I’m not the devil you think I am.” I nudged him softly with my shoulder.
“Well, we should head back.” Landon said dumping the rest of the crumbs to the delight of the growing swarm of fish flashing silver in the starlight. “If we stay too long the Metamucil Mafia is going to run your bar tab up into the low thousands.”
“Thanks for showing me this, Landon. It was amazing.” We walked together back to the bar in an awkward silence. I could feel the tension and animosity between us easing but in its place was an uncomfortable emptiness. Without the sniping, what would our relationship be? It was a problem I didn’t need on my plate but a sweet problem none the less.
Chapter Eleven
Olivia
The days seemed to bleed together in a haze of agonizing soreness and exhaustion so bone deep my brain stopped functioning for days at a time. By the third week Nana found me repainting a wall for the fourth time and demanded I take a break.
“If you don’t take a break it’s going to take three times as long to get everything done. You’re no use to anyone like this. You’re doing work that’s already done over again because you can’t get it together.” She pushed me out the front door into the parking lot. “Go home. Go to sleep. Tomorrow take the day off. If I see you here tomorrow you’ll be grounded for even longer.”
Part of me wanted to argue but I was too tired to even do that. Instead, I climbed into my car, somehow resisted the urge to fall asleep on the steering wheel, and made my way back to Nana’s house. I didn’t take time to shower or even undress. The best I could manage was to toe off my shoes and collapse into a whimpering lump on top of my comforter.
When I managed to unpeel my eyes hours later the sun had set and the house was dark and quiet. Tonight was Nana’s bingo night and I was going to take advantage. I had an unopened box of Captain Crunch cereal and hours of trashy TV to catch up on. I sat down with my first heaping bowl and flipped on my computer out of habit.
I had been so consumed with The Sea Watch that I’d been horribly remiss about keeping in contact with everyone. I fired off a quick email to my mother letting her know I was still alive and updating her on the progress we had been making. With that done I flicked on the TV and went for the cheesiest reality show I could find. I needed something utterly brainless. In my exhaustion I feared I’d reverted back into a toddler easily amused by bright colors and funny sounds.
As the housewives settled in to their third pinot grigio flinging fight of the evening I decided to uncork my own bottle in solidarity. By my fourth glass I was feeling no pain. I wish things had stayed that way.
During a commercial break my eyes wandered over to the computer and saw the flashing ‘53’ above my emails. I really should go through that and delete all the spam, I thought to myself completely oblivious of what was lurking inside my inbox. It started easily enough: a few emails advertising sales at stores I used to frequent, some Nigerian princes looking for help, apparently I had also won a lottery in Hong Kong and all they needed was my bank account number to forward the money. One by one I deleted them and then there it was staring me in the face: Chris’ email address. I took a deep, steadying breath and double clicked on the envelope icon.
Livvie,
I guess by now I should just take the hint and get it through my thick skull that you want nothing to do with me. I can’t blame you after everything that happened. I’m just having such a hard time adjusting to not having you in my life at all.
I got the job at McKellen and Shane just like we had always talked about. It was so strange coming home that first day to an empty apartment. I couldn’t help but think about what would have happened if I hadn’t screwed everything up royally. I would have taken you out to dinner at Sorbert’s, you’d order the eggplant lasagna you had
“Well, we should head back.” Landon said dumping the rest of the crumbs to the delight of the growing swarm of fish flashing silver in the starlight. “If we stay too long the Metamucil Mafia is going to run your bar tab up into the low thousands.”
“Thanks for showing me this, Landon. It was amazing.” We walked together back to the bar in an awkward silence. I could feel the tension and animosity between us easing but in its place was an uncomfortable emptiness. Without the sniping, what would our relationship be? It was a problem I didn’t need on my plate but a sweet problem none the less.
Chapter Eleven
Olivia
The days seemed to bleed together in a haze of agonizing soreness and exhaustion so bone deep my brain stopped functioning for days at a time. By the third week Nana found me repainting a wall for the fourth time and demanded I take a break.
“If you don’t take a break it’s going to take three times as long to get everything done. You’re no use to anyone like this. You’re doing work that’s already done over again because you can’t get it together.” She pushed me out the front door into the parking lot. “Go home. Go to sleep. Tomorrow take the day off. If I see you here tomorrow you’ll be grounded for even longer.”
Part of me wanted to argue but I was too tired to even do that. Instead, I climbed into my car, somehow resisted the urge to fall asleep on the steering wheel, and made my way back to Nana’s house. I didn’t take time to shower or even undress. The best I could manage was to toe off my shoes and collapse into a whimpering lump on top of my comforter.
When I managed to unpeel my eyes hours later the sun had set and the house was dark and quiet. Tonight was Nana’s bingo night and I was going to take advantage. I had an unopened box of Captain Crunch cereal and hours of trashy TV to catch up on. I sat down with my first heaping bowl and flipped on my computer out of habit.
I had been so consumed with The Sea Watch that I’d been horribly remiss about keeping in contact with everyone. I fired off a quick email to my mother letting her know I was still alive and updating her on the progress we had been making. With that done I flicked on the TV and went for the cheesiest reality show I could find. I needed something utterly brainless. In my exhaustion I feared I’d reverted back into a toddler easily amused by bright colors and funny sounds.
As the housewives settled in to their third pinot grigio flinging fight of the evening I decided to uncork my own bottle in solidarity. By my fourth glass I was feeling no pain. I wish things had stayed that way.
During a commercial break my eyes wandered over to the computer and saw the flashing ‘53’ above my emails. I really should go through that and delete all the spam, I thought to myself completely oblivious of what was lurking inside my inbox. It started easily enough: a few emails advertising sales at stores I used to frequent, some Nigerian princes looking for help, apparently I had also won a lottery in Hong Kong and all they needed was my bank account number to forward the money. One by one I deleted them and then there it was staring me in the face: Chris’ email address. I took a deep, steadying breath and double clicked on the envelope icon.
Livvie,
I guess by now I should just take the hint and get it through my thick skull that you want nothing to do with me. I can’t blame you after everything that happened. I’m just having such a hard time adjusting to not having you in my life at all.
I got the job at McKellen and Shane just like we had always talked about. It was so strange coming home that first day to an empty apartment. I couldn’t help but think about what would have happened if I hadn’t screwed everything up royally. I would have taken you out to dinner at Sorbert’s, you’d order the eggplant lasagna you had
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