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He jumped up and shot toward the Exit doors. A tear slowly rolled down her cheek.
Melanie sat down and squeezed her shoulder. “You okay?”
“No,” she croaked. “Want to get out of here?”
She nodded, and they swiftly packed up their empty wrappers and watered-down sodas and left.
* * *
Rory came home to the sight of Gabi on the couch in her sweats, watching the local news with a pepperoni pizza from Penny’s in front of her.
Gabi turned down the volume. “That was a short movie.”
She huffed, shrugging off her jacket and tossing it over a kitchen chair. “Yep, it was.”
“Hungry?”
She shuffled over hesitantly as Gabi handed her a slice and made room for her to sit. She folded it in half, the grease from the pizza sliding down her hand as she took a big bite.
The screen was flashing with images from today’s election results. Mr. Clark won by a landslide, shots of his campaign party flashing on the screen.
“No shock there,” Gabi said. “It would have been nice to have someone blue running the town hall for a change, but I guess people still really like him.”
“How many years has he been the first selectman?” she asked, watching images of Mr. Clark waving to the cameras, an arm casually wrapped around Mrs. Clark’s waist. She noticed the absence of Zoe in that perfect little family shot. It appeared going to the movies with Tyler was more important.
“Almost as long as I’ve been here, so too long,” Gabi answered. “Would love to see some fresh faces up there someday.”
“Maybe you?” she said with a smirk.
Gabi snorted. “Yeah right. My expertise in slinging shots and balancing plates will go far with that job.”
She shook her head, wondering why Gabi didn’t try to do something more with her life. But she’d never been brave enough to ask, and she wasn’t in the mood to change that. Her eyes drifted out to the swing set in the backyard, shrouded in darkness.
Gabi clicked the TV off. “We need to talk.”
“No, we don’t.”
“I feel awful, sweetie, and…” She watched as Gabi wavered, not finishing her thought. “Rory, is something wrong?”
Rory frowned. “No, why?”
“Because I’m your mother, and I know what that look means.”
She looked down at her mismatched pair of socks, not sure how to respond. So, she didn’t.
“Any chance it has to do with whoever is making you giggle on the phone until two, sometimes three in the morning lately?”
She blinked, shifting her gaze up. “You can hear me?”
“Whoever he is, he sure makes you laugh hard,” Gabi answered. “You even woke me up one time.”
“Crap, I’m sorry.”
Gabi smiled. “All good. So…who is he?”
She sighed, studying her chipped rainbow nail polish. Another reminder of how preoccupied she’d been these days.
“Jay,” she whispered.
