Some Things, page 11
There was no chance in hell, though, I could give them to her. It sounded like romance was off the table for her. But maybe, maybe, I might be able to turn a drive-through into a romantic first date.
“What are you smiling at, boss?” Brix asked as he grabbed his bottle of water.
“Nothing you nosey piece of shit.”
“So, something and something real good.” Brix took a sip of water and gave me a knowing look.
“Did you frame out the bathroom already?”
“Yup. It’s all done.”
“Alright, I’m heading out. I’ll see you tomorrow?” I’d gone over the site, and everything was looking good. The boys could finish up what they needed to and call it a day.
“Yes, but will I see you this weekend?”
“Nope. Text me if you need anything.”
Brix gave me a sly smile as I walked to my truck. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I was annoyed thinking it was Brix being a jackass and already texting me. I was wrong. It was Briar. I quickly opened my messages and read.
Hi! I wanted to let you know that I've figured out this weekend and I’m able to drive up with you. Let me know the details, times, and where you’d like to stay so I can make a reservation. I’ll look forward to hearing from you.
I had to get that girl to think of me more like a friend than anything else. She was always so formal.
That’s great news! I’ll enjoy the company. Here's the address for the hotel. I was thinking of leaving Saturday morning about 8:00am. And Briar, no need to be so formal with me. Can we be friends?
I honestly didn’t even realize I was making it sound so rigid. We can of course be friends. I must warn you, though, I send a lot of gifs so be prepared.
Excellent. I love gifs, and I also love to send them. Let the gif war begin.
She then sent me a gif of Gandolf saying “Prepare for battle.” I couldn’t stop smiling as I started my truck and tried to figure out what I wanted to send her back. This was going to be fun. I searched for anything with war in the search bar and stumbled upon one of Beavis and Butthead playing thumb war.
Perfect.
I sent that to her feeling like a junior high boy with a crush.
I pulled out of the job site and headed home, wanting to take Archimedes on a walk before I started dinner.
As I pulled into my driveway, my phone rang. I left my hands on the steering wheel and rested my head down on it before I reached for it. It was the special ring tone I gave to that number. The number for the corrections facility that hosts one Sonny Thorn. I had to create its own ring for it so I would know automatically who was calling. It helped me to mentally prepare myself.
I lifted my head up and knew I had to answer. She only had so many calls and as much as I hated answering, I felt even worse when I didn’t.
“Hello?”
The same recording came on asking to accept the call. I said yes, and it connected me to her.
“Dustin. Hi.” Her voice was low and somber like it usually was when we began any conversation so didn’t take it as genuine.
“Hi, Sonny. How are you doing?”
“Oh, fine. Listen, I wanted to know if you’ve talked to Isabella lately.”
“You know the answer to that. Why are you even asking me?” She could be so insufferable sometimes.
“I don’t know the answer to that. She isn’t talking to me.” Her voice was finally becoming the whiny Sonny I knew.
“That’s her decision that I have no control over,” I reminded her again.
“So, you have talked to her lately.”
“I talk to her almost every week. She’s an eighteen-year-old young woman who has a mother in jail, and you’re making everything, per usual, about yourself.”
“Oh, now you’re going to tell me how horrible I am.” I could only imagine the pretend hurt look on her face.
“No, I’m not but if that’s what you heard, then by all means, go with it. Because Lord knows I can’t tell you otherwise.”
“She won’t pick up any of my calls.”
“Then she’s not picking up any of your calls. Why don’t you try apologizing for once in your life? Why don’t you ask her how her day is going? Why don’t you make one entire conversation about Isabella?”
“I try to do that.”
“Oh shit, listen to yourself. No, you don’t. You want to know how I know you don’t? BECAUSE YOUR DAUGHTER ISN’T TALKING TO YOU!”
“She’s being dramatic. She’ll come around. Can you please try to talk to her for me? Tell her I miss her.”
“I will do absolutely no such thing. But you have yourself a fine day, Sonny.”
I hung up before she could say anything further. I didn’t know why I continued to torture myself and pick up the phone. I should have taken a page out of Isabella’s playbook and not talked to Sonny sometimes… anymore, possibly. I never could seem to let that ring go to voice mail. She had made some pretty stupid decisions in her life, but one day I had visions of picking up that phone and it was a new and improved Sonny Thorn who was empathetic and apologetic and remorseful.
And every time I hung up the phone, I knew it was probably never going to happen.
I pulled up Isabella’s message thread and shot her a text.
Hey there. How’s my favorite senior doing? Has it been a good day or a terrific day?
I looked at the time and knew she was out of school but couldn’t remember if she had something after school. I was usually pretty good at remembering but with Briar in the picture this week, my memory had gone to shit. I had to do better the upcoming week.
DUSTIN! Today was a good day. B+ on my math test. Should have been an A but I was distracted.
Distracted about what?
