7. Callie
CHAPTER 7
CALLIE
I t’s always dark when I drive to the health club, and today it’s still dark when I leave to go to Big Daddy’s, even though it’s only mid-morning. The whole region is under the cover of a solid mass of gray clouds, and big drops splatter my windshield as I make my way across town.
From behind the counter of the sandwich shop, I have a great view of the rain, which gradually gets heavier. There’s thunder and lightning for a while too, then things calm down, but the rain remains steady, settling in for the day.
The lunch rush is much lighter than usual, and business is slow after that. So slow, that I’m sent home right at the time we’d usually be busy with dinner orders.
I’m not excited about losing a couple of hours’ pay, but the weather is perfect for crawling under the covers, so I’m smiling when I exit the building, an umbrella handle cradled between my head and shoulder, my phone in hand as I respond to a text from Sadie asking for my opinion on bridesmaid gifts.
There’s a missed call notification from my mom, time-stamped only three minutes ago, and I congratulate myself on having missed it, since it buys me time on having to call her back. But then my phone vibrates with another incoming call from her, and I’m compelled to answer it, because as hyper as she’s been lately, it’s not like her to call twice within minutes, especially when she knows I’m at work.
I step back under the building’s awning to take the call. “Mom, what’s going on? Everything okay?”
“Callie, thank goodness I got ahold of you.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, so many things. The bakery is threatening a delay, the photographer keeps adding costs onto the package, and the deejay’s been asking a million questions I can’t answer.”
“Okay …” None of these items have anything to do with me, so I’m confused about the emergency.
“Your sister and Adam are the ones who need to decide about the music, but for some reason, I’m the one getting all the calls and emails.”
From what Sadie told me, Mom wanted to be the primary contact person for everything, so I don’t understand why she’s complaining about this. Or again, what any of it has to do with me.
Realizing there’s no urgency to this call, I start toward my car, pulling my key fob from my bag while I juggle the phone and umbrella, grateful to the pitter-patter of the raindrops for drowning out some of what Mom is saying.
“…not to mention the calligrapher. It’s such horrible timing that Rick broke up with you before Sadie’s wedding.”
My eyes roll so far back in my head, it hurts. My sister knows most of what happened with Rick, but I couldn’t bear to tell my mom. She lectured me about being too young to be engaged, and at first, she didn’t like Rick, but he won her over, the fake bastard. Just like he won me over when we first met.
He charmed us both so thoroughly that I was blinded to his true nature. When we broke up, Mom was upset and assumed it had to be my fault.
I intended to set her straight, but it hurt too much at the time—it still does, if I’m being honest—and I don’t want to hear the “I told you so’s” about my poor judgment, if she would even believe me. The more time that passes, the more I just want to let the whole thing drop, and luckily, Sadie’s wedding has been a perfect distraction, keeping my mom from asking too many questions about my broken engagement. Until this pesky place card situation arose.
“Did you decide on who you’ll be bringing as your date yet, Callie? We’re going to incur rush charges if I don’t give the calligrapher a name right away.”
The damp, rainy air is cold, but my cheeks burn with irritation. When I reach my car, the door won’t open. I try again, and get the same results. Pulling the phone away, I listen for the beep triggered by the keyfob, but don’t hear anything.
Am I at the right car?
“What will Adam’s father think?” my mom is saying when I bring the phone back in range of my ear.
“Why do you care, Mom?” I’d typically keep this type of thought to myself, but it slips out unchecked as I verify that this is the only white car in the lot. It’s definitely mine, even though the lights aren’t flashing when I click the button.
“He is paying for most of the wedding, Callie. Of course it matters what he thinks. Someone your age and with your good looks should be dating a nice young man. The kind of date you bring says something about our family.”
Fruitlessly, I try all of the door handles, even though it makes no sense that the back door would unlock when the driver’s door wouldn’t. The rain, which had been quietly steady, picks up pace, big drops splashing off of the side of the car and onto me.
“Tell me you haven’t been sitting around moping, Callie. You should be dating, trying to find someone as good as Rick was?—”
Lord, help me.
“…or a guy like Adam. Someone who’ll care for you, so I don’t have to worry about you, or worry about what people think about your situation. My friends say?—”
Something in me snaps. I’m still trying to figure out why my car doors won’t open, I’m stepping in puddles and gradually getting drenched, and I just need her to stop talking.
“I’ve been dating someone, Mom.”
I realize it’s a huge mistake as soon as the words leave my mouth, but once they do, there’s no turning back.
Her tone changes immediately. “Wonderful. I can’t wait to meet him at the wedding. What’s his name?”
“I …I’m not sure if he can come.” I inspect the keyfob to see if something’s wrong with it.
“Not sure if he can come? What do you mean?”
“He might have to work. And it’s such a long event.”
“What does he do?”
“Mom, I’m out in the rain right now. I’ll tell you about him another time.” My keys slip out of my wet hand, drop into a puddle, and somehow bounce under the car, and I bite back a string of expletives.
“Surely he can come to the ceremony and the reception, at the very least.”
“I’ll find out, Mom. I gotta go.” I set the umbrella on the ground so that I can crouch down and try to find my keys without ending up in a puddle myself. After reaching around blindly under my car, I finally get them.
