Mom fell asleep on my shoulder, and I knew it was time to get her home. After checking in with the doctor and confirming that Dad’s condition was stable, I helped Mom to my car, and we were soon on our way.
Once home, I led Mom to her bedroom. She was handling it as well as I could’ve hoped, but I knew without a doubt the situation had to be wearing on her.
“Thanks for being here, baby,” she said. “I don’t know what we would’ve done without you.”
“You don’t even need to think about that,” I said. “Everything will be okay.”
Once Mom was in bed, I went back downstairs and poured myself a drink. Christmas…hadn’t been at all like I’d been expecting. But I took some solace in the fact that Dad was likely going to be alright.
I didn’t even want to think about what might’ve happened if I hadn’t been there, but I only managed a few sips of my drink before the events of the evening caught up with me. I spotted my phone on the counter. Drink in hand, I stepped over to it and picked it up to check if I’d missed any calls or messages while I was at the hospital.
When I hit the power button, however, the screen stayed black. The battery was dead. I realized that in the rush of getting Dad to the hospital, I’d forgotten to take my phone with me, let alone to plug it in.
Something else I’d deal with in the morning. I was tired as hell, fried, ready for sleep. After dumping the rest of my whiskey into the sink and kicking off my shoes, I realized I didn’t even have it in me to make the trip up to my bedroom. I plopped down on the couch, making a mental note to be up first thing tomorrow and see Dad at the hospital.
As I drifted off to sleep, however, I couldn’t shake the notion that I was forgetting something.
It could wait until morning, whatever it was.
Annie
It was late, late in the evening on Christmas day. Technically, it wasn’t Christmas any longer. And I was in the worst mood of my life.
“Something happened,” Gia assured me. “Something had to have happened.”
We were at my apartment, Gia having come over earlier to drop off a Christmas present of some fizzy wine and cookies she’d made with her family. When she saw what kind of a state I was in, how miserable I was that Duncan had stood me up, she’d insisted on staying over.
“What could’ve happened that he didn’t even bother to send me a text to let me know? What the hell is wrong with him?” I stood up and began pacing back and forth, like I’d done so many times that night. “There’s no excuse. We finally talked, and I came to him open-hearted, ready to forgive him for what he’d done. And this is what I get?”
Gia rose and stepped over to me, placing her hands on my shoulders. “It’s okay.” Her voice was calm and sympathetic. “I mean, it’s not okay. And you’re right – it’s rude as hell for him to do something like this on Christmas of all days, especially with what’s been going on between the two of you.”
“So what am I supposed to do? Just forgive him? Pretend it didn’t happen?”
“Well, what do you want to do?”
“Is it even my call? He blew me off and didn’t say a word. I bet he had second thoughts after we talked and was too damn cowardly to confront me about them.”
“That’s a hell of a theory. But how do you know it’s true?”
“I have a feeling. And Duncan always went on about how you have to trust your gut.”
A wry grin formed on Gia’s lips. “Turning his own advice against him.”
“Something like that,” I said. “But you know what? Thinking about all this…I’m done.”
“You’re done?”
“I’m done. Here I am, starting a new life because of a relationship I had that went south. And now I’m right back where I was before, trying to pick up the pieces because of what some jerk-ass guy did to me.”
Gia said nothing, letting me rant, as if sensing I was in the middle of something important.
“Men…they’re ridiculous. They have this totally fucked up way of making themselves the most important thing in your life, making everything revolve around them in the most selfish way possible. You know better at first, but they always manage to win you