“Hello?” She answered. “Yes, just a moment, she’s right here,” she said, setting the receiver down, then smiling at me. “It’s James.”
“Okay, just a minute,” I said, with a mouth full of pancakes. As soon as I swallowed the bite, I picked up the phone. “Hey, James.”
“Hey, neighbor. How are you feeling this morning?” he asked cheerfully. “What do you want to do today? Feeling up for getting out of the house?” he suggested.
“I guess,” I said, not entirely sure I was, but willing to indulge him.
“Let’s go to the mall and just walk around. I still need to buy some last-minute Christmas presents,” he said. It hadn’t even occurred to me that Christmas was a few days away. I had really lost track of days drifting by and I didn’t know if Amy would be at the mall, but it would be easy enough to avoid her so I agreed. “I’ll pick you up in half an hour,” he said, and then he hung up.
I put my plate in the dishwasher, then went to get ready. As I slid the hangers across my closet, I wondered what would be warm but still cute. Making an effort wasn’t the worst idea, and might make me feel better. I found a dark purple sweater to go with my favorite tight, ripped blue jeans. Navy Gazelles seemed like the perfect shoes to tie the look together.
Standing in front of the full-length mirror, I had to admit that it was the first time I had looked decent in days. I put on a dark green puffer jacket, pulled my wavy hair from the collar, and headed to the bathroom to put on some makeup to brighten up my face. I added some shimmery neutral eye shadow, brown eye liner, and mascara. I didn’t want to look overdone; I just wanted to look better than I had when I woke up. Good enough.
When the doorbell rang, my mom opened the door, and James stepped right inside like he had when we were kids.
“Allie, let’s roll. It’s time to have some fun,” he said from the bottom of the stairs. I opened my bedroom door and headed down the stairs, sliding my hand along the wood railing as I went.
“Bye, Mrs. Wyatt. I’m not sure what time we’ll be back,” he said, politely.
“No worries, we don’t have any plans today. I’m just thrilled to see Allie getting out of the house. You kids have fun, the mall should have wonderful decorations,” she said, drying her hands on a dish towel.
“Bye, Mom,” I said as we walked out the door.
Once we got to the mall, my stomach dropped to see my old crowd of friends standing around the fountain. When Chris saw me, his eyes shot open to see me with James, and he immediately looked down at the coins in the water.
“Where should we go first?” James asked, when suddenly he realized my body language was rigid and I was staring in their direction. “Do you know them?”
“You could say that,” I said, as we walked past them without acknowledging them, and I picked up the pace. I hadn’t noticed Isabelle, but she saw me and she ran to catch up.
“Allie! Wait!”
I quickly turned around, and she greeted me with a hug.
“Wow! I guess you do know each other!” James said with a laugh.
“What? Isabelle said. “Yeah, that’s Allie’s ex-boyfriend,” she said, looking back over her shoulder towards the fountain.
When I glanced in their direction, Chris was watching us with a hurt expression. Why did he look hurt? It wasn’t my fault. He was the one who ended it, and I was left to pick up the pieces. I tried to ignore it and turned my attention back to Isabelle.
“Do you want to walk around with us?” I asked her.
“Yeah, you should join us!” James said, but I couldn’t tell if he was just being nice.
“Thanks, but we are all about to head out. I’ll call you later!” She said. “My Mom is still bugging me about when you’re coming out to the farm again.” Then the group called to her, and she turned to hold up a finger signaling for them to wait. “Gotta go. Nice to meet you, James.” And she hugged me again, then ran off.
“Isabelle seems really nice,” James said once she was out of earshot.
“Yeah, I’m really lucky to have her.”
“I’m glad to see you smiling again,” he said, as he put his hand on my back and we kept walking. When I turned around once more, Chris was watching me, and I wondered whether it made him jealous. I secretly hoped that it did.
We spent the whole afternoon at the mall, going in and out of stores looking for gifts, trying on clothes, eating lunch, and listening to music together. I actually had a great time, and James took my mind off of Chris and off of what I had tried to do. I was grateful for him. When it got dark and the mall started to close, we decided to go get some dinner.
“There’s a great Mexican restaurant nearby,” he said, as we walked to the car.
“That’s perfect. I’m in the mood for some enchiladas.”
When we arrived at Cozumel Mexican Restaurant, James held the door open, and the hostess seated us at a table. We both ordered Cokes and beef enchiladas as we talked about our favorite movies and our least favorite actors. After dinner, we got Baskin-Robbins ice cream and sat on the hood of the car talking about old times.
