Hey, Stranger. How’re things?
She stared at the phone in the dim light. And then, instead of texting, she responded with a phone call. “You know that you’re just topping off a good day,” Kate said.
“That’s good news,” her girlfriend, Afton, said.
“And what are you doing?” Kate asked. “Normally I don’t hear from you, except for what? Your birthday and what? One other event that I missed.”
“I wish I could come for a visit,” Afton said, and then her voice turned hesitant. “But it’s not possible right now and probably won’t be for a while.”
Kate stared at the phone in surprise. “You’re welcome any time to come for a visit. You know that. I haven’t seen you in what, two years?”
“Yeah, I know. I’ve been living in San Fran for that long.”
“You sound depressed. Any particular reason?”
“Because.”
“No, no, no, no. We need more thanbecause.”
“Really? Okay, fine. I broke up with Jared.”
“Ouch, like permanent-permanent?”
“Yeah, like permanent-permanent.”
“Well, you’re welcome to come visit anytime,” she said. “Unfortunately I’m always busy though, so, no matter when you come, I’m not sure that staying here with me will even give us much time together.”
“Well, on the other hand,” Afton said, “you won’t be there to bug me, as I tear up every once in a while. Like I said it won’t be for awhile though. I’m still getting stuff organized here.”
“You can always tear up with me. We’ll go get Häagen-Dazs and some wine.”
“Now that’s my friend,” she said on a laugh. “I’ll let you know later, when I can get free here.”
“Okay, good enough. I’m still at the same place, so it’s not a biggie.”
At that, she hung up with a smile on her face. She had not seen Afton in at least two years. She had gone down to San Francisco to see her, and they had had a blast. Afton and Jared had seemed great together then. Kate didn’t know what the problem was now, and it was obvious that her friend wasn’t up to talking about it on the phone, but they’d have time for some girl chats coming up. Hopefully soon.
Then Kate thought about her caseload and about all the problems she was dealing with at work and winced. She was honest when she said she wouldn’t be home all that much. But hopefully her friend wouldn’t have a problem with it because some of these cases would take an awful lot more than a nine-to-five work schedule. And that wasn’t likely to change. In fact, Kate saw it getting worse. So it really didn’t matter when Afton got here, just so long as she did.
Kate smiled at the thought of seeing her friend at some later date. Also Kate had gotten off early today, so another checkmark on that good-day thing.
Then she grimaced because she didn’t exactly want to share the details of her relationship with Simon with Afton so early on. Or note even later into this relationship, as Kate feared she’d still be full of doubts when it came to Simon. And yet, no doubt over Afton’s eventual visit, depending on how long her friend would stay with Kate, Afton and Simon would cross paths.
Even if Kate tried to stop that, chances were it would happen—and likely in a most memorable way. Every time she tried to avoid or to hide from something like that, it seemed to always go wrong. Afton was a great girl and had been working as a sales manager for one of the women’s high-end retail stores. Kate had no idea what Afton’s plans would be when she got here, but she had family, which also brought up the question: why wasn’t she staying with family? Then she thought about Afton’s family and winced. Afton always had trouble with them. Some very long-term discord existed with her, involving her brother and her father.
As Kate tried to dredge up the details, she couldn’t really tap into them. There was something. She stopped and frowned, as her brain rattled around—until she remembered.
Afton’s mother had committed suicide.
She swore. That really wasn’t a good topic for Kate right now. She didn’t want to tiptoe around Afton, if that was the topic of the day with Kate’s cases. Frowning a little and feeling some of the high from her day wearing down, she sent a text to her friend.Still having problems with the family?
All the usual.
Kate thought about the response and nodded.
Afton quickly texted again.Second thoughts about me staying with you when I do get to visit?
She sent another text back, making it very clear.WTH? No. Just hellishly busy is all. And may get worse the longer I’m on the job.