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4
Iassumed only my sister’s fiancé would have my number, and that I’d be screening their sexts. A message from Rhys was a surprise, and I ignored it. Just like I ignored the disturbing temptation to think of his unexpected kiss at the airport.
“Ugh!” Sadie moaned, bursting through the door. Startled, I dropped my phone and shrieked. The pin she used to unlock the door fell onto the vanity as she slipped around me to sit on the toilet.
“Gross,” I scolded. “You could wait for me to leave.”
“You were taking forever,” Sadie shrugged, “and my bladder couldn’t wait.”
“Did you tell mom yet?” I leaned against the vanity, crossing my arms over the knot in my towel. “Somewhere between the pignoli and pizzettes?” When Sadie ignored me, I bent over to collect my phone, swiping condensation from the screen and accidentally replying to Rhys’s message with a series of periods and semi-colons.
“Why are you blushing?” Sadie taunted as she pulled up the waistband of her pajama pants. “Do you have something you need to share with mom, too?”
My face was red when I stood up, feeling a little dizzy from no sleep and blood rushing to my head. I rolled my eyes at my little sister and left the bathroom door gaping open when I walked out toward the bedroom. Our mom was standing at the bottom of the stairs, hand on her hip, pointing at me with a rolling pin in her other hand.
“Mia Isabella Sofia Valentino!” She was already scolding me for something, her brown eyes narrowed on me. “What sort of Christmas are you making this out to be? You’re half naked, missing our cookie bake, and you’re gone for two days without even calling. You break my heart, Mia.”
Debating whether I should tell her the truth about Sadie, I turned from the top stair and locked the bedroom door behind me. I didn’t even live there, so what was I doing lingering about? Christmas. Sadie. Pignoli. My clothes were stale with the scent of travel, a harsh odor of recycled air and coffee, but what I’d worn to London was all I had. To be sure I wasn’t about to wear boiled egg refuse, I sorted through Sadie’s closet. Everything she wore now was tight, so she wouldn’t mind me stealing a pair of sweatpants and one of dad’s old NYU sweatshirts.
The smell of their cookies not only filled the house with nostalgia, but it also made my stomach betray me. My phone buzzed once more on my messy bottom bunk. Dressed with my hair in a heaping wet knot on my head, I checked the screen.
dontanswerthisguyisadick: I just need Sadie’s address while she’s over there.
dontanswerthisguyisadick: And I was wondering how you felt about using this photograph for the wedding?
I didn’t reply, but I allowed my trembling thumb to scroll along the image Rhys sent with his message on that stupid app I wish Sadie never installed on my phone. In the fog, and many martinis in my belly, Rhys captured me at an angle that I couldn’t even recognize myself in, in a good way. Nobody would guess that I hadn’t slept, or I was drunk and hated Matthew for being whoever he was, but Rhys took a picture of me I wished I could’ve gone back in time and submitted to my high school yearbook.
Me: Wrong number.
Stuffing my phone in my sweatshirt pocket, I took my time walking down the stairs. My family was in the kitchen, Benji on his back beneath the sink, only his waist and legs sticking out, and Sadie eating cookie dough. She wasn’t ready to be a mom, but I hadn’t slept enough to scold her, so I pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Do you want me to take you to drop those off at your clubs, mom?”
She filled two cups with coffee and placed them on the table in front of me, motioning with her left hand for me to drink. My stare caught on the four gold bands around her wrinkled ring finger, smiling at the thought of her polishing the diamonds every Sunday night.
“Your father,” she paused, noticing my attention, “would’ve wanted you to make the biscotti. When you wake up some more, I’ll let you.”
“Thanks, mom.” I nodded, trying not to smile too much because it would make me cry. It was only the second Christmas and New Year’s without our dad, so I knew that second cup of coffee wasn’t just for me. That was mom’s habit, for when dad and I would take over in the kitchen together so she and Sadie could wrap the cookies.
“Mom,” Benji wiggled out from under the sink, “you’ve got a broken pipe and no place is going to be open this weekend.”
“Let’s get Chinese!” Sadie shouted, spinning around with a mouth full of batter. Our mom waved her hands in the air, brushing us off and demanding our silence.
“We’ve got plenty of food,” she objected. “We’ll just use the paper plates until you can fix my drain, Benjamin.”
As they discussed the drain and argued about Chinese or calzones, I pulled the corner of my phone from my sweatshirt pocket, groaning to myself when I saw its vibration was another message from Sadie’s future brother-in-law.
dontanswherthisguyisadick: My apologies then. Must be the time zone difference. I’ll have a hard time explaining to my wedding date that I sent her photograph to a stranger. Please erase? She’s a fickle, angry little thing.
Why is he texting me?Better yet, I should’ve wondered why the text from a near-stranger made me smile. It was probably the fact it took me away from my mom and siblings arguing about dinner, allowing me one second that belonged to me and not them. Don’t give Rhys too much credit.
Me: I’m not your date.
dontanswerthisguyisadick: Hi, Mia.
Shoving my phone back into my pocket, feeling my cheeks redden, I irritated myself for slipping and letting him know it wasn’t the wrong number.
“What’s got you all pink?” Benji tousled my wet hair as he passed, his low rumble of laughter echoing in his trail. “Don’t tell me it’s a guy because mom and I have big plans for you.”
