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Maya’s eyes widened as she pointed to my ass. “Oh my God, Colby! You split your pants!”
I twisted to check out the back of my slacks. Sure enough, they were ripped at the seam. And not just a little—the damn things were torn from one end to the other.
“Crap.” I laughed.
Maya cracked up. “I guess I know what color underwear you have on today.”
The last few weeks had been so stressful; I was pretty sure I hadn’t smiled once. So my pants splitting turned into much needed comic relief, and the two of us laughed harder and longer than was probably appropriate for the incident. In fact, we were still laughing when we started up the stairway to the street again. Though my laughter came to an abrupt halt when I looked up and saw the face of the woman coming down the stairs—she was definitely not smiling.
Billie.
I froze.
She froze.
Maya, completely oblivious, was still laughing as she climbed the stairs ahead of me.
“Billie, what are you doing here?”
Her face fell. “Apparently not having as good of a time as you two…”
I shook my head. “No, no, no. It’s not what it looks like. I swear.”
She held up her hands and started to walk down the stairs again. “It’s fine, Colby. I need to go so I don’t miss my train.”
“Billie, wait!” I chased after her.
But she rushed through the turnstile and shook her head. “Just go, Colby. Your wife is probably waiting for you on the street.”
***
Hours later, I was sitting alone at my kitchen table with an empty bottle of tequila when Maya walked in. I hadn’t seen her since the incident with Billie this afternoon.
“Where were you?” I slurred.
“I saw Billie get upset, so I thought I’d make myself scarce for a while. Is everything okay?”
I drank the last of the alcohol in my glass and guffawed. “Sure. Why wouldn’t it be? The woman I love doesn’t want to see me because I’m living with another woman, who happens to be my wife, and then today she saw what looked like me having a great time with said wife.” I shrugged. “Everything is just fucking peachy.”
Maya sighed and sat down across from me. “I’m so sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you, Colby. I really am.”
If I didn’t know she had no heart, I might’ve bought her act and thought she felt bad for me. I got up from the table. “I’m going to bed.”
After I brushed my teeth and changed, my mind circled back to where it had been all afternoon. I’d been wanting to text Billie, but I didn’t want to upset her any more than I already had, so I’d refrained. Though in my current drunken state, I talked myself into believing it would be irresponsible of me not to check on her after she’d been visibly upset. I picked up my phone and laid back on my bed to type.
Colby: Hey. I’m sorry about today. I’d just tripped and split my pants. The hearing was today, and I felt like I was about to lose it. I swear it wasn’t what it looked like. Things have definitely not been fun. I want to make sure you’re okay and say I love you.
I watched as the message changed from Sent to Delivered, then a minute later finally showed as Read. I stared down at my phone, waiting for her response.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited…
CHAPTER 30
Billie
When it rains, it pours.
On top of my already miserable mood, Sunday morning I woke up to a leaky pipe under my kitchen sink that required immediate attention. The first person I thought to call was Holden, being that he was a jack of all trades and handled stuff like this all the time. Even though I didn’t live in the building, I knew he’d come over to my place with his tools and help me if I needed him. But that wasn’t an option right now. Holden was an extension of Colby. He’d run right back to Colby and tell him everything. Then Colby would think things were alright again with us when they weren’t. Things hadn’t been okay, in my mind at least, for a few days now—not since I’d run into Colby at the train station.
I did know one other plumber: Eddie Stark, AKA “Eddie Muscle,” my client I’d let take me out on a date that one time. I decided to swallow my pride and call him for help.
He agreed to come on one condition: that I join him for lunch after—as friends. He knew by now that I wasn’t interested in him romantically, so I trusted his intentions. I agreed to go to lunch as long as I got to treat him as a way to say thank you for helping me out.
Eddie had been in my kitchen for over an hour before he finally figured out what was wrong with my pipes. While I watched him work and listened to all the clanking under the sink, my mind was off in La-La-Land, replaying the scene at the subway station for the umpteenth time and alternating between seething and sad. At this point I couldn’t even be sure my memory hadn’t distorted everything, exaggerating what I’d seen and heard. I no longer had a clear picture of what had happened. Still, I continued to ruminate.
