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I pulled the sugar from the cupboard and groaned as I unscrewed the top. “Is it?”
Already dressed for a day at the lake, he folded the sleeve of his flannel and peeked out the window. “Beautiful day to be alive.” I wrinkled my nose at him as I dumped a stream of sugar in my drink, and he bent his neck aside to torment me. “Who pissed on your leg already this morning?”
Stirring my coffee, I smirked at it and glanced up at him. “You’re not going to believe this,” — my cheek puffed as I shrugged — “or maybe you will, but Dom bought a house.” When he only widened his eyes and flipped up his hand, I blew the steam from my cup. “Let me rephrase that. He bought us a house, and when I didn’t immediately jump for joy, he got a little bent of shape about it.”
Slowly, he nodded as he rubbed at the inside of his cheek with his tongue. “I see.” Air rushed from his lips as he pondered it and jerked his shoulder. “Yeah, I can understand why he’d be upset with you right about now.”
I squinted at him from the other side of the cup, because that wasn’t even close to what I expected to hear from him. “Excuse me?” The mug slid back on the counter, and I poked my fingertip into my chest. “He stole my house out from under me without even asking me if it was okay or if I wanted to live with him. I think I’m the one who has the right to be upset.”
Peering at me from above his glasses, he gave me his disapproving stink face as he tucked his old red flip-style phone in his pocket. “That’s really what you have your panties in a twist about? That he surprised you with your dream house?” He laughed at me as he patted my shoulder and moved around me. “That may be the dumbest damn thing that’s ever come out of your mouth.”
The old freezer that sounded like a jet plane in the corner flipped open, and he pulled out a bag of ice as I jerked my eyes at him. “You don’t think his behavior is a little weird, at least?”
Letting the freezer slam shut, he sighed at me. “Faithy, not a week ago, you were blasting my ass for keeping the two of you apart.” The entire thing dropped on the table to break the ice block into bits, and he rolled up his shoulder. “And now you’re bitching because you’re together. I guess I don’t understand what the hell it is you want me to say.”
With a groan, he yanked the container up to the cooler and dumped it inside. “You got what you wanted. Didn’t you?” A finger shot out with every point he made. “You got the man you wanted, the house you wanted, and the job you wanted. What else do you need to make you happy?” I couldn’t think of a single thing to come back at him with, not one. I only stood there curling and uncurling my lips on each other as he jutted his face at me. “Right. Not a damn thing.”
A shot of air rushed at me from his nose as he shook his head and put his arm through the cooler handle. “Look. Take it from an old man who has a shit-ton of regrets.” He lifted his finger at me. “You have one chance at life. Only one, and yours is already halfway over if you’re lucky enough to live that long.”
Reaching for the door handle, he backed away from me. “You told me you’ve spent the last twenty years being miserable. So, do whatever you can to find some happiness for yourself before it’s too late. Don’t waste another second, honey.” The door opened, and he pulled his ugly brown floppy hat from the hook and plopped it on his head. “You know where my happy ass will be if you need me.”
The space between the inside and outside got narrower as he pulled the door closed with him. “If you aren’t here when I get back, congratulations. Don’t forget to invite me to the housewarming party or wedding or whatever it is you kids do these days.”
Dad was the one person in the world I thought would give me the reality check I was dying for to validate this uneasiness inside me. But as I sipped my coffee alone in front of the door and watched him leave, I let him take all those doubts away with him as he disappeared beyond the edge of the driveway.
39
The Signal
Faith
The last standard workplace safety video I’d watched yearly at every job I ever worked at seemed to drag on forever. So, instead of learning how to lock out an electrical device I’d never use in the course of my job, I got lost in a tiny defect in the wall beside the TV screen about ten minutes in.
Three years of the life we used to share condensed down into the forty-five minutes it took for the disc to play. But during that time span, I’d come to some major conclusions about me and Dom.
When the movie ended at last, I slid my post-test across the table to the stack of others.
Though not a single chirp from Dom ever came across my phone screen since I texted him last night when I got home, I scrolled through my old messages again, hoping I’d missed one.
Only an empty hallway awaited me when the door opened this time. Still, I checked each direction before entering the crowded lunchtime hallway.
Flashbacks of the awkward teenager hoping some friendly face would come to rescue them made me shrink in on myself as I inched along the outside wall.
I was always seeking some kind of validation I wasn’t still the poor girl in worn-out clothes from the discount store two towns over. But no matter how many credentials followed my name or how big my bank account grew, I never felt successful enough.
Bypassing the cafeteria full of people I didn’t recognize, I escaped to the corner staircase to hide out in my office instead and munch on dried-up old leftovers alone.
Digging my keys out of my pocket along the way, I cringed at the thumps, stomps, and loud voices coming from the floor above me. “Yikes. They must be having a rough day. No wonder he hasn’t called me.”
After I set my bag on my desk, I collapsed into the comfy leather seat. But not two seconds later, knuckles rapped across my doorframe.
God, I wanted it to be Dom standing there smiling back at me so much I closed my eyes for a second to make a wish about it. But only Travis’ meddling ass was wiggling his fingers when I looked up. “We’re going to lunch. You coming?”
My lips rolled out as I shook my head back at him, knowing for sure that today was not the day to test the limits of Dom’s patience if he saw us together. “Nah. I’m good. Thanks.”
Sighing at my pen as I twisted it against my desk, I looked up at him when he ducked down to catch my attention. “Is everything alright, Faith?”
I gave him a quick smile and nodded, but he only cleared his throat and shrugged back at me. “I realize it’s none of my business or anything.” I grew up with this man. After watching him dog girls out through high school, I knew his whole slippery trying-to-win-your-trust routine by heart. “But I was up on the unit earlier, and our favorite doctor is kind of making things unbearable for everyone today.”
