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One
NATALIE
The calendar is not my friend. I have a commission piece to finish this week and I’m still in the initial sketch stage… and it’s Thursday. I’ll finish it before the next job is scheduled to come in, but it’d be easier if my creative mojo wasn’t on an unauthorized sabbatical. I’m still getting the work done, but lately, that’s how it feels—like work. I miss the days of feeling endlessly inspired. When drawing was as natural as breathing.
When did the joy of creating disappear? It’s not because I’m doing commissions; I actually love drawing from a prompt. If I had to analyze it—and that’s really no hardship, I’m a big fan of overanalyzing things—I’d say my mojo left town when my parents did. We still talk almost every day, but phone calls and FaceTime aren’t the same as spending time together. I miss the warm fuzzies I always get when I’m with them. That’s right, I’m a twenty-eight-year-old mama’s and daddy’s girl. And not ashamed of that fact one little bit.
Even after they grabbed early retirement by the horns and drove off into the horizon to embrace full-time RV life, I still had Ro in my daily life. Until she, too, got hit by the wanderlust bug. Or in her case, the lust bug. She went on a road trip to British Columbia to meet some builder she started talking to via her online metalwork store—then stayed out there permanently. That was a year ago.
Surrounded by millions of people, yet I feel alone.
So, when the phone light’s up and starts playing my cousin’s ringtone, my looming deadline can suck it. Rosetta hasn’t voice-called me for over two weeks. We’re still best friends, but since moving to British Columbia, she’s been hit-and-miss with communication. When we do talk, the reason for all the “misses” becomes apparent. She’s in love. Wildly in love.
Born two days apart, we grew up together, more like sisters than cousins. Basically, we’ve been best friends since birth. Despite being extremely close, we’re very different people. I’m the romantic, the believer in fate and fairytale endings. Ro is the “I make my own fate,” try everything once, balls-out adventurous type. Minus the balls, of course. She’s the va-va-voom redhead chick who turns heads no matter where she goes. And leaves a trail of broken hearts behind her.
Driving to the other side of the country to hook up with a guy she met online totally fit with her carefree nature. Putting down roots with him shocked the hell out of me. A year later, I’m still surprised every time she says she loves him. Honestly, I didn’t think it’d last, no matter how great the sex is. And apparently, it’s pretty great. Another way my cousin and I are opposites—she’s having all the amazing sex and I’m having none. Not even bad sex.
I wait one more ring before answering. I always let it go a few before picking up. My cousin has been known to accidentally hit the Call button, and some of the heavy breathing I’ve heard because I answered scarred me for life—and made me green with envy. Unless fate sends someone directly to me, the odds of me getting any action are low. Like, single-digit percentage. Sadly, my life has not found its fairytale groove, and none of the men in line during my daily coffee runs have provided the epic meet-cute I know I’m destined to have. One day. One day.
“Hey, stranger,” I say by way of answering. “How’s the wild life?”
“Amazing. Mostly. Everything except for my idiot parents.” A big, hiccupping sob comes through the line. Super out of character for Rosetta. She’s cried around me exactly twice in her life—at age ten, when our grandmother on our mothers’ side died, and when our grandfather followed a few months afterward.
Her parents can’t be dead. If something horrible had happened to them, my mom would’ve called me right away. Plus, Ro would’ve led with that news if her parents had passed away. She wouldn’t have used the word amazing in any sense, even though they’re not close and have always butted heads.
I’ve often wondered if we were accidentally switched as newborns. As infants, we both had fair peach fuzz for hair and could’ve been twins. Hospital mix-ups happen. I’m more reserved, like her parents, whereas, she’s more free-spirited, like mine. Mix-up or not, I’m glad I got my set of parents. I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
“What’s happening with your parents?” I ask.
“They’re close-minded assholes.”
That’s a known fact. This isn’t the first time they’ve clashed, and I doubt it’ll be the last. “What are they being close-minded about?”
“My fiancé.”
“Your fiancé?”
A squeal from her end of the call nearly pierces my eardrum. “Shocking, right?”
“Um, yeah! This guy must be one of a kind, getting you to put on the ball and chain. Never thought I’d see the day you’d want to commit to one person for the rest of your life. Unless—are you guys doing the open-marriage thing?”
“Hell no,” she says on a riotous laugh. “Dak is not a sharer. I’m his, full stop. Even his best friend doesn’t talk to me alone without letting Dak know first.”
“And you’re really okay with that? Being with someone so possessive? Because that’s kind of got ‘red flag’ written all over it.”
“He’s possessive, not controlling. Zero red flags, I promise. Dak would do anything for me, just like I’d do anything for him. We’re unbreakable.”
“Ro the ho becomes the ultimate monogamist,” I tease. “You sound pretty sure about it.”
“I used to make fun of you for believing in finding your one true love, I know. But that saying ‘when you know, you know’ isn’t a load of horseshit lonely people cling to. It’s legit. When the one comes into your life, you just know.”
Envy tightens its greasy fingers around my heart. “I’m happy for you, Ro, even if I haven’t seen you in a year because this guy stole you from me.”
Another laugh rolls into my ear. “He didn’t steal me from you. You’re still my favorite human in the whole world.”
“Second favorite, you mean. Since your fiancé is obviously at the top of the list.” The awkward silence I receive is out of character for her. I wouldn’t have thought my comment problematic, but obviously, I touched a nerve. “Look, I don’t care where I fall on the favorites list. If you’re happy, I’m happy. I miss you so much, though! When’s the big day? The wedding will be back here, I assume?” More silence. Enough to make me wonder if she’s still on the call. “Ro?”
“Sorry, just calming my shit down over here because we’ve circled back to the asshole-parents part.”
