A Week at the Beach (26 page)

            Three hours later, I found myself sitting in Chrissy’s new apartment admiring the view and the expensive wine Mr. Money had stocked the kitchen with. 

            “So, what do you think?” Chrissy asked with a cheesy and expectant grin.

            “It’s amazing, Chrissy.  The view is spectacular and the place is beautiful.”  I turned away from the window and grinned at her.  “You’ve got everything you’ve ever wanted.”

            She smiled, “I know.  It feels good, too.”

            “How are things with you and Clark?” I asked as I sat down next to her on the fancy couch.  I’d decided that I wasn’t going to call him Mr. Money anymore, at least not to Chrissy.  If he was whom Chrissy had chosen, then I needed to respect that choice enough to call him by his real name. 

            Chrissy shrugged and took a sip of her wine. 

            I cocked an eyebrow at her, “What does that mean?”

            “What does what mean?”

            “I asked you how things were going and you shrugged.”  I imitated her action.  “What does that shrug mean?”

            She shrugged again, “You know how it is when you live with someone.  At first it’s exciting, but then you fall into a routine and things start to get a little familiar, that’s all.”  She tried to make it sound casual, but I knew her well enough to know better.

            I put my wine down.  “Chrissy, you’ve been living together for two weeks.  The honeymoon period usually lasts a few months, at least.  What’s really going on?”

            She sighed loudly, “He’s still seeing her.”

            “Who?” I asked and studied her face.  I should have known she didn’t just call me over to check out her new place.  She was in pre-crisis mode and she needed me to talk her through it.  I’d seen it many times before.

            “His wife,” she said with a sad look.  “He’s still seeing her.”

            I gave her a sympathetic look, “When?”

            “She’s always there when he goes to visit the kid.  She won’t let him take the baby by himself, so either she goes with them or he stays over there for the visit.”  Chrissy whimpered helplessly.

            Trying to reassure her, I said consolingly, “I’m sure it’s nothing.  He just wants to be a good dad and spend time with his daughter.”

            Chrissy looked over at me suspiciously, “At eleven o’clock at night?”

            “Babies keep odd hours,” I grimaced as I spoke, not convincing myself of what I said.

            Chrissy started crying, “I thought this was what I wanted.  I thought that having him in a place with me would make him see that he didn’t want her anymore, that he should be with me and not her.  I hate this, Cami.  Instead of her waiting up for him while he’s out with me, I’m the one lying in bed alone and watching the clock for him to come home.”

            I put my arm around her and she collapsed against my shoulder.  “I’m sure it’s just a transition period.  Things will change, I’m sure of it.”

            “Do you really think so?” Chrissy sniffed loudly.

            “I hope so.”  I rubbed her arm in support. 

            “You’re a really great friend, you know that?  I’m so glad I’ve got you.  I don’t know what I’d do if you ever left me alone in this city to fend for myself.”  Chrissy wrapped her arms around my waist and squeezed me.  “How about I treat you to the spa this weekend?”

            I laughed, “Sure.  I could use a relaxing spa day.  I’ve been sort of tense lately, anyway.”

            She sat up, “What’s going on?  Stress at work?”

            “No, that hasn’t really started yet.  The kids haven’t come in yet, so it’s just the teachers right now.”  I’d officially reported back to school, but the students weren’t due to arrive until next week.  Job stress wasn’t new to me.  I was used to that.  “I’ve just been tired this week and for the first time in a long time I’ve got cramps. I did not miss those.”

            “Men are so lucky they don’t have to deal with that crap.  As if the cramping, bloating, and bleeding weren’t enough, then we have to deal with the whole childbirth thing!”  Chrissy, clearly feeling better, sat up and grabbed her wine.

            “My mom used to say that if men were responsible for birthing children then the human population would have died out centuries ago.” I shifted on the couch.

            Chrissy and I both laughed and sat back against the couch, settling in for a lovely evening of catching up.  I didn’t tell her about Nick, and she didn’t ask.  One of the best things about my friendship with Chrissy was that if I didn’t want to talk about something, she was perfectly happy simply to fill the void by talking about herself.  If, however, by chance I did want to talk, she’d always be there to listen.  She didn’t try to pry things out of me.  She knew that with three sisters, I grew up without a lot of secrets, so as an adult I chose to keep most things to myself.  I appreciated her respecting that.

            Of course, it could also just be that she was so self-centered that she didn’t even want to know what was happening in my life.

            At the end of the evening, I caught the subway back to my place and collapsed onto the bed.  It hadn’t been a particularly busy week, but it had been exhausting.  I’d actually taken a little nap in my classroom at lunch the day before, so it shouldn’t have surprised me when I woke up the morning after my visit with Chrissy to find that I’d fallen asleep on my bed fully clothed and with my shoes still on.

            The rest of the week was about the same.  I went to work, kept busy planning my latest year with first graders, then came home and collapsed on my bed.  By Friday, I was ready to spend my whole weekend curled up in bed.  I stopped at the store to pick up some vitamin C and other cold preventatives.  I figured I was about to get sick, and the first week of school was not the best time to be rundown or ill.  My phone rang just as I walked out of the store. 

