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Colin reached out and squeezed her hand. “Not tonight. It’s late. He’s not himself at night. Sometimes, he’s mean. I don’t want you to see him like that.”
Allison’s stomach had dropped, a door slammed in her face. “Keep me updated, then?”
“Of course.” The half kiss he’d forced to her temple as he rushed for the stairs wasn’t the most reassuring.
That was the last time Allison had seen him, and, except for a few brief texts yesterday, the last time she’d talked to him.
“Huh. Weird. He wasn’t in Victorian Lit, was he?” Mandy observed.
“He’s missed all his classes this week.” At this point, Allison wasn’t sure if he’d be there for his lecture in Wendy’s class tomorrow. “Something’s up with his grandfather.”
Mandy set her fabric aside. “Shit. What’s going on?”
As Colin’s girlfriend, Allison should know the answer to this. Sheshould be privy to all of his stressors the way he was with hers. She should bewithhim right now, bringing everyone food, getting him to rest, whatever he needed. But all she could do was shrug. “I know he’s got dementia but this seemed like something else. He didn’t tell me much.”
“Ah, he’s one of those.”
Allison narrowed her eyes. “One of what?”
“One of those people who refuses to let anyone help.”
Colin 1.0 had certainly been that way.
Mandy grabbed a peanut butter cookie off the plate on the coffee table. “My ex-boyfriend was like that. He’d disappear anytime something was going on. Getting him to talk was like chipping at titanium with a plastic spoon.”
Allison thought back to Colin’s swift reply Monday night when she’d asked to go with him. And to all his curt, vague texts since. She was definitely being shut out.
“Is that what broke you two up?”
“Nah. He cheated on me.”
“I’ll curse him.”
Mandy laughed. “I broke all his expensive Star Wars toys. I figure that’s curse enough.” She folded half the cookie into her small mouth. “Honestly, though. It was for the best. We’d dated for most of college and I think things between us had mostly fizzled but we didn’t know how to end it.”
“So, he went nuclear?”
“Basically.”
“Fuck him.” Mandy deserved better. Allison stabbed at her fabric again. “I’d say I’d have Colin set you up with a friend, but at this rate, it would end up being Ethan.”
Mandy’s cackle echoed against the ceiling. “I mean, theoretically he’s hot, but his personality ruins it. Can you imagine having sex with him?”
“God, no.”
“He’d probably bring a textbook along.”
“Or correct your grammar while you talked dirty,” Allison said.
“I need you to have fewer clothing on,” Mandy mumbled in a faux-seductive whisper.
“Less clothing,” Allison deadpanned.
They both dissolved into a fit of giggles.
By the time Allison gathered her stuff to head home half an hour later, her abs hurt from laughing and, finally, for a few minutes, she stopped worrying about Colin’s silence.
The living room of Allison’s house looked as if a fabric store had exploded.
