“Oh, Rose, you’ll never guess.” She pauses dramatically. “I’m moving back to Forest Grove.”
“What?” I scream into the phone and sit up. If there’s anyone that ever hated living in Forest Grove, it was Olivia. I didn’t know her when she was younger, but from the way she tells it, she was miserable. She moved here her freshman year of high school and hated it. She claimed to not have one single friend, and even now I find that hard to believe. Olivia is one of the nicest people I know. “What do you mean you’re moving back to Forest Grove?”
“Well, you’re talking to the newest vet at Happy Critters,” she says, naming the only veterinarian office in town.
“You’re kidding me!”
“I’m not,” she says flatly. “I start in a few weeks. If you’re still in town, we need to catch up.”
“Absolutely. So tell me all about it.”
We spend the next few minutes talking about her new job, and I’m glad to finally have her off the subject of Brody and me. I’m just not ready to delve too much into that.BrodyShe’s been gone for too many games, and every game has sucked. Rose has been gone for at least a month. How long is she going to insist on this stupid break?
I’m not sure what I can do. I feel like this is all for nothing without Rose by my side.
I’ve spoken with her on the phone and tried to get her to come back, but she’s insisted she needs a little more time. While she assures me this is a temporary break, she’s never sounded so … far away.
I get substituted out after only my third pitch of the game.
This is so humiliating.
The coach tells me to go to the showers; I’m done for the night.
I’m lost without her, period. I know she should be able to follow her dreams too, but I don’t know how to function without her. It would be different if I was sure this was only temporary, but the more we talk, the more I’m discovering it’s not.
Kaden catches me after the game. “You need to cut loose and have a drink so you can be able to focus on the game.”
He’s not wrong. I feel so tied up in knots right now, I don’t even know what I’m doing. With a shrug, I tell him, “It’s worth a shot,” and I go out drinking with him and a few of the other guys.
Hitting the bottle hard, I try to drink my way past how lost I am without Rose. I’m drunk and know it. Women are hitting on me right and left. Kaden seems to be sending them my way. One woman seems particularly determined to ignore my brush-offs.
I talk to her about my wife Rose to further make her understand I’m not available, but the woman doesn't care and keeps getting closer and closer.
My best friend Kyle shows up and saves me and takes me to the hotel away from everyone.
“What were you thinking going out with Kaden? That guy would love to see you lose Rose and be just as miserable as he is,” Kyle tells me. “Sober up and get your head on straight.”10RoseJust wrapping up at the gym, I’m in the locker room changing when I’m approached by another woman who asks me if I have a spare pad or tampon. I give the woman a pad and realize as I do that I’m past due for my own period.
I count the days on my fingers and then pull my phone out to verify it. I’m late. Like, really late.
Instead of heading home after the gym, I go to the pharmacy and buy a couple of pregnancy tests. I tell myself I’m jumping the gun; women skip their periods from time to time on a regular basis. I never have, but that’s beside the point. I’m stressed, and it’s playing havoc on my system. That’s what’s going on here.
When both pregnancy tests are positive, I take a picture of the test sticks and their result window. Later when I second-guess myself I’m sure I’ll be glad I took the picture.
I leave the pharmacy in a daze.
When I get back to my parents’ house, I find they have company, so I don’t get a chance to tell them the news quite yet. Which is good. I want to talk to Brody first.
My parents are playing a card game with friends, and I don’t want to play, but I also don’t want to be alone quite yet.
I turn on the small television in the kitchen and turn it to the sports station, hoping to catch an interview with Brody since I stopped watching the game the night before when he was pulled out of the game.
The program is talking about Brody all right, but they’re not talking about the game. I see my husband at a bar with a woman who is rubbing his back, laughing and even lays her head on his shoulder.