Old souls loved a good rock.
"Yeah, so many, over here, let me show you, come on," he signed all at once.
chapter eight
Jude
Today's vocabulary word: pressure
Audrey: I'm going to send some flowers to your mother on the day of the engagement party she's hosting but I wanted to check if she has any allergies or sensitivities first.
I staredat her message in the dark, drafting and deleting responses while Percy slept starfished in the twin bed beside mine. Half his stuffed friends were already on the floor.
As predicted, Brenda had passed out in her recliner before we returned from our rock hunt. She'd draped a quilt made of Penny's old t-shirts and pajamas over her legs and—not for the first time today—I felt like an asshole for wanting sole custody. I'd never prevent her from seeing Percy but we couldn't keep going like this. Not without some big changes.
I reread Audrey's messages even though I could hear every one of them in my head as if she'd spoken the words right into my ear.
That was a fucking problem.
Jude: You don't need to send her anything
Audrey: Why? Because we're operating under the assumption that I'm a coldhearted demon spawn who doesn't care about anyone but myself?
Audrey: Or are you too busy being belligerent to answer a simple question? If that's the case, you're going to make it really obvious to your mother that this is a sham.
Audrey: I'm trying to help you here but you're too busy being a shitfinch to notice.
I didn't know what a shitfinch was but there was no doubt in my mind I was being one. There was no good reason to give her such a hard time but seeing her and talking to her again unleashed something in me. I couldn't stop being an asshole.
Or a shitfinch.
Maybe I was just getting it out of my system. Burning off the worst of it before we were in front of my mother and we had to—Fuck.I couldn't think about what it meant to bring Audrey home and call her my fiancée. I couldn't put myself there yet. We'd make it happen when the time came. All I had to do was build some mental walls around it until then.
Jude: Not sure when you leveled up your vocab but it's colorful
Audrey: You're about as helpful as old yeast
I was shoehorned into a lumpy little bed with a roommate who snored like a buzzsaw and I had a very difficult conversation with Brenda waiting for me tomorrow morning, yet I couldn'twipe the smile off my face. There was no reason for this. Not a single fucking one.
Jude: My mother's been asking if we've set a date. Feel free to invent one.
Audrey: Yeah sure no problem, on it…since I'm inventing everything else
Audrey: I take it I'll be doing all the talking too. There's no possible way for that to blow up in our faces
Jude: take a breath pls
Jude: you know my mother. She's a squirrel on a chill day.
Audrey: right and squirrels never notice when they're being scammed
Jude: it makes sense that we'd do the long-distance thing for a while with me traveling for work all the time and you being based in Boston. Go back to the basics. Don't sweat it. She just wants to see you and throw a party.
Audrey: I really don't understand how you think it's that simple
Jude: Maybe it's not but I think we'll figure it out when it's go time
Audrey: Can you just tell me if she has any allergies?
