ALEXIE: I sent you the address. It’s in Alphabet City.
Mallory blinked wildly at the words “Alphabet City.”What in the heck did that mean?Her heart pounding, she searched for it on her phone, discovering the area on the map in the East Village.Why couldn’t Alexie just say the East Village?Why did she have to use this “New Yorker-speak,” which made Mallory feel even more alienated?
Why does she have to rub her life in my face?
Mallory shoved the thoughts away, adding the address of the gallery space to her phone and dropping her head back on the bus headrest. The bus chugged along, bumping her around like a pile of laundry.
By the time the bus arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, murky gray clouds had formed over the island of Manhattan. Splatters of rain flattened themselves across the concrete as Mallory tugged her sweatshirt hood over her hair. At the corner, under an overhang, she grabbed her phone and tried to assess where to go next, re-inserting the address of the gallery space. People rushed around her, each lost in their own thoughts, wearing scowls on their faces as though the mere fact of her existence was too much for the vibrant city.A mother? At twenty-five? Didn’t she ever want anything else?She knew she made all this up, that nobody could “feel” the fact that she’d never known what to do with her life.I love being a mother. I love my life on the Vineyard. Why would anyone want this panicked rat race life, anyway?
Whatever cell service Mallory had on the Vineyard stalled here on Manhattan. She lifted her phone and stepped out from under the overhang, frustration brimming.If Alexie had just picked me up, like she’d said she would, I’d be fine.
Suddenly, her mother’s face beamed across the screen, signaling a phone call. Mallory quit her search for the Alphabet City gallery and answered it.
Play it cool. Everything’s going well.
“Hi, Mom. Just got to the city. How are things on the island?”
Elsa’s voice was strained. “Hi, honey. Lucas just came back to the house to drop Zachery off.”
“What?” Mallory’s brain was on fire. “Are you kidding me? The one time I ask him to take care of Zachery on a full weekend, he…”
“The thing is, honey, I think Zachery might have a little bit of a fever. Nancy and I are taking care of him now. We’ve got this. I just wanted to let you know,” Elsa continued.
The rain continued to splatter overhead, dousing the top of Mallory’s sweatshirt, and making it stick to her forehead.My baby has a fever. My baby has a fever, and I’m in a ridiculous city miles and miles away.
“I can grab a bus right now and be there as soon as possible, Mom,” Mallory countered.
“Don’t! Besides, if you did that, you wouldn’t manage to get home tonight. You would have to stay overnight somewhere.”
Mallory glowered at the rising puddle at the side of the road. A sharp-tongued businessman walked past her, cursing someone on the other end.His wife, maybe? His secretary? Who did he think he could talk to like that?
“I just…” Elsa began.
“What, Mom? You want to dig into me about Lucas again?” Mallory sounded just as sharp-edged as the passing businessman and hated herself for it. Immediately, she murmured, “I’m sorry, Mom. I’m just stressed. Call me if the fever becomes too high. And remember, you can always take him to the hospital.”
“I know, honey.” Elsa allowed silence to pass between them. “Have you met Alexie yet? Does she seem okay?”
“She’s right here,” Mallory lied. “We have to go. Text me about any changes, okay? I love you. Give him an extra kiss for me.”
Perturbed and suddenly exhausted, Mallory stalked off from the bus station, hoping that a brief walk would clear her mind. Her mother was right: Lucas had never truly known how to be a father. It had been ludicrous to even ask him to try. Since Mallory and Zachery had moved out of the apartment they’d shared, Mallory could count on two hands the number of times Lucas had had him overnight.
After about fifteen minutes of aimless wandering through the rainy streets of Manhattan, Mallory grabbed her phone again to check on the gallery space. It was five-fifteen, and Alexie hadn’t texted her at all in the past several hours, proof that she didn’t give a crap that her sister had come all this way to “experience her art.”What did Alexie care about her Vineyard family, anyway?Their father had died, leaving them all to deal with the horrors of that in their own ways. Alexie’s way was creating a brand-new story.
In the midst of Mallory’s anxious thought spiral, her phone began to turn off. Wide-eyed, she realized that she’d forgotten to charge it that morning. Hurriedly, she hunted for her external charger in her big backpack, but soon remembered that she’d accidentally left it in Zachery’s diaper bag. The rain continued on, more tumultuous than ever, as Mallory blinked at her black phone, exhausted.