With Hunter gone, Liz had no idea what to do with her mandatory time off work.
Her life was feeling far emptier than usual.
Madison and Catherine were both busy with their own lives, so she didn’t have the option of casting aside her pride and following them around for the day. Both their significant others were even busier, and Catherine’s daughter, Rosie, was in school. Liz could not even enjoy being a doting aunt. She was at an utter loss for what to do with herself.
It was times like these she wished she had made a few more friends in college.
For the first time in forever, she didn’t rush out of the house with only a half-frozen bagel in her hand. She took her time. She stretched as she rose in her bed, pausing for a moment to appreciate the sunlight streaming in through the window. She found herself enjoying music a lot more, especially a few new songs from the composer Michael Davidson. She had even familiarized herself with some of his older music, and liked to fill her apartment with the haunting sounds while she did menial tasks.
She even took her time making breakfast. With the music playing, she would find herself swaying in her kitchen while preparing her meal. Still a bagel, but she made sure it was at least properly warmed up, and that the cream cheese was spread across the entire surface, before biting into in. Then she sat down and read the papers as she ate.
But something was missing.
This wasn’t her. She needed to be on the go, chasing success, doing some sort of work that challenged her mind. Instead, she was stuck home, doing nothing but staring blankly at the paper as if she hadn’t already read it twice.
Why did people even still bother to print newspapers? Who even had time to read them? Nothing that interesting was happening in the world.
Just when she thought she would go out of her mind with boredom, there was a knock at her door. That was odd. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Unless Hunter had decided to beg for a second chance in person.
He had started messaging her about twenty-four hours after leaving her home. It started out sad, desperate, asking for to reconsider. For them to get together and work things through properly. Apparently, he believed that they had been too emotional to have a proper discussion, though Liz wasn’t sure how he could say she was being emotional. She could clearly recall the icy walls going up around her at his announcement.
Then the messages grew angrier, more hostile. Liz had ignored them at first, hoping that he would finally get the hint and leave her be, but the messages had kept coming, each more intense than before. Finally, she decided to respond, sending a simple: ‘It’s over, Hunter. Leave me alone.’ A few more texts came in after that but he didn’t last very long.
By the time Liz made it to the door, she was positive that it was him. So, she blinked in surprise when she opened the door to find Catherine and Rosie standing on the other side.
“You look like hell,” was Catherine’s greeting.
“Mommy!” Rosie squealed in horror. “You can’t say words like that!”
“Sorry, dear.” Amused, Catherine leveled her eyes with Liz. “You look like heck.”
“I feel like heck,” Liz said, smiling as she stepped aside. The energetic Rosie took that as her opportunity to rush inside and grabbed the TV remote.
Rosie turned the TV to the kids’ channel, and after a slightly stern command from Catherine not to sit so close to the screen, she pulled back, wrapped her legs underneath her and hugged a pillow to her chest, watching intently. Liz smiled at the sight. Since she lived in an apartment building, Rosie didn’t have much space to run around like she did at home. Thankfully, the girl was great at entertaining herself.
“You make it seem like being on vacation is a disease, Liz,” Catherine said as she made her way to the kitchen. She set down the bags of Tupperware on the counter and instantly began putting them away, tucking them neatly into Liz’s fridge.
“To me, it is. I don’t know what to do with myself.”
“It’s not like you’ve been working since the moment you came out the womb, Liz. You’ll survive.”
“I might as well have been. Actually, I was thinking of stopping by your place today but I thought you’d be at work. Why aren’t you at work?”
“The faculty at Rosie’s school is on strike today, so I took the day off,” Catherine explained.
“Oh, that’s right. I read about that in the newspaper.”
“You read the newspaper?” Catherine asked, her eyebrows shooting up in amazement. “Things must be worse than I thought. I knew I should pop down here to see how my favorite sister is holding up.”
“I’m your only sister.”
“My statement still stands, doesn’t it?” Catherine grinned. She was gorgeous, still sporting some of her baby weight flawlessly. Even though they looked a lot alike, they were nearly opposites in personality. Liz was driven and focused—so much so that nothing else occupied her days but her aspirations and her fervor for her work. Catherine on the other hand was the most down to earth person Liz knew, with a soft heart and a tongue that could lash out quite surprisingly. She was great as a mother and her skill at cooking was unmatched because of the love she poured into every meal.
“So,” Catherine said. “How are you holding up. Still not wallowing in despair, are you?”
