Page 61 of Heartache & Playdates
“Maybe you should talk to her again. I don’t know, clear the air.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
“You said you knew her in school? Was she your high school sweetheart?”
I nodded.
“Were you two together for a long time?” she asked.
“No, not really. Six months. And we were kids really. Teenagers.”
She grinned. “Puppy love.”
“No, it was more than that. It was real.”
“Why did you breakup?” She blinked. “I mean, if it’s okay to ask. It’s none of my business.”
“No, it’s fine. We didn’t technically breakup. She moved away suddenly and we lost contact. It was before social media was really a thing and neither of us had cell phones.” Again, I had no idea why I was opening up to her, butI was.
My phone vibrated and I saw it was a Lizzy calling.
“Excuse me, I need to take this,” I excused myself to Lina and the other interns as I stood and walked over to the other side of my office and stood in front of my floor to ceiling glass wall that overlooked the bay. It still blew my mind sometimes that this was my view.
“Hey,” I answered.
“Hey, can you drop Banana’s ballet bag off tonight?”
“Sure.” I wondered why she hadn’t just texted to ask me that.
“And if you have a few minutes to talk, that would be good.”
Lizzy only ever asked to talk if it was important. She hadn’t been feeling well and had gone to the doctor twice over the past couple of weeks. Fear gripped me.
“Is everything okay? Do you need anything? Do you need me to pick Hannah up from school?”
Lizzy chuckled, probably at my overreaction. “Everything’s fine. And, no, I can get her.”
“Okay, if that changes, just let me know.”
“I will, oh hey, did you meet the new teacher? Thoughts? Do we like her?”
No. We love her.
“I know her.”
“Oh, do you?” she asked.
“It’s Totga.”
There was a moment of complete silence and I thought that I’d dropped the call.
“Wait? What?”
I lowered my voice. “Lizzy’s new teacher. It’s Peyton.”
“Holy. Shit,” she emphasized each word.
“Yeah.”