“Not yet, Callie. It’s critical that I get a name for the place card by tomorrow. Do you understand?”
I’d like to tell her that I’ll never understand how it seems that the fate of the world hinges on some fancy letters being printed on a little paper rectangle. I really thought she’d have let this go by now, since all throughout the past year, different elements of wedding planning have been an emergency one day and a non-issue the next.
Thanks to Rick, I don’t have any male friends I can ask to go to the wedding. I used to have friends from school, but Rick made me feel like a slut if I wanted to hang out with them, even though I’d have been in mixed groups of both girls and guys, and even though I always invited Rick to come too. He isolated me from most of my friends.
There are dudes at the health club, of course, but I don’t know any of them personally, and I can’t just randomly ask one of them to be my date for such a big event. Besides, the owners might frown upon instructors dating each other, and I can’t afford to do anything to jeopardize my job.
Meanwhile, Big Daddy’s is owned and staffed by women, and though I’d love to give my mom a shock by bringing a woman, even one of my roommates, as my date, I wouldn’t subject a friend to the kind of awkward drama that would create.
Further complicating all of this is the fact that the wedding isn’t just one day, like a normal wedding. There are several events planned, taking place over five days.
“If your boyfriend can’t come?—”
When did I say I had a boyfriend?
“…it’s going to make the reception seating arrangements lopsided. Adam’s best man is married, so obviously, he’ll have a date. All of the other bridesmaids are bringing dates too, and I have all of their names already.”
I tune her out again, putting ninety-percent of my focus on my car that I am somehow locked out of, even though I’m holding the key in my hand. Maybe the battery’s dead in the keyfob? That must be it.
“I don’t want you to be the odd one out, Callie, especially since— Oh dear, I’m not sure whether I should tell you this …”
“Mom, I really need to get going.”
“Sadie wanted to be the one to tell you, but it’s better you know right away. Callie, Rick’s going to be at the wedding.”
A loud humming sound in my ears drowns out everything—my mom, the weather, any concerns about my car.
“What did you say?”
“He’s apparently dating Adam’s sister, Alexis. She’s one of the bridesmaids, of course, and surely you don’t want to show up without a date when your ex-fiancé will be there, accompanying someone in the wedding party.”
My vision goes red.
Why does the universe hate me so much?
How in the world could Rick be coming to this wedding? Surely, it’s a joke. How does he even have the nerve?
“How could you let that happen?” My voice cracks, and I’m gripping my phone so tightly, it’s probably about to break.
“What can we do, Callie? Sadie was upset about it, but we can’t very well tell Alexis Hargrove that she’s not allowed to bring her boyfriend to the wedding.”
Bitter tears mix in with the raindrops that splatter my face.
“You just need to put your best foot forward, Callie. Bring your new boyfriend, show Rick you’ve moved on. It won’t be that bad.”
It won’t be that bad? Please tell me this is a nightmare.
The phone starts to slip from my grip. As I clutch at it, the keys fall instead—again—straight toward another puddle. I kick my foot out, trying to break their fall, but all I manage to do is splash water up my leg.
After I pick up my keys, I stomp my foot down hard to let out some frustration, sending up a spray in all directions. “I gotta go, Mom.”
“I’m sure your boyfriend will be able to come. What’s his name, so I can tell the calligrapher?”
“I’ll call you tomorrow, Mom. I need to go. Bye.”
As soon as I click off, a groan of frustration thunders out of me. Fuck my life! Fuck this car. Fuck Rick, most of all, and not in the good way.
I pull back and kick the front tire hard. It hurts my foot, but it’s so satisfying I give it another kick with my other foot.
I have no idea what I’m going to do about anything, but getting out of the rain seems like a logical first step. Before I turn to go back inside the sandwich shop, I jab my thumb down on the unlock button, pressing it as hard as I kicked the car.
And the car clicks and the lights flash.
With lightning speed, I yank at the door handle and it opens. Thank god!
I collapse the umbrella, toss it across to the passenger side floor, slump into the driver’s seat, and pull the door shut behind me. Finally, something is going right.
I have no idea what I’m going to do about Rick being at the wedding, and— oh my god, I look like a raccoon! I flip down the visor to check my reflection in the lighted mirror, confirming what I caught sight of in the rearview mirror.
Big black streaks drip down from my eyes, and when I try to wipe them away, I only make a bigger mess, smearing them onto my cheeks. The free mascara sample I got at the drugstore is definitely not waterproof, and it’s going into the trash as soon as I get home.
I press the starter and hear a few hollow-sounding clicks. Another press. More clicks. All the lights on the dash are dark.
Aarrgh! My clenched fists bang the steering wheel in futile frustration as I let loose a string of curses. I don’t have the money for a car repair, and I’m sure it’s going to cost a hell of a lot more than a new vibrator.
I drop my head into my hands, fresh tears stinging my raccoon eyes, depression settling in on me heavier than it’s been in months.
Life isn’t fair! And I know it does absolutely no good to whine about it, but I just can’t catch a break, despite how hard I’m trying. What am I doing wrong, for so many bad things to happen to me?
Knock. Knock. Knock. The loud sounds make me jump. Barely visible through the rivulets of rain running down the window is a man standing right next to my car.