Let me guess, the parental unit called you. She’s so predictable.
She did call me but that’s not why I’m saying hi.
I know. She’s just so annoying.
So, what’s got you distracted?
Grandma isn’t feeling well. She took a fall the other day and when I told mom she didn’t really care.
How bad was the fall?
Not too bad. She hurt her knee a little. It just scared me.
I bet. I’m going to order you guys a pizza for dinner tonight, ok.
Ok. Thanks.
No problem. Do you need help with homework?
No, I got it.
It’s ok to be a little scared about what happened. It’s ok to be a lot scared about what happened. You’re not strange or weird for being scared.
Oh geez man. I know. You don’t have to get all therapisty on me.
I knew she appreciated what I was saying but she had to save some face, so I didn’t take anything she said like that too seriously.
If you say so, man. Give your grandma a hug from me.
I will. Thanks for the pizza.
Anytime, Bells.
She liked my message, and I left it at that. I didn’t like to push too hard with her. If we were in person, I’d get a better version of the story out of her, but texting was different. She could stop texting me back if she didn’t want to say anything or I got too deep. I tried to get my questions in but in a non-intrusive way. It kept the communication doors open so if she needed to revisit the topic, we could, and I could get more of the story.
I opened the app for Pizza Pizzazz and ordered their usual. I had it set to be delivered to them at 5:30pm.
But now, I had a bone to pick with someone.
I opened up my contacts to find Gia’s number and gave her a call.
“Hello, Dustin.” She answered sweetly but I could tell she knew exactly why I was calling and that she was in trouble.
“Gia, darling. How are you this lovely day?” I asked, mimicking her tone.
“Great. You know, I’m so glad you called. I’ve been meaning to—”
“Oh, you’ve been meaning to… call me? Maybe? Call me to let me know something?”
She sighed and stopped with the theatrics. “I fell.”
“I heard.”
“Which one told you?”
“Which one do you think?”
“Couldn’t have been Sonny… she doesn’t give a shit about her old mom. Must have been the granddaughter.”
“That would be correct. Why the hell didn’t you call me, Gia? I need to know these things.”
“It wasn’t bad. I fell. I hurt my knee. I’ll get better. Life will go on.”
“Yes, you will and yes it will, but that doesn’t mean I’m not let in on the loop. You need to promise me right here, anything else happens, you get a cold, you stub your toe, you get admitted into the hospital, you call me.”
“What if I can’t because I’m in a coma?”
“Gia…”
“Alright, yes, fine. I will call you. I know. I should have.”
“Thank you. Now, seriously, how are you feeling?” I asked, trying to get to the meat of the issue.
“I’m in a little pain, but the doctor says it was only a minor hyperextension, and I should be alright after a couple weeks in this stupid brace.”
“See how easy that is to pass along some information. I ordered a pizza for you two tonight. Get some rest and take care of yourself.”
“Oh, you didn't have to do that, but I appreciate it. Thanks. I'll try.”
“I’ll talk with you soon.”
I hung up and shook my head. Gia knew better, or at least, I thought she did. Damn woman was going to give me a heart attack.
I remembered hearing a beep on the phone and checked my messages. During my time on the call with Gia, Briar sent me another gif. It was Keanu Reeves giving a thumbs up. I smiled as Briar's face floated through my memory.
She was going to make me fall in love with her.
Chapter twenty-three
Briar
The rest of the week went by quickly as I prepared for my weekend trip with Dustin. Eagerness and fear hit me at the same time. Mom guilt was also bearing down on me. No matter how much I talked to my girls, and they assured me they were going to be “totally fine,” I was still terrified something was going to happen to them. Or they were going to miss me too much to have any fun. It was one thing for them to be told I was leaving for a couple days; it was an entirely different thing to actually have it happen and they experience it. But I knew I had to give them the chance to go through it all and understand what it meant for someone to go away and then, in fact, come home.
I overthought my packing all week long. It was one night and two days, and I bounced between packing seven to ten different outfits. Seven always seemed to be the least amount. I could not get below seven. I attempted to take out the dress and the skirt ensemble, but I didn’t know what dinner plans would be, so I threw them back in. My bathing suit and coverup were a must because the hotel had a pool. Would we go to the pool? Would we have enough time? Had no idea but there was no way I was going without a bathing suit and a coverup. Shorts as a backup was a must. Extra pants in case it turned cold needed to be packed. Lounge pants and a sweatshirt were necessities. More socks and underwear than there were days of the week and a couple different pairs of shoes could not be left at home. And then there were the different shirts. Graphic T’s and a couple blouses, some long sleeves and a few tank tops. By the time I was done, I believed I could backpack Europe for three months with the amount of clothes I had. But I didn’t care. I was a mom. We were better prepared than Boy Scouts.
“What on God’s green Earth do you have in there?” Wren asked as she looked at my suitcase sitting on my bed.
