Lunch in an hour to catch up with those who are lucky enough to have a day off aligned with mine.
I dry my tears and grab my coat, but when it comes to leaving the apartment, I can’t do it.
What if they’re still out there, waiting for me?
What if they’re hiding and follow me to the cafe for lunch?
The cold handle warms against my palm the longer I hold it until Caleb trudges into the hall with a yawn. “The fuck are you doing?”
“Leaving.”
“I’ve heard that before.”
“I’m going out, you dick. Not leaving forever.”
“Shame.” He scoffs and trudges into the kitchen while scratching his chest.
The hiss of a beer can opening gives me the fuel I need and I wrench open the door, uncaring whether they’re waiting for me in the street.
This day can’t get much worse.
4
XANDER
Despite the light ache thrumming at the top of my skull, spending lunch on my day off tucked into the back of a small cafe is just what I need.
Surrounding myself with healthy people going about their daily lives is the perfect cure to the stress hangover I often leave the hospital with.
Last night’s trauma was exhausting and the surgery on the internal bleeding of two people crushed at the local lumber mill took me into the early hours of the morning.
Rather than sleep, I came here to satisfy my craving for something sweet and company.
“Are you even listening to me?” The singsong tones of my sister, Thea, rise from my phone propped up against the sugar dispenser.
“I’m listening,” I reply calmly between bites of toast.
“It doesn’t look like it.”
“I always look like this.”
“Like someone spat in your coffee,” Thea snorts.
I glance toward the counter with a faint apologetic look just in case the barista overheard. “Thea, you’ve known me your entire life. If my expression is all you can pick on then I don’t have much to concern myself with.”
“I don’t have much to concern myself with,” Thea mocks with a laugh. “Alright, grumpy pants. Back to my original question. Thanksgiving.”
“My answer remains the same.”
“Oh, Xander,please!” Her face presses up to the screen. “Just once come and visit me. You’d love Canada, I promise. There’s lots of nature and trees and you wouldn’t have to deal with any people because I live basically in the middle of nowhere.”
“The outskirts of a city is not the middle of nowhere.”
“Well…” She pouts slightly and sighs. “I haven’t seen you in forever.”
“You’re seeing me right now.”
“That’s not the same and you know it.” Rolling her eyes, she slumps back and her snowman mug slides into view. “There’s more to life than this, Xander.”
