The Unexpected Call

A wave of disappointment washed over me. Vic had left for work without saying goodbye, though I knew he needed to get to work. I pushed myself from the kitchen counter, a decisive sigh escaping me.

I decided to head upstairs to my bedroom. The sheets were a tangled mess, so with quick, efficient movements, I stripped the bed. I carried the entire bundle downstairs to the laundry room, dropped it onto the floor a heap, added laundry detergent to the washer, loaded the machine, closed the lid, and started it.

Barely twenty minutes after Vic had left, my phone rang; it was Randy. "Fuck!" I thought to myself. I knew that if he were to come over, Randy and I would undoubtedly have sex. Not that I didn't want to – I certainly did – but I didn't want him to think it was okay to hurt me and then simply come back later expecting sex.

I took a deep breath and answered, my voice cold. "Hey, Randy."

"Hey, Deppgrl," his voice was soft and hesitant. "Can I come over? Think we should talk."

I paused, processing his question and weighing my conflicting desires. He called my name again, "Deppgrl?"

"You can," I said, "but your visit will be short."

"Okay," he replied, a hint of relief in his tone. "When can I come by?"

"Give me about an hour and a half," I said, my voice still cold.

"Okay," he replied, "I'll see you then."

"Bye," I said, and then hung up the phone.

When I returned to my room, I noticed that it still smelled of sex, so I turned on the ceiling fan and then the air purifier to help clear the lingering scent. After that, I went back downstairs to run the vacuum on the carpets and sweep the kitchen floor. I grabbed a vase from the top of the fridge – one of several up there that served as decorations of sorts. After grabbing scissors, I went outside to my flower garden, where I cut daisies, carnations, and tulips before carefully bringing them inside. I took the vase off the counter, brought it over to the sink, added room temperature water to it, arranged the flowers, and placed them in my living room.  When I returned to the kitchen, I put the scissors in the dishwasher.

Looking at my watch, I saw that I still had time for a quick shower. I hopped in, showered, then dried off and dressed in loungewear. Afterwards, I headed to the laundry room, where I moved the bedding from the washer to the dryer then started the dryer.

As I headed to the kitchen to grab something to drink, the doorbell rang. I glanced at my watch to check the time, knowing it was Randy without even needing to check the security camera app, and opened the door. He was dressed sort of to the nines in slacks, a polo shirt, a sports coat, and loafers. I invited him in.

“Thank you for allowing me to come over,” Randy said…he was doing is best to not kiss me. “Deppgrl, I honestly had no idea that I was flirting with Sarah—I genuinely thought I was just being friendly. That doesn’t excuse what happened. I understand that it made you feel like you were on a date with both of us, and worse, it showed you that I was being disrespectful towards you. I’m really sorry for that.”

I opened the door. “Ok.”

He leaned in, trying to kiss me.

I pulled back, steadying my voice. “You need to seriously reconsider your actions.”

He stepped back immediately, eyes dropping. “I’m sorry,” he said again, quieter this time.

Halfway out the door, he turned back to look at me. His eyes met mine.

“I told Sarah I’m going to try to earn your trust again,” he said. “And I told her that from now on, we’ll only talk about Emma and Max. That’s it.”

I held his gaze for a beat. “Ok.”

I then said “Goodnight, Randy.”