My phone buzzed just then. I sloppily wiped the snot from my nose and reached for it. A text from Daniel: I miss you.
I replied, I miss you too, Daniel.
Then I texted Lucinda to let her know I made it back alright. I turned off the phone after that and closed my eyes, letting the tears spill while I imagined what could have been.
Fourteen
I woke up early the next morning. I vowed I wasn’t going to waste today. I had to get things done at the house. Time was running out. It was already a given I’d probably be here until the weekend.
Using the internet on my phone, I looked up the local skip service and called them to have it delivered in front of my mother’s home tomorrow morning. So that was done and dusted. I’d head over there within the hour and get the garbage sorted. Then I called the ‘Used but New’ store and waited until I could speak to the owner. He made up some rubbish about intending to call me, and I pretended to believe him. Then he told me he could make it by Friday afternoon to pick up the furniture, and that was alright by me as long as it was a guarantee.
Looking at myself in the mirror this morning, I looked even worse for wear than yesterday. I had horrible bags under my eyes, and my eyes were bloodshot and rimmed with more tears. I always looked like a blowfish when I cried, and it usually took a whole day to look semi normal again.
I washed my face, made a half assed attempt at make-up, brushed my hair, and dressed in black tights and a red tight long-sleeve top. I don’t know why I decided on that outfit. Well, in the far depths of my mind I knew it had something to do with Christy wearing her own tight fitting outfit yesterday that made me want to flaunt my own figure, but I didn’t want to admit she got inside my head like that. Even though she did. Fuck, I hated denial.
I turned side on in front of the mirror. Thank God all that food yesterday hadn’t made me bloat… too bad, anyway. What was one bad day of eating? But damn, that pizza was so good. And the Chinese. Hmm, I could go for Chinese again right now.
I grabbed the car key and my purse and walked out of my room, locking it behind me. Then I turned and headed to the parking lot, all the while dribbling at the thought of having another naughty day of eating something fatty. When I looked up at where my car was, I abruptly came to a halt. My mouth dropped open in shock. My car wasn’t there. I looked around, expecting to have misplaced the memory of where I’d parked my car, but I didn’t.
“FUCK!” I screeched out, not giving a shit if anyone was around to hear it. Of all the fucking things that could happen to me… Cursing under my breath, I stalked up and down the street for a good solid half hour, looking at every car I found parked, but none of them was mine.
A headache came on as I hurried back to my motel room. I pulled out my phone and called the local police to file a report that my car was stolen. Well, technically it wasn’t my car. Of course it couldn’t be easy. I had to give them Daniel’s number, and then I was told to tell him to call as well to confirm he’d allowed me to borrow his car. Then I had to provide every fucking detail of the brand new BMW SUV I’d parked in a dodgy part of town. Fucking lovely.
Getting off the phone with them after the half hour ordeal of answering every damn question they could throw at me, I rang Daniel’s work office knowing he’d already started work. It was the fastest way to reach him since he usually put his phone on silent during the day. Daniel let me know he’d told the replacement secretary to put me through no matter the time of day. It was a sweet gesture, but I hated having to ruin it with this awful news.
“Hey you.” He sounded happy and upbeat, and I envisioned him kicking back in his leather chair with his feet propped on his desk and that goofy wide grin of his that could make any girl malleable in his hands.
“Hey,” I hesitantly responded. “How are you?”
“You sound upset. Again. Fuck, I really need to go down there–”
“No, I’m not upset by anything here,” I lied, but he didn’t need to know the truth to that one. “I have some really bad news. Like the kind of news you’re going to kill me over.”
He was silent a long moment, and then asked, “What’s wrong, babe?”
“Are you going to hate me?”
“Jeez, you’re freaking me out. What’s happened?”
Looking blankly ahead at the busy street, I sighed and whispered, “Your car’s been stolen.”
“What? I didn’t hear you.”
“Your car’s been–”
“Speak up, Sara!”
“Your car’s been stolen!” I shouted feeling my heart rate increase. “I don’t know what happened. I parked it fine, but okay, yeah, I’m not in the most spectacular bit of town, so it’s my fault, I guess, but fuck, I didn’t think it would get stolen. I called the police, but they sounded so disinterested, demanding you call them to confirm you let me borrow the car and I’m freaking–”
“Calm down,” he interrupted, sternly. I immediately shut my mouth tightly, and waited for him to curse me out for losing his BMW. “Fuck sake, I thought you were going to tell me something serious.” He actually sounded… relieved?
“What?”
“Thought you were going to say you weren’t coming back or something just as bad. Fuck, you scared me, booty call.”
My lips curled up and my eyebrows bunched in confusion. A “what the fuck” expression formed as I tried to digest his answer. “You’re not… mad? Your SUV’s gone, Daniel. I have to inconvenience you now by making you contact your insurance company and the police–”
“It’s just a car. Shit happens, Sara. Relax. Why the hell would I blame you for the theft of a car? Unless you hired a bunch of criminals to steal a car that I’ve lent for you to use to get around a town you have no desire to get around in, I can’t really see how this could be pinned on you. I’ve got other cars. My wallet’s thick, babe. The real problem is how are you going to get around now?”
I shrugged (not that he could see it), not having thought of that due to being too busy freaking the hell out about his reaction to the news. “I’ll use the bus or something.”
“Fuck that, no way. Aren’t there any car hires?”
“I’m good with bus transportation–”
“I’ll send you some money so you can rent a car, alright?”
“I don’t want your money, Daniel. Don’t you dare! Look, I’ll let you know if I need any help with anything. I have the skip hired out for tomorrow. I’ve got a guy coming around Friday afternoon to pick up the furniture. All I need to do is to sort through what needs to be thrown away and the clothes that need to be donated. It’s really not that much. I won’t need to drive around, you know? I’ll use the bus. It’s literally a stone’s throw away.”
“Yeah, fine.” Ugh. He was pretending to agree. I knew him too well. “Be careful. You’re in a dodgy part of town, I’d like for you to check into a not so dodgy part of town. Don’t want any bikers on your back. Can you do that at least? Get a damn good hotel room. Promise me.”
“Okay, I promise.”