balance.
“Well, I think you were very brave for even coming here.” I patted him on the back and we started to walk toward the entrance.
Blond, bouncy Carol furrowed her eyebrows as we approached the counter. She hadn’t even finished mopping up the cloud of chalk that had settled in the entrance.
“Is everything all right?” she asked.
Mack nodded. “I’m just trying to get back into this. Today wasn’t the right day to try. Thank you all the same.” He placed our chalk bags on the counter and we turned to leave.
“I’m part of a local climbing group.” Carol’s voice stopped us at the door. “You’re free to come join us anytime. We have an online forum where we plan hikes and chat with each other. If you’re interested.” Her voice grew quiet at the end.
To a normal person, it would seem as if she were shy, but I knew this Carol’s game better than that. I could see right through her. I also couldn’t forget that she still didn’t know if Mack and I were together or not (heck, maybe we emitted a very friends-only vibe, but I doubted it).
Regardless of my issues with Carol, I was proud of Mack as he nodded, walked back, and took a card she had for the forum site.
We drove back to my car at the Casino in silence, but it wasn’t awkward. It was the kind of silence that was full of rightness, full of the knowledge that all of the important things had already been said for now and we were okay until something else came up.
And even though I normally hated the thought of listening to other people’s problems (they only helped to add to my anxiety normally), I was so happy to listen to Mack, so happy he’d opened up to me.
I got in my car smiling. I’d never met anyone who had the power to make me feel so okay, so not weird, so not anxious before. And what earlier seemed like it might go down in history as one of my worst days, ended up being one of my favorites to look back on; the day Mack and I truly started to become friends.
I’ll admit that after I’d gotten out of that casino bathroom, I had begun to doubt Mack’s settling up, change your list advice. But after spending the evening with him and discovery all the ways I had misjudged him, I knew for sure that I wanted to try, and that I would be taking my new friend’s advice about tweaking my list as soon as I could.
7
Simplifying
B etsy’s fingers wiggled in the air as I laid the printed list in front of her.
“Oh. My. Gosh. You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to cut this thing up.” She looked over at me. “Because I love you.” She put a hand on my shoulder, losing most of the blood-lust in her gaze, her eyes softening. “And it was holding you back. This Mack guy is some kind of miracle.” She waggled her eyebrows at me. “I think you should just go out with him.”
I shook my head. “Don’t do the eyebrow thing. He’s my new Rachel. Plus we would NOT work together.”
Betsy tipped her head and her gaze flicked to the list, then back at me.
“Not even once I make these changes. Believe me. We are complete opposites.”
Betsy rolled her eyes. “Sure. ‘Cause you’ve known him for all of four days and spent probably a few hours with him total, so you know everything there is to know.” The sarcasm in her voice flattened. “It’s that kind of ridiculous thinking that got you in this debacle in the first place, you know.”
I swatted at the air in front of her. “He’s becoming a good friend and I don’t want to lose that. You know I have a hard time with friends. Plus, I’m completely not his type. He was telling me about his late wife and she’s like my complete opposite.”
“Okay. Okay. I see I’m not making any headway there. Let’s gut this sucker.” She picked up the pen that sat on the table in front of her and uncapped it ceremoniously.
“Calm down. We’re not gutting, by the way. Just changing percentages.”
Bets let her head wobble from side to side to show me she heard
“Well, I think you were very brave for even coming here.” I patted him on the back and we started to walk toward the entrance.
Blond, bouncy Carol furrowed her eyebrows as we approached the counter. She hadn’t even finished mopping up the cloud of chalk that had settled in the entrance.
“Is everything all right?” she asked.
Mack nodded. “I’m just trying to get back into this. Today wasn’t the right day to try. Thank you all the same.” He placed our chalk bags on the counter and we turned to leave.
“I’m part of a local climbing group.” Carol’s voice stopped us at the door. “You’re free to come join us anytime. We have an online forum where we plan hikes and chat with each other. If you’re interested.” Her voice grew quiet at the end.
To a normal person, it would seem as if she were shy, but I knew this Carol’s game better than that. I could see right through her. I also couldn’t forget that she still didn’t know if Mack and I were together or not (heck, maybe we emitted a very friends-only vibe, but I doubted it).
Regardless of my issues with Carol, I was proud of Mack as he nodded, walked back, and took a card she had for the forum site.
We drove back to my car at the Casino in silence, but it wasn’t awkward. It was the kind of silence that was full of rightness, full of the knowledge that all of the important things had already been said for now and we were okay until something else came up.
And even though I normally hated the thought of listening to other people’s problems (they only helped to add to my anxiety normally), I was so happy to listen to Mack, so happy he’d opened up to me.
I got in my car smiling. I’d never met anyone who had the power to make me feel so okay, so not weird, so not anxious before. And what earlier seemed like it might go down in history as one of my worst days, ended up being one of my favorites to look back on; the day Mack and I truly started to become friends.
I’ll admit that after I’d gotten out of that casino bathroom, I had begun to doubt Mack’s settling up, change your list advice. But after spending the evening with him and discovery all the ways I had misjudged him, I knew for sure that I wanted to try, and that I would be taking my new friend’s advice about tweaking my list as soon as I could.
7
Simplifying
B etsy’s fingers wiggled in the air as I laid the printed list in front of her.
“Oh. My. Gosh. You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to cut this thing up.” She looked over at me. “Because I love you.” She put a hand on my shoulder, losing most of the blood-lust in her gaze, her eyes softening. “And it was holding you back. This Mack guy is some kind of miracle.” She waggled her eyebrows at me. “I think you should just go out with him.”
I shook my head. “Don’t do the eyebrow thing. He’s my new Rachel. Plus we would NOT work together.”
Betsy tipped her head and her gaze flicked to the list, then back at me.
“Not even once I make these changes. Believe me. We are complete opposites.”
Betsy rolled her eyes. “Sure. ‘Cause you’ve known him for all of four days and spent probably a few hours with him total, so you know everything there is to know.” The sarcasm in her voice flattened. “It’s that kind of ridiculous thinking that got you in this debacle in the first place, you know.”
I swatted at the air in front of her. “He’s becoming a good friend and I don’t want to lose that. You know I have a hard time with friends. Plus, I’m completely not his type. He was telling me about his late wife and she’s like my complete opposite.”
“Okay. Okay. I see I’m not making any headway there. Let’s gut this sucker.” She picked up the pen that sat on the table in front of her and uncapped it ceremoniously.
“Calm down. We’re not gutting, by the way. Just changing percentages.”
Bets let her head wobble from side to side to show me she heard
Similar Books
