Chapter 2 The Phone Call
THE PHONE CALL
BECKY
"Ihave to let the dogs out, straighten my hair, and maybe brush my teeth real quick, and then we can go.
" I said as I was rushing to get ready for our first date in forever.
In fact, it was going to be our first dinner together in forever.
Apparently, things were getting busy at the shop, so Carter was needing to stay a couple hours late until things slowed down, or until they found some help.
After my failed fajitas the previous week, I'd been slumming it alone with girl dinners—chips and salsa, cereal, apple and peanut butter, popcorn, to name a few favorites—while my fiancé picked something up the nights he was working late.
I already had a mild hatred for cooking, so I was not going to risk cooking and waiting for it to be cold, or tolerate eating alone, until his schedule evened out.
No, thank you. Which meant I was really looking forward to a real meal not cooked by yours truly.
"I'll get the dogs, just meet me in the car if you're done before I am.
" Carter called out from the back door as our dogs began to bark and yip in excitement.
Letting them out is a chore, because they never want to come back inside.
Unfortunately, the energetic babies can't be left outside because they headline as Houdini in their off time.
Our neighbors likely hate us because of my calling out “Ellie! Daisy!” at the top of my shrill voice each time they took one of their many unknown exits and subsequent adventures from our fenced in yard.
Our dogs taken care of, I finished getting ready with my music playing slightly too loudly from the speakers.
My long, dark, and unruly hair was sleek, smooth, and straight, and I traded in my usual leggings and t-shirt for some tight jeans and a tight v-neck shirt.
My outfit was out of my comfort zone, but it directly highlighted Carter’s favorite features.
I did one final fitcheck in the mirror and skipped—literally—out to his truck.
After pulling myself into his old beater of a truck, I went about securing my seatbelt, actively avoiding looking at the state of the truck.
. The cab didn’t smell as bad as I was worried it would.
In fact, it almost smelled like flowers or something else equally as pleasant.
His air freshener must be powerful, yet not to the point of making me nauseous.
I wanted to know, and I also knew I needed to avoid eye contact with the contents of his truck’s interior.
If I didn’t want to get caught up in a quick cleanup of all the inevitable fastfood trash from the past couple of weeks.
I looked anyway. Damn my curiosity. Oddly, all I saw was a singular plastic bag with an empty Tupperware—the actual brand. I was reaching for a closer look when Carter pulled open the door on his side with a giant smile.
"Ready for far too many rolls, appetizers, and, obviously, steak for both of us?" He asked, and somehow his smile got bigger by the end of his question.
I smiled equally as wide in reply. "Hell yeah!" I even fist pumped.
Finally, we were on our way.
?????
“...and Jamie were letting me know that we have to come up for Thanksgiving this year or else, and—” Carter's phone started ringing, cutting me off from its place on the dash. I saw the name Taylor and rolled my eyes. He silenced it with a grin thrown my way.
“No buying cars or car parts tonight! I don’t care how good of a deal it is.” I told him matter-of-factly. “I’m ready to eat your hat, I’m so hangry!”
He opened his mouth to reply when the phone rang a second time. We both turned to it. Taylor again. He frowned and shot me a look. Before I could say anything else, he answered it.
“What’s up?” Pause. “I’m on my way to dinner.” Longer pause, plus a guilty look thrown my way. “It won’t take long?”
My stomach dropped, but I held my tongue.
“Yeah, don’t worry, I gotcha,” he said it gently, and with a small smile he hung up then looked at me. The smile quickly dropped into a grimace. “Honey…”
“No, Carter, no. Please, it’s been ages.
Don’t they have anyone else to help them with whatever?
” I try to consider this Taylor. However, I’d been considering Carter and him putting his many responsibilities and favors for friends over our relationship, and my own feelings, for a few weeks now.
The last two weeks especially had been taking a toll on my patience and understanding.
