CHAPTER FIVE
1286 Words
CHAPTER FIVE
Jessie was so keyed up that she called Kyle on the way home from school, even though she knew he was always crazed during the day and almost never answered. This time was no different but she couldn’t help leaving a message anyway.
“Hey, babe,” she said after the beep. “Just wanted to let you know my first day of class went extremely well. The professor’s a character but I think I can work with him. And I’m hoping to start my practicum soon, maybe this week if everything pans out. I’m actually a little giddy. I hope your day is going well too. I thought I’d make a special dinner for us tonight, especially now that we actually found the boxes with all the pots and pans. Give me your ETA for tonight and I’ll prep something nice. We can open one of those bottles of wine we’ve been saving and maybe get started on expanding our little family unit. Okay, talk soon. I love you.”
She made a stop at Bristol Farms on the way home and splurged on a few branzino fish, which she planned to stuff and cook whole. She found some nice-looking broccolini and grabbed that too. As she was headed to the checkout she saw some fingerling potatoes and snagged them as well.
She was tempted to find something decadent for dessert but knew Kyle had been working out aggressively and wouldn’t have any of it. Besides, they had some Italian ice in the freezer that would work just fine. By the time she checked out, she had the whole menu mapped out in her head.
*
Jessie stared at the untouched plates of food on the dining room table, then checked her phone for the third time in the last five minutes. It was 7:13 and still nothing from Kyle.
He had texted her soon after she left the voicemail, saying the dinner plan sounded great and he anticipated being home by 6:30 that night. But almost forty-five minutes had passed and he still wasn’t here. Worse, he hadn’t reached out to her at all.
She had set everything up so that dinner would be hot and on the table waiting for him at 6:45, just in case he ran a little late. But he hadn’t shown up. She’d texted him twice and left a voicemail in the intervening time. And still, she’d heard nothing from Kyle since that first text. Now the fish lay on the table, mostly cold, staring back at her with unsympathetic eyes.
Finally, at 7:21, he called. From the noise in the background, she knew even before he spoke that he was at a bar.
“Hey, Jess,” he shouted to be heard over the music. “Sorry for the late call. How are you doing?”
“I was worried about you,” she said, trying to keep the frustration out of her voice.
“Oh, sorry,” he said, sounding only mildly remorseful. “I didn’t mean to worry you. Something came up last minute. Teddy called around six and said he had some more potential clients for me. He asked if I could meet him and these guys at a bar called Sharkie’s in the marina. I figured I can’t really pass up these kinds of opportunities when I’m the new guy in the office, you know?”
“You couldn’t have called to let me know?”
“My bad,” he yelled. “Everything was so rushed that it slipped through the cracks. I was only able to sneak away to call you now.”
“I made a big dinner, Kyle. We were going to celebrate tonight, remember? I opened a hundred-dollar bottle of wine. It was supposed to be a romantic evening.”
“I know,” he said. “But I can’t bail on this. I think I can lock down both of Teddy’s friends as clients. And we can still try a little baby-making when I get home.”
Jessie sighed deeply so that she could keep her voice calm when she responded.
“It’ll be late when you get back,” she said. “I’ll be tired and you’ll be half-drunk. It’s not how I envisioned this going.”
“Listen, Jessie. I’m sorry that I didn’t call. But do you want me to just bail on an opportunity like this? I’m not just doing shots here. I’m conducting business and trying to make a few new friends while I’m at it. Are you going to hold that against me?”
“I guess I’m learning what your priorities are,” she replied.
“Jessica, you are always my top priority,” Kyle insisted. “I’m just trying to balance everything. I guess I screwed up. I promise I’ll be home by nine, all right? Does that fit into your schedule?”
He had sounded sincere until that last line, which dripped with sarcasm and resentment. The emotional wall Jessie had erected between them was slowly crumbling until she heard those words.
“Do whatever you want,” she replied brusquely before hanging up.
She stood up and caught a glimpse of herself in the dining room mirror. She was wearing a blue satin evening gown with a plunging neckline and a long slit down the right side that started at her upper thigh. Her hair was up in a casual bun that she had hoped to undo as part of a post-dinner seduction. The heels she wore pushed her from her normal five feet ten inches to well over six feet tall.
Suddenly it all felt so ridiculous. She was playing some sad game of dress-up. But when it came down to it she was just another pathetic housewife waiting for her man to come home and give her life meaning.
She grabbed the plates and walked to the kitchen, where she dumped both meals into the trash, whole fish and all. She changed out of the dress and switched to sweats. After that, she came back down to the dining room, grabbed the open bottle of Shiraz, poured a glass full to the brim, and took a gulp as she made her way into the living room.
She plopped down on the couch, turned on the TV, and settled in for what appeared to be a marathon of Life Below Zero, a reality series about people who voluntarily lived in remote sections of Alaska. She justified it by telling herself this would help her appreciate that there were people who had it far worse than she did in her fancy house in Southern California with her expensive wine and her seventy-inch flat-screen television.
Somewhere around the third episode and a half empty bottle she drifted off.
*
She was awakened by Kyle gently shaking her shoulder. Looking up through blurry eyes, she could tell that he was half-loaded.
“What time is it?” she mumbled.
“A little after eleven.”
“What happened to being home by nine?” she asked.
“I got held up,” he said sheepishly. “Listen, babe. I know I should have called earlier. That wasn’t cool. I really am sorry.
“Okay,” she said. Her mouth was fuzzy and her head hurt.
He ran a finger along her arm.
“I’d like to make it up to you,” he offered suggestively.
“Not tonight, Kyle,” she said, shrugging his hand away as she got up. “I’m not in the mood. Not even a little bit. Maybe next time you can try not to make me feel like sloppy seconds. I’m going to bed.”
She walked up the stairs and, despite the urge to glance back to see his reaction, kept going without another word. Kyle said nothing. She crawled into bed without even turning off the light. Despite the headache and the cottonmouth, she was asleep in less than a minute.
*
Jessie felt a prickly branch scratch her face as she ran through the dark woods. It was winter and she knew that even barefoot, her footsteps, clomping on the fallen, dried leaves covering the snow were loud; that he would likely hear them. But she had no choice. Her only hope was to keep moving and hope he couldn’t find her.
But she didn’t know the woods well and he did. She was running blindly, completely lost and looking for any familiar landmark. Her little legs were too short. She knew he was catching up. She could hear his heavy footsteps and his even heavier breathing. There was no place to hide.
- Writer
