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When her alarm went off at eight the next morning, it was almost a relief, even though she felt like she hadn’t gotten any sleep at all. She rolled over and grabbed her phone off the nightstand to text Caleb.
How’s it going so far?
She lay in bed staring at her phone for ten minutes before she gave up on getting an answer and got out of bed to change for yoga. No more moping. She needed to get out of the house, get some exercise, and spend some time around other people.
Despite her best efforts, it was hard not to let her dismal mood get the better of her.
“You seem down,” Melody observed over coffee after class. “Is everything okay?”
Penny’s shoulders sagged as she picked at the sleeve on her cardboard cup. “Remember the guy I wanted to seduce? The one who’s moving away soon?”
“The booty call?” Lacey said, scooting closer with her triple-shot mocha.
Penny nodded. “We’ve been sort of seeing each other the last couple weeks.”
Tessa’s eyebrows shot up. “Casually sleeping together seeing each other? Or seeing each other seeing each other?”
“It started out as the first one but turned into the second.”
Melody pushed her glasses up and peered at Penny. “Is it serious?”
“Yes.” Penny frowned into her plain nonfat latte. “I didn’t mean for it to be. It just happened.”
“And he’s still moving away?” Melody asked.
“He’s going to med school in Mississippi. He leaves Thursday.” Penny slipped her phone out of her purse and checked her messages for the third time since they’d sat down. Still no response to her text to Caleb this morning.
Lacey winced. “Ouch.”
“We decided to do the long-distance thing.” Penny shoved her phone back into her purse glumly. “Or try to, at least.”
“Oh.” Melody’s lips formed a perfect O as she exchanged a look with Lacey across the table.
“How long’s med school take?” Lacey asked.
“Four years,” Tessa answered like she was delivering a death sentence.
“Plus a year-long internship followed by another four years of residency,” Melody added.
“Yikes,” Lacey said sympathetically.
Yikes was right. When you laid it all out like that, the situation sounded hopeless. What did their endgame even look like? Was Penny supposed to follow Caleb to Mississippi at some point? With her job, she could theoretically live anywhere, but was she willing to move to Mississippi for someone she’d spent less than a month with, and who would be so busy with school he’d hardly have time to spend with her anyway? She supposed she could wait until he’d graduated and hope he was able to get an internship in Los Angeles or some other city she liked better, but that was four years away. And she’d watched enough ER and Grey’s Anatomy to know she wasn’t likely to see much of him during his residency either.
It was beyond hopeless. There was no way they’d ever be able to make this work. Maybe if they had a strong, established relationship going in, they might have a chance. But they barely knew each other. There were too many odds stacked against them.
After yoga, Penny went home and changed for her escort shift at Planned Parenthood. At least the protestors aggressively reciting bible verses and chanting Hail Marys kept her from getting too far inside her own head and spiraling into self-pity. Until she got home. Then it was just her and her insecurities alone together in an empty apartment.
And still no text from Caleb.
Fortunately, her two-night sleep deficit finally caught up with her, and she dozed off reading in bed before nine. At ten thirty, she was jolted out of a deep sleep by the blip of her text alert. She’d fallen asleep with her phone in the bed with her, and it took a few fumbling, bleary seconds before she was able to locate it in the blankets.
Caleb had finally responded.
It sucks here. I miss you.
Penny typed her reply as fast as her fingers would obey.
I’m sorry. I miss you too. I’m awake if you want to talk.
