Page 15

Charlie opened the notes app on her phone and began furiously typing as Rick read off a list.

“I got it,” Charlie said, typing some more.

“And can you make sure the cottage cheese is the one with the small curd?”

“Right, I know.”

“You are the best, thank you.You know I appreciate it.”

“I know you do.Talk to you later, bye, I love…” Charlie said before realizing Rick had already hung up.She dropped her phone back inside her purse, making sure it didn’t go into the mystery pocket.

Charlie met Rick during her senior year in college, and the fun had gone by the wayside during her second year of grad school.It was more important that she had a man who wouldn’t leave her, although lately, she wondered if that would be so bad.

Although Charlie thought she loved Rick, she was relieved she had avoided moving in with him when he’d asked her.He’d always bring it up in the least romantic way.

The first time was while they were eating Thai takeout on paper plates and watching the horror movie, ‘Friday the Thirteenth.’

“Why don’t we bite the bullet and move in together,” he had said.“We could save a lot of money.”

Charlie gave Rick all kinds of excuses for why she couldn’t do it.The first time, she told him she needed quiet to study for her psychology boards.After she passed those, she told him her lease wasn’t up, and she wasn’t allowed to have anyone else move in.At the time, she’d been renting month to month, but he didn’t need to know that.She didn’t want to live with him until he proposed, which still hadn’t happened.

Later that evening, Charlie unlocked the door to Rick’s apartment.She found the house in complete darkness, which reminded her of her childhood when her mother would run around turning off lights.

Carla would nag, “You girls are going to have to drop out of school and work in a coal mine to pay the electric bill.”At one point she told them she was going to call the police.Charlie was ten when a friend told her that “lights on” wasn’t a crime.

“This is the last time I say yes to doing this.I know I said that before, but this time, I mean it,” Charlie said loudly, making sure she heard herself.

Charlie put the groceries down.As she felt her way along the wall looking for the switch, she tripped over something and fell.She crawled over to where she knew a lamp sat on a side table and turned it on.She saw what had tried to kill her; Rick’s sweatshirt, jeans, and Nikes were clumped into a pile.It looked as if he’d been sucked up into an alien spaceship where clothing was discouraged.Was he naked when he ran out of here?The thought made Charlie snicker.

She headed to the kitchen, turning on every light she passed.She opened the bags and put the milk, the cottage cheese, and the rest of the groceries she’d bought into his refrigerator.Charlie stopped when she noticed the cream cheese, lettuce, blueberries, and an avocado she’d bought last time were moldy or turning brown.

“Are you kidding me?”she said, dropping the rotten food into the trash.Then she took a bite out of one of the apples she’d just bought him.“You don’t deserve to sit here and go bad,” she said to the apple.

She wiped down the shelves with a damp cloth.I wish I had a cleaning fairy who would come to my house.Oh, yeah, there is one.Me.

By the time Charlie was done, her T-shirt was stuck to her body and sweat clung to her skin.Rick barely used the air conditioner, no matter how hot it was outside.Charlie’s place was always a comfortable seventy-one degrees, which was probably one of the reasons Rick liked spending their time together at her place--that and she never let her food look like it was creating its own civilization.

She finished the apple and tossed the core in the trash.Then she gathered theLos Angeles Timespages that were spread out all over the kitchen table and placed them in a neat pile.She picked up all of the clothes on the floor and dropped them in the hamper in his bathroom.

“Since this will be the last time I clean for him, I might as well finish the job,” she said, then added, “Why am I talking to myself?”

As a reward for all her hard work, she laid down on his couch and opened a magazine.Before she knew it, she was asleep.

When she awoke there was a blanket over her, and the room was dark except for a red and white flashing light seeping through the blinds from the dry cleaners across the street.Charlie rubbed her eyes to focus.The digital clock on the mantel read 11:00 p.m.She tiptoed into Rick’s room to find him tucked in bed, the comforter around him rising and falling rhythmically.

Charlie picked up the covers on her side of the bed, then thought,If I stay tonight, I’ll have to make breakfast in the morning and be late to the office.She left Rick a note and went home.

Charlie spent the next day seeing clients and contacting others she had on her schedule for the following week.She let them know there had been a death in her family, and she would be gone for a short time.She gave them a referral for another therapist in case they needed to talk to someone before she got back.No matter how panicked a few of her clients seemed to be, she knew Rick would take her being gone again worse.

When Charlie got home late that afternoon, Rick was sitting on the couch waiting for her.

He jumped up and gave her a tight hug.“Why did you leave last night?”he asked, holding on to her a few seconds longer than usual.

Charlie recoiled as she took in the neediness that hung off him.“I had an early client,” she said.

“I missed you.”

“Well, we still have a few days together before I go back to my mom’s house.”She sucked in her breath, anticipating his response.