Page 27

“Why couldn’t we be that lucky?”

Jim leaned over me, looking at the computer. His chest against my back set off a familiar reaction, making it feel more intimate than it was. “For all you know, Jenny’s husband cheats all week long, so he takes her on romantic weekends so she won’t figure it out.” He stood up, and I instantly missed the feeling of him on me.

“You could cheat on me if you took me on weekends like that,” I said.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He picked up three files that were sitting on the counter. “Have you noticed that every time you go on Facebook, we end up in a discussion about why our lives are so boring?” he said.

“That’s because all my friends from high school have more fun than we do. We just sit home and do nothing.”

“I’m sorry, I wish I was more entertaining,” he said with a heavy sigh. Then he picked up his jacket off the back of the couch. “Have a good day.” He left through the back door into the garage.

I signed off Facebook feeling even more depressed than when I went on. The computer was not my friend. The vacuum was never my friend, but I decided to use it anyway.

I was getting the vacuum out of the hall closet when my phone vibrated. It was my mom asking if I could talk. I told her I was at the doctor and I’d call her later. As soon as I hung up, a text came in from Gia; she’d left her lunch at home.Yay! I get to drive to her school. Won’t my Facebook friends be jealous?

By the time I got dressed and pulled up to the school, the lunch bell was ringing. I rolled my window down and waited a few minutes until Gia ran up to my car.

“What took you so long? I was about to die from starvation,” she said, as if she hadn’t eaten in a year.

She grabbed her lunch through the window. “Didn’t you forget something?” I asked sarcastically.

“Oh, yeah, can I get three dollars to buy snacks out of the vending machine?”

“I meant a thank-you,” I said as I reached for my wallet.

“Thanks, Mom,” she said and turned to go.

“Maybe tonight we should talk about what you want to do for your eighteenth birthday.”

“I already planned something.”

“What do you mean you already planned something? It’s a few months away. We need to do something big.”

“I don’t want anything big. I just want to take a bunch of friends to dinner and a movie. We can all drive ourselves, so you don’t have to do anything. See you later.” She ran off. I hated planning parties, but I had been doing it for seventeen years, and this would be the most important one of them all. How could she take that away from me? What was next, she wouldn’t let me plan her wedding?

After I left her, I headed for the gym. It was making me crazy waiting for the results of my dad’s tests, so exercise would get my mind off it. I could’ve taken Theo for a walk, but running into Michael would be a better mood booster.

As I crossed the parking lot of the gym, I stopped for a second to tie my shoe. “Hey,” Michael said as he almost tripped over me.

“Oh, hi,” I said. I was getting better at acting surprised when I ran into him. I didn’t let on that I knew he was usually here at this time, because I wouldn’t want him to think I was stalking him, even if that’s what I was doing. I stood up. “Are you coming or going?”

“Going. I had to come earlier today because I have a meeting,” he said.

I was disappointed we weren’t going to work out together. “I was just leaving also,” I lied. Could he tell I wasn’t even sweaty?

“Strange I didn’t see you in there,” he said.

“I know, I didn’t see you either.” A text popped up on my phone. I couldn’t hide my unhappiness with what I read.

“Everything okay?” he asked, putting his gym bag down on the concrete.

“It’s my daughter. She isn’t coming home after school, because she’s going out with her boyfriend.”

“And that’s bad?”

“Sort of. They had a fight the other day, and I was hoping they wouldn’t make up.”

“You don’t like him?” I shrugged my shoulders and nodded at the same time. “When I was seventeen, I was that boy parents didn’t like,” he said.