Sure, I’d thrown a token complaint here and there to make sure he was aware that his choices were having a negative impact on me.
First, it was the late nights. “Okay, help out your boss. I…miss you. Can you let me know an estimate on how long this is going to last?” He did not have an estimate. He didn’t ask me to come visit with him while he worked, and I didn’t offer.
Then, after the first week of late nights, we had the Fourth of July at a mutual friend’s place which was oddly tense.
While watching the fireworks, he’d held me close and told me he’d take me out to lunch at the lake the next morning to make it up to me.
When we got home by the end of the party, I knew he’d already made another promise to another friend that would take him away from home.
“Sure, go get that tree moved from your buddy’s driveway, but don’t forget our lunch date.
” By the time he got home, it was too late for us to make the day-trip to our favorite spot.
Summers are special for us, and they have been since we first started dating over two years ago.
Early on, we talked about taking advantage of the late nights and my extra time off as a teacher.
With July quickly ending, I couldn't help feeling like we lost out on some of our favorite adventures.
There were only a few weeks left, and it seemed to me that Carter was about to cancel or reschedule another one of our plans.
“Honey, what about the music-in-the-park following dinner?” I tacked that on as another reason for him to rethink abandoning me. Again.
“Becky, don’t do this.” He sighed. His hand ran over the scruff of his beard as he threw me a quick beseeching glance.
He first named me, so I first named him back. “Carter, we have two weeks before school starts again. You know these types of plans won’t happen once that happens. Plus, we need to really start planning the wedding, and not to mention our house chores, and the yard…”
“Oh my God, not this again.” Carter interrupted me, his rare frustration coming out in response to my spiraling.
I was taken aback by his tone. “Becky, Taylor needs my help. I’m gonna get ‘em from a doctor’s appointment.
We still have Taylor’s car in the shop, and while we don’t have a rental available, I agreed to help out in transportation.
This is important and it will make our garage look bad if I go back on that agreement. ”
By the time he finished his spiel, he had calmed back into his normal congenial and softly cajoling tone.
“Well, now I feel like a real cow. You know I don’t want to make y’all look bad.” Disappointment, shame, and frustration all fought for dominance in my gut. I knew what he was going to do before he finally said it.
“I’ll take you home real quick, get them where they need to go, and then I can pick you up in time for the live music.
I can’t wait to dance with you while we’re there, baby.
It’s my favorite thing.” His big hand engulfed my knee in a small squeeze, and he was earnest and apologetic all at the same time.
So, I was charmed. Of course I was. He was my perfect man.
Exactly who I wanted to spend my life with.
“Fine.”
?????
It was closing in on 8:30 when I finally heard from him.
Fiancé
Honey, I am so sorry. We ran into some unexpected traffic, and Taylor had to pick up some meds from the pharmacy and we still hadn’t eaten, so I picked us up something from Taco-bout It. Time got away from us. I’m on my way home now from dropping her off. I’ll pick you up and head to the concert.
Record. Scratch. Her. I must have read it wrong.
Instead of reading back over everything, I hit dial, and he picked it up on the first ring. I was already up and pacing. A strange nervous energy thrummed through my body, making the idea of sitting down intolerable.
“I am so sorry, honey. I am on my way back now. We ran into one thing after another, and then we were so hungry, and Tay brought up tacos, and I knew that was exactly what you would want.”
Tay. “Oh, did you have Taylor and his girlfriend with you?” Not my best sleuthing, but my stomach was growling, my chest was tight, and I was still pacing.
There was a pause, then he responded slowly. “No, it was just Taylor and me. She doesn’t have a girlfriend.”
Oh sweet baby Jesus. I knew I had to reel in my immediate blow this world up in an outrage reaction.
I knew he wasn’t the same as my ex. He would never cheat.
Trevor, his friend, has joked about how he would look at cars and ask the scantily clad, model-esque women to move out of his picture. He was my Carter.
He was my Carter.