff. The dark, angular house suited him perfectly.
“You can’t carry me up this incline. I’m too heavy,” I protested.
His pace didn’t slow as he answered me only with a quick sigh. Rather than fight with him, I watched the big dog loping along behind us as we made our ascent.
He wasn’t even breathing hard when we reached the front porch. I looked at the glider and matching rocking chairs and imagined what a fantastic place this would be to spend an afternoon reading and watching the lake.