9
TEDDY
PRESENT DAY
Tanya is sitting on the front porch steps when I walk outside on Monday morning.
I stall in place for a few seconds, taking my time pulling the door shut and locking it. She’s been here for longer than a few minutes. I can tell from the hole she’s dug in the edge of the grass with the heel of her sneaker. The grass in that one spot has been stripped with only a few sad stalks remaining that were more stubborn about leaving the ground than the rest of them.
“Hey.” She looks up when a creak announces my descent down the stairs, her expression contemplative.
“Hey,” I reply, stopping in front of her and shoving my hands in my pockets.
“You never called me back yesterday.”
I wince. “Sorry. I meant to last night. It turned into a busy weekend.”
“Busy?”
“I was helping out next door. Catching up with an old friend.”
“With Sutton Everett?”
I suck my bottom lip in between my teeth, deliberating on how to answer. I’ve never slept with Sutton. But I’ve imagined doing so more times than I could count. She’s starred in my fantasies since the first time I saw her. Physically, I’ve never cheated on a woman. Mentally, emotionally…that’s another story.
You can’t control your thoughts the same way you can control your actions.
“Yes,” I finally say.
Based on the way Tanya doesn’t react at all, it’s the answer she expected. “I thought you dated her sister. Isn’t that awkward?”
“Ellie and I parted on good terms. We’re fine.”
Good termsis a bit of a stretch. Ellie didn’t handle our breakup well, but I think it had more to do with the fact that I was the one who called it quits than anything. We’d grown apart instead of together. There was more resignation than anything else between us. We were like that old, holey shirt you know you should throw away but keep wearing because it’s comfortable.
Tanya makes an annoying humming sound that grates on my nerves. “So, you never dated Sutton?”
“No. I never dated her.”
“How long is she staying?”
“She already left.”
“Oh.” Tanya doesn’t sound all that upset about it.
I’m guessing she’ll feel differently about what I have to tell her next. “Her, uh, guitarist got hurt. She’s about to go on tour in Europe, and she needed someone on short notice. So, I…I offered.”
Tanya’s eyebrows mash together. “Offered what?”
“To go on tour with her.”
This time, her eyebrows fly up. “Youwhat?”
“I thought it would be fun. Get to play. See some of Europe. You’ve been saying how having summers off should be taken advantage of.”
Tanya imitates a goldfish. Mouth open. Closing. Alternating wide and shut. “I meant, like, trying a new hobby. Taking a weekend trip to Chicago. The trip to the Grand Canyon. Not…joining a pop singer’s tour!”
“Well…that’s what I did.” I scratch the back of my neck, not sure what else to say.