“Well, he does have a point,” she said after a brief pause. “My village recently passed the same law. As soon as Craig read the email from the mayor, we made proper arrangements. We were lucky. According to the posts on theMom and DadFacebook page in my town so many people got fined the first weekend.”
“Don’t tell me you read that drivel like my sister does.”
She threw her head back. “Oh, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, Waverly. Those sites are addictive. Sure, there are a lot of boring posts, but sometimes you hit the jackpot. The fights that take place! Whoa… I swear sometimes it is better than a reality TV show. I remember one time these two ladies were going at it over—”
I covered my ears with my hands. “Enough!” I cried as the waitress delivered a heaping platter of raw fish and sushi rolls to the center of the table. Then for good measure, I added, “I hate the suburbs.”
Sydney split her chopsticks in half and rubbed them together before placing some tuna and eel on her plate. She studied me. “Since when?”
“Since always.” I frowned.
She rolled her eyes “I thought you had a list a mile long of all the reasons your life would be better after you moved from the city.”
I took a glob of wasabi and mixed it into a small cup of soy sauce. “Yeah.” I frowned. “I was wrong,again. I had high hopes, but none of them materialized.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. First, caring for a house is so much more work than living in a doorman building. There is one issue after another. I have a handyman on speed dial! And all the extra time I thought I’d have by reducing my commute to fifteen minutes instead of an hour-and-a-half, assuming there were no public transportation delays? Well, that never happened! Somehow, I manage to put in more hours at the office than before, since I no longer have to rush to catch a bus or a train.”
“And whose fault is that? No one is forcing you to work twenty-four seven, you know.”
I narrowed my eyes at her.
She waved her chopsticks in the air. “Oh, don’t even go there. I work with you, remember? Your job is just as demanding as mine. Yet look at me.” She paused for a second as she gestured to herself. “I still manage to have a life! Have you even gone out ononedate since you caught Chad cheating?”
“No.” I placed a piece of dragon roll in my mouth and groaned in ecstasy.
“Seriously, Waverly. Things are far worse than I imagined if you just had an orgasm from a piece of raw fish.”
“Well, what can I say?” I dipped another piece of fish in my sauce. “Times are tough.”
“Well, I’m not buying it. You of all people know best, if you want something, you don’t sit on the couch. You go and make it happen.”
I looked up at the ceiling to avoid her penetrating gaze. I knew one of her sermons was about to start and I wasn’t in the mood.
She surprised me, though. Her voice was softer than I would have expected when she said, “Waverly, I know it had to be incredibly painful to have walked into your house and caught Chad and your cousin in the act.”
“You think?” I snarled. Even though almost a year had passed, I still felt the familiar stab of pain from the double betrayal.No good deed goes unpunished!
My cousin had blown a gasket when she found out her landlord was going to renovate the bathroom in her apartment after a plumbing incident. Sure, she was excited to have the space updated to this century, but the thought of having to run to the gym every time she wanted to take a shower made her cringe, as did the other option of returning home to her childhood bedroom. There she’d have to sleep on a cot, since my aunt Betty converted the space to a craft room years ago.
Being the kind, generous person I am, I invited her to stay with me for a few weeks until the project was completed. Initially, I had a blast hanging out with her, even though she is a slob. The great chats we had each night made up for the discarded dirty clothes she left all over the floor. It was like an old-fashioned slumber party every evening! Then my boyfriend came over for dinner and stayed the night. The following morning, I had an early meeting. I left the house before either one of them woke up.
I fidgeted with the napkin. “I still can’t believe he had the audacity to screw her on my living room sofa!” I hated that I had let my guard down for a second and allowed a tear to fall from my eye. I wiped it away and tried to regain control of my emotions. As always, my defense mechanisms kicked in, even though I knew I didn’t have to pretend with Sydney. “You know I loved that purple couch. It was a toss-up what hurt more. Watching the hauler move it out of my house or—”
“Stop. You don’t have to put on a tough girl act for me,” Sydney said as she took my hand. “I know how you roll. You have analyzed that morning and the entire relationship ad nauseum.”
I nodded. I even had a flow chart and a timeline of the events.
“Stop beating yourself up. You didn’t do anything wrong. Chad was the cheater, and didn’t you always say your cousin was a tramp?”
“Yep, she’s always been a complete slut.”
“Focus on the bright side. You should be thankful you forgot the contracts on your kitchen counter that morning and had to go home for them. You saw their true colors in high definition and spared yourself future pain.”
“True.”
“But enough is enough. You need to get back in the game. You can’t just live your life in limbo forever. There are plenty of good guys out there.”
