Page 147 of Rags's Awakening
“Hi,” she breathed. “Are you busy?”
“Yeah. How’s your mom doing?”
“She’s about the same, which I guess is good. She talks about you a lot. She always liked you, you know.”
“She’s cool. So what’s up?”
“Nothing.”
After a few seconds, he said, “Julie? You still there?”
“Yeah… uh… yeah, I’m here,” she said, her voice cracking. “I… I need to talk with you.”
He heard her take a long, slow breath over the line. “In person. And I’m not trying to hit on you or anything. I’m… um… in trouble.”
Rags sighed. “What kind of trouble?”
She took a long time to answer. “I don’t wanna talk about it… on the phone. Can you meet me at Ruthie’s? Please… I don’t know what to do,” she said, her voice dropping.
“I can’t meet now. I’ve got work to do, then I’m heading out with the crew.”
“I didn’t mean now. Later?”
Rags exhaled, his lips pressed tight.
“Please… I know you don’t owe me anything, but I’m… scared.”
“About what?”
“I can’t talk about this over the phone,” she whispered.
“Okay. Let’s meet at Ruthie’s. I can’t get there until five,” he said, already knowing he’d regret it.
There was a long pause, followed by a sharp intake of breath. “Thanks, Rags. You don’t know how much this means… to me,” Julie said, followed by a quiet, wet sniffle.
There it was, that jagged, familiar sound of her trying to swallow a sob. Years ago, he would’ve reached through the line to catch her. Now, it just made him look at the wall clock.
“Really. It means a lot that you’d—”
He shifted his weight, his keys jingling in his shirt pocket. “I’ll see you at five, Julie.”
He ended the call before she could say anything else. For a moment, he stared at the dark screen, feeling nothing but a faint, buzzing irritation in his chest. The kind he felt when stuck in traffic, itching to get out of town and hit the open road. He shook his head, pocketed the phone away, and fired up his laptop.
***
When Rags steppedinside Ruthie’s, a few people hovered around the cash register. Parents with squirming children on their laps filled the waiting area.
“Damn,” Rags muttered as he stomped the snow off his boots.
He craned his neck, searching for Maddie. He spotted her carrying a tray piled high, weaving through the crowd.
The curly-haired waitress glanced over, a smile spreading across her face. She mouthed, “Hang on,” then stopped at abooth with two worn-out parents and four small kids shoving and swatting at each other while their parents ran interference, trying to keep glasses of milk, soda, and water from tipping over amid the clatter of silverware.
Rags chuckled as he watched the exhausted parents push glasses toward the center of the table, only to have one of the children drag them back to the edge. It reminded him of when he was a kid and how he and his siblings drove their parents just as crazy.
“Hiya, handsome,” Maddie said, blowing a strand of hair off her forehead. “You alone, or are your friends gonna join you?”
“I’m meeting someone. Is our booth open?”
