“We’re not going to emergency.”
Her mom exhaled. “You’re sure?”
Abby looked into the kitchen. Didn’t smell anything cooking. “What’s for supper?”
“Supper? Your dad, that’s what’s for supper. He’s taking you out tonight. Remember?”
“Right.”
“Have fun.”
Her mother walked into the garage. Abby heard the car starting, then the rumble of the garage door closing.
Cool. She and her dad. Spending time with him could make up for the bad day. She went upstairs, got changed into nicer clothes. Sat in front of the mirror, doing the best she could with makeup to hide the start of the blue forming on her nose. Interesting, she thought, how it matched her eyes.
She sat down on the living room couch and checked her various social media accounts. She had spent an hour there when her dad’s number came up.
“Hey, Dad,” she answered.
“Abby, how are you doing?”
“Doing good. How about you?”
“Excellent. Good day at school today?”
She heard it in his voice. Sensed it right away. An excuse is coming. Please, Dad. Just cancel whatever came up, and let’s go out for dinner.
“It was fine,” she lied.
“That’s great.”
His voice was too upbeat. He was setting her up for the fall. She supposed that by now she should have gotten used to it, but she hadn’t. Every time he bailed was a letdown. This would be no different.
“Say, Abster, I’m really sorry, but it’s not going to work tonight. Can we switch it around to another night?”
No. No, we can’t. You made a promise. You said you would be here. Just stop telling me you’re going to be here when you can’t.
“Sure thing. No problem.”
“Thanks. I am still in a meeting out here in Barrie. I won’t be home for a few hours.”
Fine. Okay. Fine. But can you just do me a favour? Before you hang up, can you just say you love me?
“Okay, safe travels.”
“Have a great evening, okay?”
“You too, Dad.”
I love you. I love you. I love you. Can you say it?
“Take care, Abster. Talk soon.”
Talk soon?
The line went dead.
She shrugged her shoulders, but the crushing weight didn’t leave. She felt disappointed that she wasn’t strong enough to brush off her dad cancelling on her. This shouldn’t bother me so much.
Should it?
She grabbed some ice cream out of the freezer. Dairy free. Vanilla. She glanced at the clock. Perfect. A soccer game was about to start. For every door that closes—
Her phone pinged. Putting down her ice cream, she pulled out her phone from the back pocket of her jeans. A new contact request. She looked at his picture.
Good-looking guy. Wow. Who is this?
She clicked on his image. Jake. Brown eyes. Brown hair. An easy, unforced smile.
Forgetting about the game she grabbed her ice cream and walked up to her bedroom. She closed the door, even though the house was empty, and sat down on her bed. She put her ice cream on the nightstand beside her clock-calendar, keeping her eyes on the new interest in her life.
She flipped through various social media platforms, trying to learn what she could about him. Then she returned to staring at his picture. They had a few acquaintances in common. No one close. She didn’t recognize him from school. Maybe he’s a nice guy who reaches out to a lot of people. But the longer she looked, the more interested she became. To respond or not respond? She decided to wait a while. Best not to look too desperate. She flipped through his pictures and read the comments.
A while later, she heard the garage door open. Probably her dad. She noticed how her hurt feelings about being stood up by him had been melted away by her interest in Jake. She glanced at the time. It surprised her how long she had been thinking about her new potential friend. A stranger who earlier today had no place in her life.
She put her phone down. Opening her door, she walked down the stairs to say hi to her dad. He smiled as best he could, but she read the exhaustion in his eyes. He apologized again. Said he would make it up to her. Whatever she wanted. She said that would be fine. She knew the routine. He went to the kitchen for a drink—whisky, his favourite—and headed for the couch.
Abby went back upstairs. Looked at Jake’s picture again.
And wondered what kind of person he was.
chapter two
He was the first thought on her mind when her alarm clock woke her at 6 a.m.
Normally she would have touched the snooze button. Normally she would have gone back to sleep. But she didn’t normally receive friend requests.
Not from guys like Jake.
She looked at his picture. Felt an unmistakable connection with him. Like he could breathe a sense of calm into her life. She cycled through his photos, touching the screen longer than she usually did.
What do you know about him? Why did he contact you?
Part of her wondered if he was one of those guys who reach out to dozens and dozens of people to broaden their network of contacts and loosely defined friends. The other part of her wondered if, hoped, it was more than that. Hoped it was real. Hoped he saw something about her that interested him.
It wasn’t until she got into the bathroom and looked in the mirror that she remembered her injured nose. A light blue line ran across the bridge where it was bruised. She touched it. It didn’t hurt. Not that much.
She had other things on her mind.
The morning at school went faster than usual. When her class before lunch ended, she pulled out her phone and gazed at him again. She focused on him with such intent that she didn’t even notice Kedisha walking up to her.
“So how’s Toronto’s latest UFC fighter doing?” Kedisha asked, catching a quick glance of Jake before Abby hid her phone from view.
Abby looked up. Laughed. “Good. Doesn’t feel that bad. What’s new?”
“Who’s the guy?”
Abby felt her pulse quicken. Her face flushed. She sensed a rush of blood through her nose. What to say? She raised her shoulders as if it were no big deal. As if he hadn’t been the only thought on her mind since last night.
“Just some guy.”
“I don’t think so. Who is he?”
Abby clicked off her phone, then felt in a strange way that it was disrespectful to do so.
“Want to go for lunch?”
“I’ll meet you there. Need to talk to my band teacher.”
“Sounds good,” Abby said, hoping Kedisha would let it go.
At least until she had sorted Jake out in her own mind.
Abby walked into the crowded cafeteria and for the first time had no concerns about sitting by herself. Leaving her lunch unopened on the table, she put a knee on the bench and kept standing as she studied Jake’s face. Yes or no? Accept or decline? She looked into his eyes. Soft pools of golden brown. Maybe. Maybe this could become something. You never know unless you try.
Abby accepted.