I’m hoping that Mika answers; he shouldn’t be at the bar just yet.
After a few rings, the phone picks up, and I hear, “Hello?”
“Mika, it’s me.”
“Oh, hey. I’m glad you told me about the weird phone number that might call, because normally I wouldn’t answer.”
“Yeah, they took our phones. How are you? Feeling good?”
“Feeling good,” he answers, a hint of something in his voice.
“You sure?” I ask. “You sound a little off.”
“Yeah, nothing like what you’re thinking.”
“What’s going on?” I know I have ten minutes, but my brother will always come first before what I’m going through.
“Do you really want to know?” he asks.
“You know I always want to know.”
“Digestive issues.”
“Oh.” Relief washes through me. “Uh, sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Other than that, everything else good?”
“Yeah, man. Thank you for checking on me. How is everything over there?”
I tug on my hair as I say, “Well, I thought it was going okay. We had a session with the therapist today, and what I thought was really good banter back and forth actually turned into so much more.”
“What do you mean, so much more? Like…did you guys kiss or something?”
“What? No.” I let out a sigh. “Listen, I have to make this quick, because I only have ten minutes, but after our session, we went back to our cabin. I thought we’d nailed it, you know, convincing the therapist that we had a lot of issues, and when I started talking to Scottie about it, she withdrew, which made it seem like she’d experienced the things we were complaining about. I know you probably want to keep your relationship with her confidential, but…did she go through a bad breakup or something? That was the kind of impression I got.”
He’s silent for a moment. “She didn’t tell you?”
“Didn’t tell me what?” I ask.
He sighs and then says, “She’s divorced, man.”
“Wait, what?” I stand taller. “Divorced?”
“Yeah. That’s what brought her to New York City. She met him in college, got married young, and then a few months ago, the divorce was final. She was in Ohio but came here to make something of herself, to start a new chapter.”
“Fuck, really?” I drag my hand over my face, guilt consuming me, because here I thought we were just having fun. I had no idea that she was pulling from experience. “I–I had no idea.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t tell you. She didn’t mention it at all?”
“No, this is the first I’m hearing of it. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought she would have told you when you first met. But yeah, if you guys were going at it today, she probably had flashbacks. She and Matt, they weren’t…well, they weren’t connected in the end. A lot of fighting. A lot of distrust. A lot of anger.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“That’s not my story to tell,” Mika answers. “But I will say this. She might act like she’s tough, but I know deep down, she’s still hurting. Being at this camp, around married couples, acting like her marriage is failing, it can’t be easy on her.”
