“Mia!” Robert called out to me. I glanced over and immediately wished I could disappear. Robert told Jacob to go play as he stood up to approach me.
He smiled kindly and gauged my expression before he spoke. I had to make a concerted effort to mask my hostility.
“You look good,” he said shamelessly, his eyes glancing down at my chest.
It was so nauseating that I couldn’t for the life of me spare him at least a little of my wrath. “Yes, I am alive, after being left in midtown at three in the morning.”
There was a long pause.
“There’s no shortage of cabs in that area, Mia,” he said smugly, “and if I recall, you chose to be left in midtown at three in the morning. On top of it, that’s not a dangerous area.”
“Actually, Mister Native New Yorker, contrary to popular belief, there is more crime in Midtown than in Harlem or the Bronx, so it’s miracle I wasn’t murdered and dumped in the East River,” I said, smirking.
“Well, I guess that makes you the naïve one for traipsing around Midtown in the middle of the night.” The back-and-forth comments were reminiscent of our fateful taxi ride. I was stumped, fumbling for words, when I thought, why the hell am I standing here talking to this assclown?
“Good day, sir!” I spat at his shoes and hurried away. Great start to my Friday, I thought, TGIF.
I cut Jackson’s walk short and headed to the corner market where I grabbed a chocolate bar to eat for breakfast; it was going be that kind of day. As I stood at the register, I noticed a variety of those little airplane bottles of liquor. I decided on the tequila, no surprise there. I stood outside of the market and tied Jackson’s leash around my waist. I had the open chocolate bar in one hand and the open mini bottle in the other. I took a bite of the chocolate and then slugged back the tequila; I’m not going to lie, the combination was growing on me. I headed home, wearing Jackson’s leash like a belt and enjoying my breakfast. When I got back up to the apartment, I peeked in Will’s room. His bed was made and the stack of mail I left there the day before was untouched. I thought maybe he’d stayed at Tyler’s, working on whatever secret website project they had going.
I headed down to Kell’s, whereupon walking through the door Jenny held up the phone and yelled, “There she is! Hey! Your mama’s on the phone.” She was a little too cheery for the early morning hour. I shook my head frantically, but Jenny just smiled at me and nodded, saying “Oh yeah,” over and over again. She was being bratty; she knew I was avoiding my mom and she probably thought I needed a little nudge. Her antics would have been hilarious if it wasn’t my life she was messing with.
“Hello, Mother,” I said with my tequila-inspired confidence.
“Mia, I talked to Martha. Let me explain.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Your father and I didn’t want to confuse you as a child, it’s as simple as that,” she said in her determined lawyer tone.
“Whatever.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I would never do anything to hurt you. I was young and I didn’t understand your father’s world. I got nothing out of the lifestyle; it was a party trick to me back then. I would rather have had my head in a book than sit around singing songs… Your father knew that. We weren’t wrong for being ourselves, we were wrong for each other.” There was a long pause. “I see the way you are when you play, Mia, I see the passion like your father’s, and I think it’s time for you to be honest with yourself. All the time you spent in college trying to fight it and look where you are? In the village, giving music lessons, living with Will.”
“I had no choice.”
“I think you did.”
“I gotta go, Mom. I forgive you.” I hung up the phone, told Jenny I would be right back, and headed to the corner market. I set a chocolate bar and mini bottle of tequila on the counter for the second time that morning.
This time Benton, the eighty-year-old cashier, eyed me and shook his head slightly. “Miss Mia, you know it’s ten a.m.?” I nodded. “You’re too young to be so unhappy.”
“I’m not unhappy. I’m concerned about the economy in the village. I figure consumerism is the key, right?” I said it with a ridiculous amount of glee.
He rang me up and took my money, still shaking his head; I don’t think be bought my story.
Once again I stood outside and pounded back the tequila on the street, which I’m pretty sure is illegal. When I got back to the café, I told Jenny to zip it about my mother and then I went about my day. At dinner I insisted on ordering salads from Sam’s to offset the chocolate bars and tequila. We closed Kell’s early to eat our salads in the back. I told Jenny I’d had an awful morning, but left out the details about Robert. She assured me we would have a fun weekend in South Hampton. When I told her I felt bad for leaving Jackson, she suggested that I bring him.
“Really? You don’t mind?”
“Not at all, I love that pooch. I had to park my dad’s Jeep a couple of blocks away, so I’ll go run and grab it, you can get Jackson, and I’ll meet you on the street in fifteen minutes?”
“Perfect.” I took two steps at a time leaping up the stairs to my apartment.
When I opened the door, Jackson greeted me. All the lights were on, the stereo was blaring and the shower was running. I needed to tell Will that I was taking Jackson. We had gotten used to walking into the bathroom while the other person was in the shower, so I opened the door and froze. Through the frosted curtain I saw, not to mention heard, what could have only been Will f**king a girl in our shower. I quickly sucked in a breath of air, inadvertently making a squeaking noise. The motion and sound behind the curtain immediately stopped.