My high school best friend introduces the new guy as Foster, who owns a sporting goods store in town.
“How do you know Maddie?” I ask Foster a bit aggressively.
“She’s my most annoying customer, and she set me up with Ari. Who the fuck are you?” Foster retorts.
“Are you new? I’m her fucking husband.”
Rowdy frantically waves his hands in the air and shushes us. “Everybody, unclench your sphincters! We’re all friends here.”
Foster and I glare at each other. He’s with Ari, he said. But that doesn’t entitle him to have opinions about Maddie’s recovery.
To Foster, Rowdy says, “Listen, I’m going to tell you something, but you have to promise not to breathe a word of it to Maddie, Ari, or anybody. As far as you’re concerned, you don’t know Ewan, and you did not see him here tonight.”
Foster shrugs. “I think we should let Ari decide. Maddie’s her best friend.”
“I don’t think your opinion matters, friend,” I say.
Rowdy sighs and scrubs a hand over his face. “Come on, guys.”
Foster backs off. “Okay, what’s the story? Someone going to fill me in here?”
Rowdy turns back to Foster and says, “They’ve been separated for a very long time. Maddie is delicate right now, and if she knew he was here, she would have another attack of—whatever that was back at the dance.”
I feel ashamed. I strongly feel that I caused her to collapse.
I’d been tracking her schedule. I knew she would be at the Valentine’s Day Dance. I went to the gym at the community center against my better judgment. I had the ring in my pocket. The one I had planned on giving to her on our first anniversary to replace the cheap gumball machine ring I gave her at ourwedding. Just before I left for basic training, I had saved up a little money and bought a sweet gold band with a diamond chip. More like a diamond speck in it.
But when Maddie saw me across the room, she was not happy to see me. Her knees buckled. Her eyes rolled back in her head. I tried to get to her, but it was chaos as people surged toward the stage to help her. Before I could get to Maddie, that Foster guy and Ari had whisked her away.
“What can I do to help?” Foster asks.
I’m really tired of this guy, and I let him know. “It’s not your job to help my wife.”
Rowdy turns back to me. “How you can help is by leaving her alone.”
I look into the eyes of this man who is now more than ten years older than when he witnessed us get married. When he was the kid who helped Maddie and I sneak out of the house over spring break senior year, and drove us all the way to Sunrise Beach because he was rooting for us.
Now, I’m not so sure he’s the same person.
“Fine,” I say. “I don’t want to be any trouble.”
Rowdy looks relieved and puts a hand on my shoulder. “I appreciate you, man.”
I nod. “I’ll be around.”
Before I leave the hospital, I have a question for the intake nurse, who refers me to billing. It’s wildly fucked up how complicated it is to try to anonymously pre-pay someone else’s hospital bill with a personal check, but I manage to finally get the job done before anyone else notices my presence.
I head back to my boss’s sprawling cabin in the mountains, noticing all the feelings I’m having as I drive through Songbird Ridge.
It looks a lot different from the last time I was here. Six years ago, there was a pandemic, and I was crawling out of my skin.The plant was shut down and I was on paid leave, pacing around my studio apartment. I had to make sure Maddie was safe and healthy. Downtown Songbird Ridge was like a ghost town. All the quaint shops, restaurants and galleries were locked and dark, with handwritten signs taped to the doors. Posters were hanging in windows reading, “Thank you, essential workers,” and “Stay safe, stay home.”
The only places open were the urgent care clinic and the drive-through pharmacy. The community center was functioning as a medical testing site. I pulled up to the grocery store to grab some snacks after the five-hour drive, only to find out I needed to pre-order my items online for curbside pickup.
Everything was just as upside down here as it was in Nashville.
Crazy of me to drive so far just to get a glimpse of Maddie, but I had to know.
Maddie’s dad’s garage was mostly empty, with only two mechanics working on a car outside, masked up. No Maddie sitting inside at the reception area. Worried, I drove to the house. No one was there. I parked two houses down, cracked my windows, and waited for hours. My heart exploded out of my chest when suddenly she appeared, riding her bike right past my car.
