5:43pm
I think Poppy ate a fridge magnet! Oh my gosh, Ollie. That’s bad, right? That’s really, really bad!
5:49pm
Whew! False alarm. It was on the floor. All magnets are accounted for. Ignore my last text.
5:51pm
I miss the crap out of you, just FYI. Nine minutes until your shift is over. I wish I was cool enough to say I wasn’t counting. But I am. I always do. Come home quickly. Drive fast. Drive safe.
ME - April 25, 2:15pm
Hey. So I just got a call from Billy. I’ve been keeping him up to date each time you remember something new, like Darcy, and how you said you were named Rosaline for your grandma. And how we’re reasonably sure you have a college education, since you’re so smart.
Every little bit we give him helps. He said he’s pushing his search wider. And even though the interview on the news was a bust, he’s gonna see if he can get it broadcast a little further out. I just wanted to update you.
ROSE - 2:19pm
I woke up in the hospital two and a half months ago. And it’s not like I walked from a thousand miles away. So wherever I came from, it can’t have been too far. That implies the news coverage is as wide as it needs to be.
2:20pm
Maybe I’m just not a person anyone else cares about. Two and a half months is a long time, and those tip lines have been completely silent except when whack jobs think there’s money in it for them.
2:21pm
How is it possible I’m a grown woman with no one in the world willing to call up and say hey, that’s Rose. She served me at ______ insert whatever my job was. Do I have no parents? No siblings? Not even a bitter ex-boyfriend mad that I _______ insert whatever I did to piss him off.
2:23pm
The longer this stretches out, the more convinced I am of the dropping out of the sky theory. But I’m not waiting for the call anymore. I’m dreading it.
2:25pm
Because no matter who is waiting for me—if that person even exists—I kinda prefer the life I have now. Me and you and Poppy and the gym and Cliff and my job.
2:26pm
I’m aware I continuously spam reply to you. It’s weird, I know. I’m sorry. I just always have a lot of thoughts, and you’re always so gracious about it all.
2:28pm
Three and a half hours until your shift ends.
ROUND THIRTY-NINE
ROSE
Car lights flash across the front of the house, illuminating Ollie’s living room and flickering off the screen of the laptop unfolded on the coffee table in front of me. My heartdoesn’tspeed when that happens anymore. My hands don’t sweat. My brain hardly even pauses to pay attention to the fact that my solitude is about to end.
Sitting on the floor in the gap between the couch and the table, with Poppy happily snoozing in my lap, a smile creeps across my lips, and contentment becomes a soft, warm blanket draped over my shoulders.
Geez, it feels good to not be so scared all the damn time.
I’ve been working on Cliff’s invoices all afternoon, balancing his accounts and recovering from a small few unfortunate phone calls I had to make, chasing up overdue amounts, and copping a mouthful from the old biddies who think payment is optional. And then came the lectures about how I should be ashamed of myself, becauseI’m just that scammer girl trying to wring insurance dollars out of poor Barbara…
I’ve yet to file a lawsuit, but okay.
