Yes, I understand completely how important this is. She’s counting on me and if I don’t come through, that doesn’t bode well for me.
“So next Tuesday then?”
“That’s what I said. I’ll let you get back to work. And for goodness sake, clean up this mess. I feel like I’m at home after Sasha and Daniel have pulled every toy they own out of the toy box and spread them across the house.” She waves over my mess of a desk before leaving my office.
I can’t move for a moment. One week. That’s all the time I have to complete, scratch that, redo my presentation. I’ve already committed so much time to this and now that’s how I’ll spend my nights, repeating everything I’ve already done. Work, work, work.
It’s no wonder I can’t meet anyone.
3
Laptop open,a glass of wine, and classical music playing in the background. That’s the perfect work setting for me when I need to work at home. I’m not as relaxed as I’d like to be, though, considering the circumstances.
My kitchen table has one purpose—work. I don’t eat there. When I come home, I curl up on the couch and eat something small like a salad or some sort of pasta dish, while watching reruns ofThree’s Company. I reserve my beautiful, rectangular, oak table for my laptop and wine. While I have a desk in my spare room, I prefer this table due to the size, allowing me to spread my papers out. If I had this kind of space at the office, maybe I wouldn’t have spilled my coffee all over my research.
That’s neither here nor there now, however. I have a lot of work to finish. If I can spit this out in a matter of days I won’t have to spend the next week glued to my kitchen table after work.
Thunder rolls outside, rain pounding on the roof. I don’t mind having this as an additional soundtrack to my work. Every so often, I hear Jimmy’s dog bark. I’ve heard dogs are sometimes scared during storms like this, so even though I’m working, I’ll try to let it slide. I’m not about to walk over there in the pouring rain to say anything to Jimmy because it’s not like he does anything about it anyway.
He drives me up a wall simply by thinking about him.
I’m starting to find my groove when my phone rings. It’s my best friend, Kayleigh. If I don’t answer, she’ll call again and then start texting me. It’s better to get the phone call out of the way.
“Oh, Reese, so help me I’m losing my mind.” Kayleigh says before I even acknowledge I’ve answered the call.
“What did Donovan do now?” Her husband is a pretty awesome guy but he doesn’t always make the best decisions.
“So I come home after a long shift at the hospital. All I want to do is put my feet up, crack open a beer, and watch Netflix. No sooner do I sit down that my doorbell rings. Donovan is out playing poker at a friend’s house so it’s just me. I answer the door and Doreen is standing there with two suitcases.”
“No way.” Doreen is Kayleigh’s mother-in-law. She’s an exceptionally outspoken woman, not afraid to voice her opinion about anything.
“Yes, way. It turns out she spoke with Donovanthree days agoand he agreed to have her come stay with us forthree entire weeks. Three weeks, Reese. I don’t know how I’m going to handle this. Between working and keeping up the house, she’s going to be on my back asking about grandbabies. The lady never lets up.”
“Maybe it’s time you tell her that you two don’t plan on having any kids.”
She sighs. “She may get on my nerves but I can’t tell her that. Donovan needs to have that conversation with her.”
Based on his history of remembering to tell Kayleigh things, I highly doubtthat’sgoing to happen.
“Oh, gosh. I have to go. Doreen doesn’t want me on the phone during the storm. She’s afraid if lightning hits the house I’ll be electrocuted.”
I laugh as I hang up, my laptop and paper-filled table springing me back to reality. I thought by now I’d be a lot further along than I am. Thunder rattles the house and in the distance I hear the dog again. Why is it that the thunder can calm me but that dog’s barking makes me want to rip my ears off? What does Jimmy do when the dog does this? Does he encourage it? I picture him on the ground with the animal pretending to be one.
Lightning flashes and the room lights up. The wind whistles. I click on the television. The only update is a thunderstorm warning. No tornado watches or anything severe.
I pop some popcorn in the microwave, pour it into a bowl, and take it to the couch along with my laptop. I’ll turn something on while I work. My wine glass is empty but I probably shouldn’t have a refill if I want to stay focused. If I have wineandthe TV, I may not get anything done at all.
Since I’ve already seen the first season, I turn onCobra Kai. I always thought I was a Daniel girl but Johnny really has my attention in this reboot. I start fresh at season one, episode one, as I dive into my work.
My eyelids are heavy but that’s not really anything new over the past few months. I should be able to get a decent amount of work done, then shut the door of my office tomorrow and make some more changes. The longer I stare at my laptop, though, the heavier my eyelids get, until, finally, I can’t see my laptop anymore.
It’s the crash that wakes me up.
4
I springup from the couch, my laptop flying off me and crashing to the ground.Shit. Well, I can't worry about that right now. Whatever made that noise sounded like something crashing into the house and I have to find out what it was.
Like a cheetah, I race from room to room in my little house. Once I reach the bedroom my hand slams into the doorframe, gripping it tightly, while my other hand is across my heart. I'm staring at a big chunk of Jimmy's tree across my bed. That big tree that I've been begging him to fix is laying across my bed whereIshould have been.
