is right around the corner. Remember, we have a deal, a contract, and I need to get this out into the market soon. We’ve got high hopes for it.
This freaked me out. I was almost to the climax but I was far from having it in a place for my publisher to read.
I started to type out a response:
Hi Ed,
I’m making fantastic progress and am definitely on track to meet the deadline. I’m excited for you to read it. I think it’s my best work, it’s really a speci—
An aggressive knock interrupted me. It sounded like a cop’s knock.
Nervous about the banging on the door, I tiptoed over and looked through the peephole. It was Mia! What the fuck was she doing here? I told her I had to help my mom move furniture at home.
She knocked again. “Flynn!” she said. “Are you in there?”
Oh shit, I thought to myself. I was in the middle of writing and waiting for Frank’s call. And it was very important, as he would give me a needed last bit of information regarding Rachel.
“Flynn!”
Mia seemed upset, maybe even unsure—I couldn’t tell.
“One moment!” I said through the door, then quickly ran through my living room picking up all the papers I had written on about Rachel.
“Flynn, open this door!” Mia yelled as I did my best to shove everything into a drawer under my typewriter. Scrambling, I fixed my shirt and opened the door.
Mia immediately pushed past me and into the apartment. “Flynn,” she said suspiciously. “What are you doing? Why are you being sketchy?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, not quite sure what she meant.
“Have you been out tonight, Flynn?”
I had no idea what she thought was going on. “I haven’t been anywhere,” I told her. “I’ve been chilling here. What are you getting at?”
She set her bag down. “You tell me, Flynn!”
“Tell you what, Mia?!”
“Oh, I don’t know. The random days and nights you ignore me. The lame excuse you gave me about how you need time to yourself?!” She looked almost betrayed.
“Wait, what do you think is going on?” I asked, confused.
“Just admit it, Flynn. You’re cheating on me! I had my suspicions, but I tried to push them away . . . I didn’t want to trust my gut because . . . when you look into my eyes and say the things you do, I want to believe you! I want to trust you. I felt like I could. But I’ve been cheated on before and I know all the signs. It’s so obvious. What a foolish girl I am!” she said, heading for the door. I grabbed her arm.
“Wait, Mia, please! Whatever you think is going on . . . obviously isn’t!” I said.
“OBVIOUSLY!” Mia repeated sarcastically. “I wasn’t trying to be the ‘crazy girlfriend,’ the ‘needy girlfriend’! All clingy and annoying. I told myself the days you spent to yourself, well, you must have been doing something special. Working on yourself. Something that would get you out of that fucking supermarket. And then I find out from Kurtis that—”
“Wait!” I interrupted. “What the fuck does Kurtis have to do with anything?”
I was suddenly pissed.
“I find out from Kurtis that . . . you’re cheating on me!” As she said the words, Mia burst into tears.
“WHAT?!” I asked with such unfathomable incomprehension that there was laughter beneath my words, even a slight smirk. “Frank was right!” I said. “Kurtis does fuckin’ like you! Baby, this guy is lying to you . . . he obviously has feelings for you and is trying to sabotage what we have, okay?!”
Mia ripped her arm from my grip.
“Frank! FRANK, FRANK, FRANK! Is he all you care about? You seem to think about this guy more than me. Why are you so secretive, Flynn? Why can’t I meet your best friend?!”
“Don’t try to change the SUBJECT!” I yelled. “Kurtis obviously has feelings for you. Why would you believe that joker over me, Mia?”
“He told me he was walking past the record shop and saw you and Rachel in there . . . kissing. IN OUR PLACE! I couldn’t believe it when he told me . . .”
Her tears were falling faster than ever.
“Baby, I would never do that! It’s me, okay? . . . It’s me, Mia! I mean I fuckin’ love . . .”
I stopped myself quickly, but it was too late. Instantly, Mia’s eyes changed. She looked confused, dismayed, scared, and a little stunned. Her tears subsided.
“You . . . . you