“I don’t wallow.”
“Yeah, well what else would you call this?”
“I just… don’t know what else to do with my time. What do people my age do for fun?”
At that, Catherine laughed. “You’re the one always on your phone, you tell me. Call up Hunter and see if he wants to hang out.”
“Hunter isn’t in the picture anymore.”
Interest lit her eyes. She leaned over the island, resting her chin in her hands. “What happened?”
“He said he was falling in love with me.”
“Oh, God, not love. You hate love.”
“I don’t hate love,” Liz said with a roll of her eyes. “I just don’t want to have to deal with that. When we started this… arrangement, we agreed that it would be strictly sex. Now that he’s developed feelings, there’s no way I can continue. It’ll only complicate things.”
“Oh, the poor soul. Why did he think it was appropriate to even say that? Doesn’t he know you by now?”
“Apparently, the fact that I invited him to my house means I wanted to take our relationship to the next level.”
Catherine pouted sadly. “Aw, the poor guy. He must have shown up here really hopeful.”
“Yeah, well.” Liz shrugged, knowing none of it could be helped. “I suppose it was time for me to find a new partner anyway.”
Catherine snorted at that. “Sex buddy, you mean.”
“You sure you want to be saying that so loudly with your daughter just a few feet away?” Liz asked with a crook of her brow.
“It’s alright. She isn’t hearing a single word I’m saying. Not with her eyes glued to the TV like that.”
She was right. Rosie was lost to the world, only focusing on the cartoon characters singing cheerfully on the screen.
“Then how do you plan to find this new partner of yours if you’re cooped up in the house?”
“You think I should ask Harold to let me come back to work? I think so too.”
Catherine grabbed her hand before she could reach for the phone. “Okay, let’s stop this. You like art, right?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Then go down to the art gallery. Go bask in all its magnificence.”
Liz thought about it for a moment. There were a few art galleries in town, though the one she worked for was the biggest one of them all. If she couldn’t work, at least she could surround herself with the things she loved.
“Not a bad idea.”
Catherine shrugged. “I do know how to come up with them sometimes.”
With the idea swirling eagerly in her head, Liz got to her feet. “You guys plan to come with me?”
“Nah, I have to drop Rosie off at her father’s house. He’s been expecting her for the past hour.”
“Won’t he be upset that you’re late?”
“He won’t notice. Too busy with the college student he’s been seeing.”
“What age this time?”
“Twenty-one.”
“Barely legal to drink.” Liz laughed. “He sure knows how to pick them.”
“Yeah,” Catherine said, with a shake of her head. It looked as if she wanted to say more, but decided not to risk it with Rosie sitting so nearby. It was one thing if she happened to overhear her mother saying the S word, but it was another thing entirely if she overheard her saying bad things about the father she loved so dearly.
In front of Rosie, Catherine and Jackson got along swimmingly. When they weren’t in front of her, however, they were constantly at each other’s throats. Jackson’s habit of picking up teenage girls was the butt of all their jokes. Especially Liz. She had always disliked him, even when he and Catherine were in love.
“I was just checking in to see how you were,” Catherine said. “But now that I see you’re fine, I should get going.”
“Say hi to Derek for me. I haven’t seen him in a while.”
“He’s been busy with the expansion project he’s working on, but I’ll make sure to pass the message along. Rosie? Let’s go, baby.”
“Aw,” Rosie whined, making Liz smile, “but it was just getting good.”
“Well, the quicker we get moving, the quicker you can see your friends, huh?”
Rosie jumped to her feet. “Alright, mommy. Let’s go!” She was out the door before Catherine could even make it around the island.
“Don’t run too far ahead!” Catherine shouted after her. Her only response was Rosie’s little feet racing down the hall. Catherine sighed. “That girl is going to give me a heart attack, I swear. I better get going before she gets too far away.”
“Can’t say she doesn’t keep you in shape.”
“That I can’t.” Catherine hurriedly planted a kiss on Liz’s cheek. “Enjoy yourself, Liz. It’s just two weeks. You won’t die.”
“The verdict is still out on that,” Liz said morbidly.
Catherine shook her head but had no time to actually respond. She hurried out the door and Liz listened to her heavy footsteps thud down the hallway for a moment before she rose to close the door.
An art gallery… not a bad idea. It was certainly worlds better than sitting around at home not knowing what to do.
And who knew? Maybe she would find someone to fill Hunter’s spot while she was there. Someone less complicated.