“You called me fifty-two times to ask me about dinner tomorrow night? Geez, when I saw all the missed calls I thought someone was dead.”
“Well if you would have told me you were workingtoday we wouldn’t have had this problem.”
She shut her eyes and took a deep breath to compose herself. Her work schedule was the same every week and he should know it by now. She was confused at this turn of events that turned out to be not so eventful. She hated fighting so she conceded.
“I’m sorry, Gage. Andrew had an emergency and I had to stay a little late to clean both our sections. I didn’t get the chance to look at my phone until just now.”
“Who the fuck is Andrew?”
“Uh, someone I work with. Another server.” She knew where this was going and dropped into her car before putting her phone on speaker so she could get to work at the gym. Luckily, the gym wasn’t too far from Cherrywood, the town she grew up in that she just couldn’t bear to leave.
“What, did he flirt with you to get you to stay? Is that what happened? I see the way those guys at the restaurant look at you. I don’t like you working there.”
Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Everything was fine.
“No, he had a family emergency and had to run out so I covered his tables for the rest of his shift. I was covering two sections and I was running around like crazy.”
“You should leave that job. I really don’t understand why you work there.”
“Well, ya know I have rent and bills that would be really bad to ignore so there’s that.”
“You should get a real job. I still don’t understand why you quit the newspaper.”
“I had to leave that place. It wasn’t good for me anymore. Once I get my book published I won’t need to work here anymore either.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it will be a best seller and we’ll never have to work again. In the meantime, you’re too busy working and I never get to see you.”
Hailey took another deep breath. He was constantly on her ass about work even though she made this change for her mental health. Working at a dying newspaper was just sending her toward a downward spiral and she had to get out. She still couldn’t understand why he didn't take it seriously. She cursed under her breath at his mocking tone about a future bestseller. Wasn’t Gage supposed to be her biggest supporter? Isn’t that what a relationship was?
“Gage, you know I’m trying to take care of myself and think about my future. I’m working at the gym tonight so I can afford to buy you an anniversary present. I’m doing my best.”
“It doesn’t seem to be working. I don’t know why you bother with the therapy. That’s another night we could be together.”
“The therapy is literally keeping me sane, Gage.”
“Well, it’s not working. You’re still sad all the time.”
This wasn’t the first time he’d been so nonchalant about her depression. Despite her sending him articles and research about what she was going through, he still didn’t understand. She wondered if he even read any of it.
“You should just work out more. Exercise is good for your health and you could stand to get in better shape.”
Yup. No idea how depression worked. She started blinking hard to stop the tears that were building up in her eyes.
“That’s what my soccer league is for. I get plenty of exercise from that.”
“Yeah, don’t remind me. Do you really have to play co-ed? I’m tired of all those guys copping a feel when they’re fighting you for the ball.”
“It’s an alumni team. We’ve been playing together for years.”
The soccer team was one of her few bright spots during the week. One to two nights a week, she headed to the indoor sports complex and played a game with a group of alumni from her high school. Being on that turf was the one time during the week when she truly felt at peace, despite the fact there was nothing peaceful about co-ed indoor soccer. But, she could be totally herself, get out all that pent-up energy that Gage couldn’t stand. God forbid she ever got hyper or had too much fun. Soccer was her solace, her time to shine.
“Whatever you say. Now where do you want to go for dinner tomorrow night?”
“I dunno, Gage, I thought you would have planned something for us.”
“I wanted to get your opinion since you’re so damn picky about food.”
“Not liking vegetables doesn’t make me picky about food. Just don’t take me to a vegan place and we’re good.”
