Bellamy's Redemption

“Your phone?” I asked.

“You need to use my phone?”

I nodded.

“Sure. Of course. Come on in,”

he said.

Krissie reached in her pocket and withdrew a ring of keys. “I’ve got it,” she said, unlocking the door and holding it for us.

Pete took over holding it and Krissie gracefully suggested that she’d be in the kitchen putting away the groceries. I slinked past Pete, trying not to gawk at his made-over crafty-chic apartment. It smelled like coffee and cookies. A mustard yellow lace bra was drying on the living room radiator. Very nice leather riding boots leaned against the coat rack like a page from a catalog. An easel was set up in the corner of the living room with a half-finished painting of a meadow on it. On the coffee table, a string cheese wrapper marked a page halfway through War and Peace. The knife in my heart took a jagged turn with each new detail. This girl was no random pillow fight skank. She was every girl’s dream best friend and every guy’s dream girlfriend. Fuck.

“Here’s the phone,” said Pete, handing his house phone to me. “It doesn’t work in the hallway,” he added as I began to take it with me. I considering asking him for his cellphone, but I sensed I wasn’t in much of a position to make demands.

“Thank you,” I mumbled, dialing my parents’ number since I didn’t know what else to do. I went over towards the door, trying not to look at the handbag hanging on the coat rack, trying not to notice the opened invitation on the table by the door to ‘Croquet in the Snow, Rain, or Sun (who can say what spring in Chicago will be like?) for Camden’s first birthday’ addressed to both of them.

My parents’ phone rang and rang. I began to feel a twinge of relief. As I was about to hang up, my mother answered.

“Hello?” She sounded confused.

“Mom, it’s me, Emma. I’m calling you from… my neighbor’s phone.”

“Emma!” she said. She sounded so happy to hear from me that it made me start crying again. “You’re back in Chicago! I can tell by the area code! Why aren’t you calling from your apartment? Is everything fine? How long will you be back?”

“Just for a while. I have to tell you, Bellamy’s going to want to meet you guys really soon. I’m one of the finalists.” I looked at Pete out of the corner of my eye, and I thought I saw him flinch a tiny bit. This gave me the smallest boost of confidence. Maybe there was still hope for us. After all, he’d only been with Miss Artsy-girl a month or two.

“So it’s going really well?” she asked.

“Yes. Can you and Dad come to Chicago for my Meet-the-Fam date? I think I want it to be here instead of in Florida. I want him to see my apartment and get to know what my life is like here. The show pays for your airfare and everything.”

“Oh, Emma. It’s so cold there. That’s why we moved away.”

“Mom.”

“We’re hosting bridge club next week at our condo,” she continued. “I already bought the snacks.”

“Mom, this is huge!” Please don’t argue with me about this in front of Pete, I wanted to add.

“Well, I suppose meeting our future son-in-law is worth it.” She giggled a little. “This is exciting, Bug.”

“Isn’t it?” I said. I heard Krissie call to Pete for help putting something on a high shelf. He immediately trotted off to the kitchen and then I heard the smacking sound of a butt getting affectionately slapped. The sound was followed by her laughter and “Easy, Tiger.” I wanted to puke.

“So, you really think you won?” my mom asked me.

“I think so.”

“You think he loves you?”

“Umm, yeah. Pretty sure.” I strained to hear what was happening in the kitchen. What if they were making out with me right here?

“And you love him?”

“Sure. Listen, Mom. You can’t tell anyone outside our immediate family about this. I think I only want to involve you and Dad, since once I start getting everyone else involved, someone will probably leak the story. This is all supposed to be kept under wraps.”

“It sounds serious.”

“It is.”