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“Nicola,you’llneverguesswho I ran into at the grocery store today.”
I took a sip of my coffee, letting Mom chatter away on the phone. She was always telling me about people she encountered that I barely remembered. Sometimes it was an old teacher or classmate or neighbour that had moved away, and I had to pretend to be excited so I didn’t appear rude to her.
“Who this time?”
“Alphonse! He was buying the ingredients to make puttanesca and asked me if you still like it.”
My blood ran cold.
Mom continued, completely oblivious. “He seemed distressed. Something about an incident at the library. Oh, and goodness, the poor dear told me that his great aunt had passed away and that he was going to be flying to Tuscany for the funeral.”
My thoughts ricocheted like ping pong balls in my head. Mom had talked to him again after I told her not to. Alphonse was out of the country. Maybe he would be gone for weeks.
I could dream, anyway.
“Mom, I asked you not to talk to him anymore.”
“Nicola, maybe you have the emotional fortitude to not talk to someone who starts crying at you in a grocery store, but I do not. Besides, it was only for a few minutes.”
“Did he say how long he was going to be in Italy?”
Please be a really fuckinglongtime.
“Not that I recall, but I would assume at least a week. That flight takes half a day, and he wants to be there for his family. So sweet. Why did the two of you not work out again?”
“Mom I—” I sighed. “Alphonse is not as nice as you think he is. He's just a good liar. I’m not telling you to not talk to him for no reason.”
“If I don’t have context then how am I supposed to know how to react properly? You’re my little girl, Patatina, and I hate how we’ve drifted apart these past few years. Talk to me.”
“It's not really easy for me to talk about. He and I didn’t work out because I was miserable. He's the type of person that grinds you down slowly until you don’t even realize how much of yourself is missing.”
“Nicola, did he hurt you?” Her voice had turned to ice on the other end of the line.
Usually her mama bear mode came out at inappropriate times, but in this case it only made me love her more.
“Not physically. I just want to avoid him and he's making itreallydifficult.” Another ping-pong ball thought smacked me in the forehead. “Were you shopping at your regular grocery store?”
“Of course,” she said. “You know I’m a creature of habit.”
“Mom, Alphonse doesn’t live anywhere near you. Why would he be atyourgrocery store?”
Unease turned my stomach.
“How should I know that?” she asked.
Frustrated, I sighed again. “Mom, I don’t know how safe he is and I don’t want him to involve you in whatever the heck he's got going on. Please don’t give him any more information about me, okay? He's already been showing up at the library since you told him I work there. And I guess there's always a chance that he's harmless, but he's kind of freaking me out.”
“I’m sorry, Patatina.” Her voice softened. “I wish you had told me about him. I won’t tell him anything else. How are your boyfriends doing?”
I couldn’t help but smile at the change of topic. We talked about much more pleasant things for the rest of the call, and hopefully that would be the last she saw of Alphonse.
By the time I hung up I was emotionally depleted.
The one bright spot was that I wouldn’t have to look over my shoulder for the next week. It was a relief to be able to message the pack and let them know that they didn’t have to put themselves out to stay with me during shifts or escort me to my vehicle in the morning.
Another phone call followed a moment later, Billie's name flashing across the screen.
“Hey!” I chirped.