“My entire closet, and I’m not apologizing for it.”
“Well, alright then. At least you know you’re being a little insane, so the first step of admission is complete.” Wren sat down on the edge of my bed and rested her elbow on the top of my suitcase.
“Will Dustin think I’m insane?” I hadn’t really thought about that until now. I was too much in my own little world but now that Wren was there, the outside world was upon me, and my decisions were now other people’s concern.
“Do you care if Dustin thinks you’re insane?” Wren asked.
“Well, yes, I care if he thinks I’m insane. I mean, we’re going to have to drive together for a long time, spend a good two days in each other’s company. I don’t want him to think I’m truly psycho.”
“I think you answered your own question. He’s going to be spending two days with you. The suitcase is not going to be what gives him psycho vibes.”
I picked up my pillow from my bed and chucked it at Wren. She blocked it and laughed.
I shrugged my shoulders and even though she was making a joke, Wren was kind of right. My suitcase would have nothing to do with Dustin tolerating or not tolerating me.
“The most important question is, what kind of lingerie did you pack? Because if that suitcase is filled with some fun things, Dustin will have no problem with it.”
“Lingerie? Are you insane, now? I don’t think I even own any lingerie.” I looked around as if I’d dropped something.
“Shopping trip!” Wren shouted.
“Absolutely not. I’m not even joking. I’m bringing no lingerie. This man is getting nowhere near anything. And what in the hell am I even talking about. We’re friends. That’s all. We have this fun gif war going on right now, though. He just sent me one of Abraham Lincoln saying ‘Excellent.’”
“Why?”
“Oh, I sent him Keanu Reeves and then he sent me one of him saying ‘Whoa’ and then I sent one of Bill and Ted saying ‘Whoa’ and then he sent Bill and Ted playing guitar and then he sent the Lincoln one.”
“At your wedding, I’m going to create a slide show of these gifs.”
“Excellent,” I said jokingly.
“That is really cute, though. You guys totally have this fun friendship going on.”
“I think. I hope so. He seems like a really decent guy.”
“Not ‘seems like.’ Is.”
“I’ll try to remember that.”
“You should. Not all guys are Ollie.” Wren hit me with that nugget of knowledge and the simple thought of what Ollie did sent my emotions into a downward spiral.
Sniffling, I dropped my head and rubbed my forehead.
Wren stood up and hugged me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to have that reaction.”
“I know, it’s alright. I don’t even know why it hits me like that sometimes. The image of my girls crosses my mind, and I don’t understand how he could do that to them.” I wiped my eyes with the cuff of my sweatshirt and took a deep breath.
“No one can understand it. But not all guys are like that. I know it’s hard to imagine that, but it’s true.” Wren rubbed my arms as if giving her star pitcher a pep talk on the mound.
“I’m sure you’re right, but all I can see is heartbreak in the future.”
Wren half smiled and tilted her head. “That could be an outcome, yes.”
My face expressed the confusion I felt. “That’s your argument for me to find someone? There could be heartbreak?”
“It’s not an argument. It’s a possibility, yes. I’m not going to deny that. But, there’s also the possibility of love.”
I put my head back down and the tears hit my eyes as I said, “No one will love me.”
Wren wrapped me in her arms as I cried on her shoulder.
“Aww, sweetie, that’s so not true.”
I heard her speak the words, but the meaning behind them were lost on me. I didn’t want Wren to feel bad so I opted to give her a little hope, to make her believe she got through to me, even though she couldn’t.
“I know, I’m sorry. Maybe someday.”
“Good. Alright, let’s get down to business. What do I need to know about the girls that I don’t already know?”
I went through some things with Wren about the girls’ routine and what she could do in case of melt downs. If all else fails, I told her ice cream would do the trick. She had obviously watched them before and knew their likes and dislikes, so I wasn’t worried about that.
“I think the main thing is, if they need to talk to me, don’t hesitate to call me. I don’t want them to feel like I’m not accessible to them. So, any time, day or night, they are free to call me.”
“Ok, sounds good, but have fun. Seriously, have some fun. I'll try my best to keep them occupied and not have them call you.” She put a hand up to stop me from speaking and said, “I heard you, though, I did. I know they can call you. I won't block them from doing that if that’s their desire. But you also don’t go crazy if they don’t. You don’t go calling me every five minutes. If I need to get a hold of you, I will. Pinky promise.”
“Thank you for watching them.”
“No problem at all. Now go have some fun this weekend!”
Chapter twenty-four
Dustin
“You ready?”
“I think so.” She looked back towards Wren’s house, and I heard her take a deep breath. We decided to meet there so Briar could leave her car and get the girls settled before I arrived.
Briar did well; I had to give her credit. I thought for sure it was going to be an extra hour before we got on the road. I thought she was going to say goodbye a good ten times, her girls were going to throw a fit, she was going to be crying, and there was going to be general craziness.
