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Another laugh follows.
“I’m not in Vermont. We’re in Sydney.”
I frown at the light gray wall of Ryker’s hallway and try to figure out if I heard her correctly.
“Wow,” I say. “You’re a long way from home.”
“Depends how you look at it,” she says.
“What does that mean?”
“We decided to relocate,” she says. “Surprise! This is home now.”
I blink slowly and then a faint laugh escapes, and I shake my head.
“I’m sorry. For a moment there I thought you said you moved to Sydney.”
“I did!” she says happily.
“Sydney?” I repeat. “The Sydney that’s in Australia? That one?”
“I know!” she says. “Isn’t it exciting? You know Glen’s from here, and he’s always wanted to come back. His mother is quite old already, and you know how important family is to me.”
I can’t even laugh. Smacked in the face with irony.
“Right.” My voice sounds strangely hollow. I swallow. “That’s…”
“I was hesitant at first,” she continues, oblivious to the effect this news has on me. “It’s a long way from home. Practically the other side of the world. But then Glen said, ‘What’s really holding you back, babe?’ And I realized he was right. I don’t have anything keeping me in the States.”
Well… that’s nice to hear.
“Uh-huh,” I mutter tonelessly.
“You know what I mean,” she says airily. “Of course you’re still there, but, honey, you have your own life. Plus, you know we hardly ever see each other anyway.”
She’s right. She’s absolutely right.
I don’t know why I feel so off balance about this. It makes no sense. I mean, it’s just another person basically washing their hands of me, but that’s pretty much a regular Tuesday for me, isn’t it?
And hey. Sydney? That’s a nice place for a vacation. If I ever, in my life, manage to scrape together enough money for a plane ticket. Maybe they’ll have a guest room, and Glen will agree to put up with me for a few days.
And that’s excluding the possibility that they’ll break up soon. Like they always do. And then she’ll be back, and… then she’s back. And it’ll be like it never happened.
She’s still talking. About… something.
“I have to get back to bed,” I say, cutting her off.
“Oh. Well, of course you do. We’ll talk soon, okay?”
I nod, even though she can’t see me, and end the call.
And then I just stand there and stare at the wall with an unseeing gaze.
You don’t care about this, I tell myself.
It doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t!