            “What are you doing tonight?  Come out with me!” Chrissy said in an obnoxiously cheerful voice.

            “I don’t think so, Chrissy.  I’m pretty sure I’m getting sick, so I should probably stay in this weekend and try to nip this in the bud before it gets too bad.”  I talked to her as I dug through my bag in search of the candy I’d bought myself as a treat.  I always bought myself a small treat when I went to the pharmacy.  It was a tradition left over from my childhood when my mom would take us all to the drugstore and the pharmacist would give us each a lollipop.  I unwrapped the sucker and popped it into my mouth. 

            “The kids haven’t even showed up yet and you’re already sick?” Chrissy whined.

            “I think I can catch it in time.  I’ve just been feeling achy lately, so I’m going to try to load up on vitamins to fight off whatever it is I’m developing.” 

            “I guess I’ll let you stay in this time,” Chrissy’s voice had a disappointed tone. 

            “Where’s Clark, anyway?” I asked as I headed back towards my place.

            “He’s away on business.  You know, when we didn’t live together it didn’t bother me that much when he’d go out of town, but now that we do, I’ve noticed how often he goes away.” She sighed, “I don’t know, Cami.  Sometimes I think I’ve made a bad decision.  Being a mistress is a lot easier than being a live-in girlfriend.”

            I shook my head and rolled my eyes.  “Perhaps you should have thought of that before you agreed to move in with him.”

            “I know, but,” she sighed again, “the place is amazing!  I’d be a fool to let this apartment go, right?”

            I laughed at her, “I hardly think a nice apartment is worth all the heartache, do you?”

            “It is for now, I guess.”

            Chrissy said her goodbyes and I finished my walk home, feeling tired but in better spirits.  When I got home, I immediately changed into my pajamas.  I made myself a mug of tea, popped a vitamin into my mouth, and curled up on the couch with a good book.  I’d planned to spend the weekend doing just that.  Most of the other house residents had gone away for the weekend, so there were very few of us milling around the house.  With less people around, I was able to fulfill my weekend plans of being a couch potato. 

            Sunday night, still in my pajamas but feeling much better, I picked up the phone to call and check in on my parents.  I usually called them on Sunday nights, so they picked up on the first ring.

            “Cami!” my dad said cheerfully.

            “Hi, dad,” I answered him back with a smile.  “What’s up?”

            “Not much.  Let me go into the kitchen so that I don’t disturb your mother.”  I heard him say as he carried himself away from distraction in the house. 

            I smiled to myself.  I don’t know why he bothered getting up.  My mom was just going to shout at him from the living room as he talked to me on the phone.

            “She’s got me watching some show about girls trying on wedding dresses.  It’s been on for three hours already!  I’ve got to get a television for that garage.”  My dad whispered into the phone, just in case my mom might hear him.

            Since moving to a house further from the city, my dad had tried to assert his masculinity a little more.  Living in an apartment with four women left him in desperate need of man time.  For him, the big selling point of the new house was the detached garage where he could keep tools, lawn mowers, and other man stuff.  He’d planned to get a television so that he could watch what he wanted, but they’d been in the house a year and he still didn’t have the television.  My theory was that he secretly liked having to watch all those girly shows.

            “It’s probably a marathon, dad.”  I said with a laugh.  “What have you guys been up to?”

            “We went to the Farmer’s Market today and picked up some organic vegetables.  That market is great. They have so many things there.”  My dad said excitedly.  For the next ten minutes, I listened as he went through and described the entire stock at the market.  A few times, I could hear my mom interjecting loudly from the other room. 

            “That does sound like a good place to shop,” I said when he’d finally stopped talking about the market.

            “It is.  So, what’s up with you?  Tori mentioned something about you saying you didn’t feel well.” 

            “I’m probably just rundown.  I’ve been really tired and achy, but I spent the whole weekend in my pajamas and I’ve been taking extra vitamins to try to fight it off.  I’m sure I’ll be fine by midweek.” 

            “Well,” my dad stopped as my mom shouted something from the other room.  “Okay, fine!  I’ll ask her!” he shouted back at her.  With a sigh, he said to me, “Your mother wants to know if you’re seeing anyone?”

            “No, I’m not seeing anyone.”  I smiled and shook my head.

            “She said no,” he shouted back to my mom.  I heard her saying something in return, and then my dad was back.  “She said what about the guy from the beach, the one that called Allison?”

            My body froze.  Since no one had mentioned it the week before, I stupidly assumed that Allison hadn’t said anything to my parents about Nick’s phone call.  I should have known better.  There was no way Allison was going to keep that to herself.

            Before I could answer, my mom’s voice came on the line.

            “Allison said he sounded very nice.  Is there anything between the two of you?” she asked in a hopeful voice.

            I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself before I answered.  “Mom, he was just a friend that I made at the beach.  He lives in LA, so we probably won’t ever see each other again.”