“Hello?” I answered after the third ring.
“Ah, shit, not you,” grumbled Max. “I meant to call my sister. Must have pressed the wrong button.”
“Well, fuck you, too,” I laughed.
“Sorry, buddy.”
“Actually, since I’ve got you, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Who’s Chris?”
Max didn’t answer immediately, leaving me to dangle for a moment in the silence. “Where’d you hear that name?”
“Terri mentioned him the other night when we were out to dinner. She didn’t really go into a lot of detail, so I was wondering–”
“You went out to dinner with my sister?”
“Yeah. She was craving spicy food, so I took her to–”
“What did I say about keeping away from her?” snapped Max.
“Dude, you need to chill. I didn’t do anything.”
I flopped down onto my mattress and stared up at the speckled ceiling. Streams of light flashed across the far wall as cars in the street below rushed by.
“Look, man. You’re like a brother to me. You know I love you. But I love Terri more. I swear to God, if you hurt her–”
“I’m not going to hurt her. It was just dinner, Max.”
“She’s in an incredibly vulnerable place right now. She’s… Well, she’s–”
“Pregnant. I know.”
“She told you?”
“Well, yeah. You know she’s always been a Chatty Cathy.”
Max let out an exasperated sigh. “Okay, so that means you know you should keep your distance. She’s not in a good headspace right now.”
“How do you know?” I asked, a little defensive. “You haven’t been here.”
“That’s not fair, man. I’ve been busy with work. The firehall’s been busy what with all the new recruits.”
“And you think I haven’t been busy? If you’re so worried about her, why is she all by herself all the time?”
“Careful, Joe,” hissed Max. “I’m doing my best here. The whole family is. The last thing we need is for you to make things worse. It’s complicated.”
I was too pissed to give him an answer. I hung up the phone and slammed the device back down onto the nightstand. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, I took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. Max was my best friend, but he’d taken things too far. Was it such a terrible thing if Terri and I got together? Was it really that world-ending? Hell, I wasn’t even sure there was anything between us. As far as I was concerned, this was all one-sided on my part. Nothing had even happened yet, and Max was treating me like some sort of predator.
But maybe Max was right. Maybe I should just leave Terri be and that would be that, even though my heart twisted at the thought. She could do a lot better than me, I realized. She was an obvious twelve out of ten. She probably wanted to lead a life of luxury. When we were kids, she used to go on and on about how she would one day travel the world and drive fancy cars and have a huge wedding with a thousand guests and a massive cake. I could only dream of those things. My life revolved around the garage; around the business I’d built for myself. I’d probably have to save up for years before I could ever dream about going on a vacation to the next state, let alone another country.
After a while, I eventually found the strength to get dressed. I pulled on a pair of relaxed fitted jeans and a dark grey shirt before making my way out into the kitchen. I was about to pull a beer out of the fridge to settle down for a night of late-night comedy specials when three sharp knocks sounded from my front door. Curious, I stalked down the hall and pressed my eye up to the peephole to see who it was. To my utter surprise and partial delight, it was Terri. I opened the door immediately, swinging it wide.
“Hey,” I said, trying to contain the giddy excitement rising in my chest. “What’s up?”
“I’m so sorry to bother you this late,” she mumbled.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, it’s not a big deal. It’s just that my kitchen sink is backed up and I was wondering if I could borrow a plunger. I totally forgot to buy one the other day while I was at Home Depot. But I mean, who remembers to buy a plunger when you move into a new place, right? It’s a total afterthought.”
I smiled, curious to know why she was bumbling like an adorable idiot. Was she nervous for some reason? “I can take a look at it, if you want.”
Terri nodded slowly, sheepishly giving me the once over. “Yeah, okay. I mean, if you don’t mind. I don’t know the last thing about plumbing. And I’m not going to lie, it’s kind of smelly. Not that I want to leave the dirty work to you, I just know you’re good with your hands. I mean, not good with your hands. Er, good with mechanics and stuff. Technical things.”