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“Wait! What else should I do?”
“Come with me to sell all of this! And then dinner.”
“You’re feeding me?”
“You’re a part of my team, aren’t you? You’ll get treated like it.”
I hadn’t ever been a part of anything, but I liked the sound of it. I ran to catch up with him, feeling like just this once, things were going right for me.
I hoped it stayed that way.
1
MOLLIE
I was ridingoff into the sunset with a hot cowboy when my alarm went off and broke my perfect little dreamland.
“Fuck you,” I said to the blaringly loud noise, and laid back down.
My emergency alarm went off five minutes later, just as I was seeing a buff form against an orange and pink sky.
I let out a groan so loud the bed rumbled, and finally forced myself upright. I rubbed my eyes and grabbed the beige comforter, laying it across the bed neatly. Personally, I didn’t care if my bed was made or not. But my fiancé, Trevor, did. And if he wanted something, it meant Ineeded to get it done.
He said he was terrible at cleaning, which I certainly noticed every morning when I tripped on his clothes that he’d left on the floor. Trevor wanted our apartment a certain way, yet he left a trail of things to clean wherever he went.
If I confronted him about it, he’d always tell me that he was too busy thinking about work. Or, if he was in a good mood, our future together. He excused it by saying it was easy for me to grab them off the ground when I saw them.
He said the logic was sound.
I wanted to believe him, but I couldn’t help but feel frustrated every time I had to pick up something of his.
After that, I threw on one of my pairs of beige slacks, the one pair Trevor complimented me in, and a white dress shirt for work. I brewed a K-cup, mixed it with the chalky protein shakes he insisted were good for me, and ran out the door to head to work.
Some people found peace in their routine. I only found boredom that grew every single day.
No one paid me any mind as I walked through the lobby of our apartment and out to the streets of Nashville. Everyone was too busy either on their phones or rushing about their day. There was a jogger I encountered every single morning in a pink or purple outfit. She would always run right past me, oroverme, never giving me a second glance.
Everyone was like that here. Sure, some were friendly. But they were sobusy.
Nashville was good at being busy.
The streets alwayswere, even when it wasn’t rush hour. I lived downtown, and the road noise was ever present, even in my apartment. Cars honked, tires squealed, and loud trucks idled any time of the day.
It was worse whenever I walked to my car.
The only break in my usual routine was a biker nearly hitting me as I crossed the street. I jumped back, momentarily jostled by it, but he only waved an apology and kept going.
No words were exchanged.
I got in my car only to sit in traffic, listening to a podcast drone on about the morning news while I tried not to fall asleep at the wheel.
I wasn’t a morning person, but life seemed to only reward morning people. I tried to get to the office at eight, but it took me thirty minutes every morning to go five miles from theapartment to work, meaning I had to be up by seven every weekday.
Trevor was already there. Unlike me, he thrived in the mornings and liked to come in as early as possible to get work done. We used to ride together until I couldn’t get up early enough for him. Now, it was only me coming in at eight.
At first, I’d been hurt that he’d left me behind. But then I saw it as a blessing in disguise. At least when I was alone, I could groan and curse about my life as much as I wanted to.
I shouldn’t have been in a bad mood, though. Trevor and I had plans today. Sure, they weren’t romantic. Or even anything fun. But he was clocking out early for me—something he’d told me to be grateful for.