The Perfect Holiday

“It’s June,” I corrected.

“Judy, I hate to tell you this, but it seems like garden variety asshole behavior.”

My jaw dropped. “You’re kidding,” I said softly. “This guy is stalking me! He’s threatening me, and harassing me! And I’m supposed to just take that in stride and let it go?”

Carmody sighed. “Look, I don’t make the rules,” he said. “But unless we have hard evidence of any of those things, you’d have a really tough time making a case against this guy.”

“You do have hard evidence,” I shrieked, pointing down to the ruined plastic. “It’s right there!”

Carmody chuckled. “No, this ain’t nothin’,” he said. “We don’t know anything – how do you even know these were for you?”

“Because my name was written on the box,” I said in exasperation. “Look, I know all of this stuff has to be connected! It’s not just some random guy trying to mess with me. He really wants to hurt me!”

Carmody snickered. “Honey, I get that you have a very high opinion of yourself, but trust me – this is just some kid messing around.”

Tears stung my eyes. Angela wrapped a protective arm around me and pulled me close.

“My friend is really scared,” she said sternly to Carmody. “And you’re telling me you’re not even going to look into it?”

Carmody was already tucking his notepad and pencil away. “There ain’t nothin’ to look into,” he said. “Call us back if you get an actual threat.”

Angela stared at him in disgust and disbelief. “You’re kidding,” she said slowly. “This is disgusting! I thought you guys were supposed be on our side.”

Carmody laughed. He pulled on his jacket and shook his head, nodding his head towards the front door. His silent partner walked out into the hall. Just as Carmody was about to follow, he turned back to Angela and me.

“Look, girls, I know it’s scary. Big, big city and you’re all on you’se own. I get that. But you girls are adults now, and that means not calling the cops for every little thing that frightens you.”

I could tell Angela was about to resist, but I knew that my tears would be falling soon and I didn’t want to cry in front of the cops.

“Fine,” I said softly. “Thanks for coming out.”

“You two have a real good day,” Carmody said. He tipped his hat, then walked out the door.

Angela kicked it shut behind him. “New York’s best,” Angela said bitterly. “Don’t make me laugh. Those two were pathetic!”

I bit my lip and shrugged. “Yeah,” I said softly. “I told you.”

Angela pulled me into a close hug. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you,” she said. “I had no idea they would be so callous. They practically blamed you!”

I nodded. “I know.” I wrinkled my nose. “Same way they treated me when Andy tried grabbing me in that alley. They acted like it was no big deal – like I deserved it, because I’d once asked him for coffee.”

Angela heaved a large sigh. “What are you gonna do?”

I bit my lip and sniffled. “I have no idea,” I said quietly. “When I think of something, I’ll let you know.”

Chapter Fifteen

June

On Monday, Angela had to go back to work. I wish I could say that I was starting to feel better about my whole situation, but the truth was that I was feeling more depressed than ever before. Day after day passed by where I did nothing but sit on the couch and flip through old shows, and I was starting to wonder if I shouldn’t be spending my time by looking for a job. But every time I pulled up my laptop and started working on my resume, I just felt guilty and sad. I couldn’t believe that my lifelong goal of teaching had barely lasted for more than a year.

Thursday morning, just as I was settling down on the couch with some leftover pizza and a bad romantic comedy, my phone buzzed on the end table. My hand was shaking as I picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Hello, may I please speak with June Rogers?”

“This is she.”