Chapter Five
“What are you doing?”
I smiled even though Harlow couldn’t see me. “Do you remember when the big inflatable star thing came to your school last year?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s what I’m doing.”
There was a lengthy pause. “You could be doing anyfing and you’re in a ba-loon?”
I nodded. “With stars. It’s very cool.”
“If you say so.”
“You thought it was cool.”
“That was last year. I’m a year older now.”
“Oh, honey. Wiser a year does not make you.”
“Whatever. Brett! Come talk to Mom.”
“Wait! I—”
“Love you. Love you too. Bye-bye!”
The sound of the phone switching hands cut me off and a very bright and vibrant voice came over the line. “Mommy!”
I sighed, unable to feel upset my daughter no longer wanted to talk to me.
I’d talk to my son instead. “Hi, baby. How are you?”
“Good. Do you miss me?”
“Of course I miss you. Do you miss me?”
“Uh-huh. Daddy made us a bonfire last night.”
“Did he? Was it fun?”
“He made it big, bigger, and biggerer! We even got smores!”
His silliness was amusing. “Are you being good?”
“Uh-huh. What are you doing?”
“Staring at the stars. What are you doing?”
“What are you doing that for?”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
The conversation didn’t progress further than that. Brett got distracted by something and only muttered the occasional “uh-huh” in response to anything I said. I even asked if he’d turned green with magenta poka-dots in my absence and he said yes. It was easy to deduce after that it was time to end the call.
“Did you really answer the phone in there?”
I recognized the attendant’s voice and smiled though he couldn’t see it. “Yes. It’s not like I’m on the toilet.”
“True. Do you want me to change the slide or are you happy with this one?”
“Why do I get the feeling no one else signed up for this?”
“Plenty of people signed up. In groups. And for later in the day. Technically you could stay in there for another two hours and no one but me would know.”
“Won’t you get bored?”
Was it odd I was talking to this guy through the planetarium? Or that this was the only conversation I’d had since getting here that wasn’t going to end with talking about Grady Sinclair?
“Nah. Actually, these projections come with curriculums and it’s been interesting to read them.”
“So that’s what you’re doing out there? Reading?”
“Well, yeah. What did you think I was doing?”
Who knew? “Facebook? Instagram? Pinterest? Is MySpace still a thing?”
YOU ARE READING
Never Always (NaNoWriMo 2014)
Romance"Why are you smiling at me, Grady Sinclair?" "Because you're fun to smile at, Page Townsend." ~*~ Romances run their course. This is a truth Page Townsend is all too familiar with. She never imagined it would happen to her twice. After some rather d...
