“Yes, you do.”
“But, I want you to do it.”
“Dolly. Now.” Maeda gave her a look, and Dolly skipped away. Maeda shut the door a little bit, so all I could see was her. I focused on the porch light.
“I wasn’t scheduled tonight,” she said. “I’m scheduled tomorrow night. It’s Thursday. I have a conflict every other Thursday.”
I knew that. Shit.I must have messed up the schedule and forgot about her parenting group at the Center.
“Why didn’t you mention it when I posted the schedule?” Because yeah, I might have messed up, but she should have mentioned it.
Maeda grabbed her phone from a counter right next to the door and checked.
“Fuck,” she murmured. She turned her phone to show me the message with a red exclamation point next to it where she said that she had a commitment tonight, and that the schedule needed to be adjusted. There’s another message under it asking if I can confirm that the shift was covered.
“When you didn’t respond I thought you were busy. And, honestly, once I got to the Center, I was focused on other things.” She crossed her arms. “You didn’t need to come all the way out here though.”
I nodded. “I know. I was concerned.” I shook my head. “It’s called being nice, I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Well, I’m fine,” she said flatly. Had she always been this rude?
“So, I see.”
We stood there for a few beats, and I was getting more and more annoyed. I had thought she hadn’t shown up because she was uncomfortable with her and I working alone together. But,no. She had barely thought of me at all. I sighed. Maybe that was my fault for having expectations. Shouldn’t I have known betterat this point? When it comes to personal relationships, Maeda will disappoint me every time.
“If you ever need anything,” I said as I backed away.
“I’m sorry about the shift. I’ll work an extra one to make it up. Dolly is going to be with her dad tomorrow night.”
I nodded. “Sounds good. We have a big party coming in so having an extra hand will be helpful.”
“I’ll be there.”
As I walked back home, I thought about reliability. Until tonight, Maeda had never given any sign that she would be an unreliable employee, and it was an honest miscommunication. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a sign from the universe that she and I would not be a good couple.
I thought I learned that lesson years ago.
Chapter Seven
Maeda
Nikki was not kidding when she said there was a large party coming in. The bowling league tournament qualifier matches were in full swing. All twenty-one lanes were being used, and the observation area was packed, too.
A bowler from Lane 3 on the Split Happens Team, knocked over a box of popcorn onto the lane, which interrupted their game. As I swept up the kernels, Nikki powered up an automatic cleaner. The little robot went up and down the lane to clean the debris and re-oil.
It took just over a half hour, which was chaotic enough. Split Happens and their competitors, Alley Oops, were waiting impatiently. Nikki had just got them back to bowling when Emma came over and asked to go home early.
“I think I have food poisoning,” she said, a sheen of sweat on her pale face. “Can I call my friend for a ride?”
Nikki whipped out her phone so fast, it was like a cowboy in an old western showdown.
“It’ll just be me and you then,” I said when Emma stepped away to call her ride.
Nikki’s brows cinched together, but her eyes followed Emma. “That an issue?”
My head jerked back. “No, I was just… making a comment.”
“Hmm.” Nikki’s arms were crossed. Closed off. I wanted things to be normal between us. After she left my apartment the previous night, I had spent the night fretting.
