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Christmas Planning Committee Volunteer Coordinator Subcommittee Meeting

“You’ll never guess who I saw today,” Tracy said as she stormed into Maye’s condo.

“Well, hello to you, too,” Maye said. “I guess our Volunteer Coordinator Subcommittee meeting has officially commenced.”

“Hi,” Tracy said, dropping her bag on Maye’s dining table. “You’ll never guess who I saw today.”

“Was it Randall?” Maye said without hesitation.

“How did you know? Have you seen him, too?”

“He sort of…stopped by here the other day…” Maye said with a twinge of guilt.

“And you didn’t want to tell me about it?”

“I know!” Maye admitted. “I’m sorry! It’s just kind of a weird thing to explain in a text, you know?”

“I don’t know,” Tracy said, “a quick ‘hey nbd but Randall’s back ttyl’ would have been nice.”

“And you would’ve had no follow-up questions to a message like that?” Maye said with a thick layer of sarcasm.

“Are you two getting back together?”

“What? No, of course not! We had a very respectful conversation, and we both agreed we’d be better as friends. Eventually.”

“Okay,” Tracy sounded relieved. “I just had to make sure. Are you still mad at him? How are you feeling?”

“Seeing him did not uncover a raw wound or anything like that…when I first saw him, I was angry, but I wanted clarity. I had been living with my head in the snow. I wanted to know why he did that.”

“So why did he do that?” Tracy asked. “Give me the Reader’s Digest version. I don’t want any of that psychoanalysis stuff.”

“I think he wasn’t prepared to handle the situation he was put in. His whole life had guardrails. Finally, he found himself without a safety net or a plan, and he just…took a hike.”

“He sure did,” Tracy added.

“Plus, I feel different now,” Maye said. “Better than before. I’m busy with things like this volunteer coordinator role; I have new friends and deeper bonds than before. And…Chris. Plus, when Randall left…” she said a bit more timidly, “I did tell him I hoped he broke his legs, so I guess a shoulder and a neck is pretty close…?”

“You did not,” Tracy was aghast.

“Not my best moment.”

“Have you told Chris about Randall being back?” Tracy asked.

Maye was silent. She had struggled with this thought for days.

“Maye!” Tracy scolded. “You have to tell him!”

“I know! But I don’t know…” Maye whined. “I don’t want to bother him. Plus, what if he gets upset? Or gets paranoid or…I don’t know. You really think I should tell him?”

“I feel like Chris would want to know,” Tracy said. “Even just a simple text like, ‘heyyyy, remember my ex who we watched get airlifted from a tree? He came back to town. We talked, and things are cool. I didn’t punch him in the face. I don’t like him like that. Just thought you’d want to hear the latest news. Ttyl.’ Something like that, you know?”

Maye knew Tracy was right, and hearing her straight-to-the-point explanation helped clarify her thoughts. She typed a version of what Tracy suggested and pressed send. “Okay, I did it. Now hide my phone forever.”

“What are you so afraid of?” Tracy said. “Chris is super cool! You have nothing to—”

Ding