I take my phone out and see a text from Nico
Nico: Just spoke with Candace, and she said to give her a call. You’re welcome. Here is her number. She’s waiting for your phone call.
“Fuck,” I say, trying to forget about being a fucking idiot to her, and not sure of what to say when I call her. Instead of stewing on it and making it worse by not calling, I call her number, and she answers after two rings.
“Hello,” she says, and I wonder if she’s home. I wonder if she’s in her office or sitting at the island with her calendar in front of her. Or does she take the weekends off?
“Hey, Candace, it’s Ralph,” I say, closing my eyes and hoping she doesn’t hang up on me.
“Hey,” she says, her voice staying the same. I can’t tell if she’s pissed or not, and that gets me even more nervous.
“Listen, about before,” I say. “I’m sorry.”
She stays quiet for a minute. “What are you sorry for?”
“Well,” I say. “For one, being an ass.”
“That’s a start,” she says.
“Can I come over to you, or maybe you can come over here?” I say the words before I can stop myself. “We can maybe talk.”
“Now?” she asks, and I should say no. I should tell her that tomorrow would be better.
“Yeah, now works. I just got home, and Ari has been fit to be tied, but I’m on the treadmill, and she’s fine.”
“Wait, you’re on the treadmill right now?” she asks, and I smile.
“Yeah, she’s in the Babybjorn,” I say, looking into the mirror and seeing that she’s sleeping now. Her head to the side.
“Take a picture,” she says, and I wonder why. “Trust me.”
“Okay,” I say. “Does that mean you don’t want to come over?”
“I guess we might as well talk about the next step,” she says, and I want to ask her what next step. I want to tell her that I can’t go there with her, that I don’t want to go there with her, but that isn’t true. I don’t deserve to go there with her, is what I need to tell her.
“Send me your address, and I’ll be over in thirty minutes,” she says.
“Oh, and, Ralph,” she says, “that was strike two.” She doesn’t wait for me to answer her before she hangs up. Looking down at my phone, I open the messages and send her my address.
I get off the treadmill and place Ari in her crib then rush to my bedroom and slip on jeans and a T-shirt. I look at myself in the mirror. “Don’t fuck this up,” I say to myself, but deep in the back of my head, I know there is no way not to fuck this up.Chapter 9CandaceAs soon as I hang up my phone, I’m wondering if Ralph will call to rescind his invitation to go to his house. Not going to lie, I was pissed and taken aback when he said he didn’t want any favors. I wasn’t doing him any favors. I was being a decent human. I walked away from him before I made a scene, grabbing my bag and slipping out of the backyard. I tried not to think about him the whole time I drove home, but I was so mad I couldn’t get him out of my mind. Then just when I took a nice deep breath and changed into my yoga pants, my phone rang. When I looked to see who was calling, I never expected to see Nico’s name.
Getting off the stool, I close my agenda, getting ready to pack it to go. When the phone rings in my hand, I look down to see that it’s Layla. “Hey, hooker,” I say, answering the phone with her nickname.
“Hey, hooker yourself,” she says, and I hear covers rustling.
“Are you still in bed?” I ask and then look over and see that it’s almost four in the afternoon. “I hope it’s because you’re napping and not because you’ve just woken up.”
“Hey, this is a nonjudgmental phone call,” she says, laughing out. “I got home this morning.”
“Oh, good God,” I say. “Do I want to know?” I ask. That is one of the things we are opposite about. I’m very conservative in the number of people I sleep with. I’m not saying that I’m a virgin or anything like that, but Layla is more of a “wham bam thank you for the Os” type of girl.
“His name was Chad,” she says. “I think.” She laughs. “Anyway, the man could eat.”
“Oh my God.” I shake my head. “Do I even want to be invested in this?”
“I mean, I gave him not my number.” She laughs. “At first, I was going to give him my real number, but then I knew he would probably be a clinger, so I changed the last two numbers.”