a colleague switched shifts with me and I got two days off in a row. On a weekend.
Since I’d planned to work the weekend, Mina had made plans to fly home to Wisconsin to see her parents. Now I was going to be home all weekend, without her, and she was going to be in another state.
“Come with me,” she said.
“To your parents’?”
“Why not?”
I shook my head. “They can’t be big fans of mine. Not after prom night.”
Mina waved an impatient hand, as if ten years’ worth of angst was water under the bridge. “Forget about that. I’ll just explain to them.”
“Explain that I got drunk and stood up their daughter?”
“They’re very nice. If I’ve forgiven you, they will, too. You’ll see.”
Eventually I agreed, because I wanted to spend the weekend with Mina, and I didn’t want to ask her to stay home. I had no desire to see Wisconsin ever again, but at least both of my parents had left the state long ago, so I wouldn’t be forced to see them.
So I got a cheap last-minute flight, and now Mina and I were at LaGuardia, waiting at the gate. As she got up to go to a nearby stand to get coffee, my phone rang.
I looked at the number. “Oh, Jesus,” I said aloud.
It was Helen, the woman Eric had set me up with on that terrible double date. When I didn’t call her for a week after that night, she somehow got my number—I suspected it was through Rachel and Eric, though I had no proof—and had started texting me.
She said we should get together, and I said no.
She waited a few days, then tried again. I said no.
She waited another few days, then asked me out to a movie. I told her I was seeing someone. I thought that would be the end of it.
But the other day she’d left me a voicemail, asking if I wanted to go for dinner. The woman wouldn’t take no for an answer. It was downright weird. I didn’t want to block her number, because she was Rachel’s cousin and Eric was still dating Rachel, but it was getting to that unavoidable point. And now she was calling me again.
So I answered, because I’d been Mr. Nice Guy long enough. It was time to put an end to this. “Helen,” I said.
“Oh, hi! Holden!” She sounded excited. “I’m so glad I finally caught you!”
“Listen, I can’t see you,” I said. “I’ve already told you that.”
“Don’t be silly. There’s a brunch spot a few blocks from me. We could—”
“I have a girlfriend.”
Incredibly, she said, “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. It’s just brunch. Totally innocent.”
Was that what was in her thick head? That she’d lure me for a friendly brunch and then try to make a move? Jesus. I glanced at Mina, who was turning away from the coffee stand, cups in hand. “I’m at the airport with my girlfriend, going away for the weekend. And yes, she would mind. So would I.”
“Well.” She sounded offended—finally. “That’s just rude.”
Mina was coming toward me. She was wearing jeans molded to her curves, flip flops, and a flowy tank top that hinted at all the good stuff underneath. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun, which she called “airport hair.” She looked casual and beautiful. “I’m blocking your number,” I said to Helen. “Stop calling me. Goodbye.”
“Who was that?” Mina asked, sitting in the seat next to me and handing me my coffee.
I put my phone away. “No one.”
Dixon, Wisconsin was exactly like I remembered it. It was a small, sleepy suburban town filled with quiet, well-kept bungalows surrounded by perfectly green yards. The downtown still had the same stores and the high school still stood in its red-brick glory, a banner declaring the football team the season champions hanging from the windows of the second story. I’d spent hundreds of hours in that building, either sweating through basketball practice or swimming in the indoor pool after hours. Dixon looked like the kind of town where nothing bad ever happened, but I was old enough to know now that such a place didn’t exist.
Mina and I took a taxi from the airport—this had been a big debate with her parents, who wanted to pick us up but had never gone to the airport before—and our cab pulled into her driveway. Mina’s parents’ house was small and tidy, like something out of a storybook. There were even a few gnomes in the immaculate