Page 28 of Counting the Days

Also, why had he not brushed his teeth before a date? How could he leave his house in this disheveled state with his cellphone in a holster like a child in a sheriff costume? She knew she was blinking but could not stop.

“Um, my story? Well, I work in fashion and I live in Topanga.”

She never knew what to say when someone asked for her “story.” She knew they didn’t want to hear her whole life story. It was just a thing people said when they didn’t know how to participate in an organic conversation.

“Oh, I love Topanga. I live in Woodland Hills,” he said.

Dammit,they were geographically compatible and lived, at most, ten minutes apart. The better this man was on paper, the harder it would be for her to justify never speaking to him again. With each positive quality, he was slowly revoking her victim status and making her responsible for her empty bed and womb.

“You ever hike Dead Horse Trail?” he asked.

“Yeah, I live right near it.”

“Oh, cool. I love hiking, I’m out on the Malibu trails every weekend.”

Dammit,they had similar hobbies.

“We should go hiking next weekend, it’s supposed to be gorgeous weather.”

He was proposing some kind of future, but her heart did not lurch like it had with Danny. Instead, it fell, bumping along her rib cage and landing at the base of her spine with a thud. He mentioned he liked paddleboarding, which Rhea also enjoyed. He loved traveling, as did Rhea. They had a great deal in common, and this was devastating news.

“What do you do for work?” Rhea asked.

“I’m an architect.”

Dammit,he had a great job.

Rhea tried to figure out what it was about him that was so unbearable. Sure, he was humorless, but she didn’t need to end up with some clown constantly cracking wise with sweaty desperation. Maybe she could be with a man who didn’t even make her smile. Maybe she would smile at other parts of her life, but never at home. She imagined their dry, boring future together: a constant stream of shared hobbies without even the most modest of chuckles, her mouth in a straight line across her face as she hiked all over the world staring at her husband’s cellphone holder.

He told her he had never been married. “I was engaged once, though. But we broke up ’cause she didn’t want kids….” He looked at her meaningfully.

Rhea was sitting across from a man who could give her everything she wanted. He was physically active, he had a stable job, he was responsible; he always knew where his cellphone was. Logic told her to see this through. But, as the night went on, Rhea realized she was unfunny in his presence. She had no sparring partner, no one to play with, so she became dull right along with Randall. Was having a family more important to her than joy?

At one point, she made a joke, and instead of playing along, he asked, “Are you being funny?”

To which she said, “Sorry.”

Rhea flashed to her body at the morgue; on the coroner’s report, the probable cause of death: boredom.

“So…Randall,that’s kind of an unusual name. I only met one other Randall and—get ready for a brag—it wasJustin Timberlake’s dad.”

He looked at her, confused.

“My mom took me to an *NSYNC concert in Tampa when I was ten. I wasobsessedwith them. I have no idea how she wasable to afford the tickets. But at the time, I had a sinking feeling she put them on a credit card. And now I’m like,Ten-year-olds shouldn’t even know what credit cards are, much less have ‘sinking feelings’ about them.Anyway, we happened to be sitting way far off to the side of the stage, right next to Justin Timberlake’s dad, Randall Timberlake. I freaked out, got his autograph…and I still have it to this day.”

Randall took a long pause. “I can’t tell if you’re being funny or not.”

“No, I’m serious, that actually happened.”

“Is your mom still in Florida?”

“She died.”

Rhea tried to guess what he would do next—Sorry for your loss,then move on? Make a sad face and hold it?

He nodded, then said, “Florida has changed so much over the years. I have a time-share in Miami.”

Rhea listened to him talk about his time-share for five more minutes, trying not to judge him for sayingnothingabout her dead mom, trying not to compare him to Danny, which was impossible because Danny was better than Randall in every way.