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Nathan calling…
I fumble the device in surprise, nearly pitching it into my footbath. His name hasn’t graced my caller ID in a while.
“Hello?”
“Hey, how are you?”
“I’m good. Just getting a pedicure right now.” I swish my foot in the hot water and glance around. It’s not rude to chat if I’m the only one in the salon, is it?
“Oh. Sorry to bother you,” he says softly. His tone simultaneously wraps me tight and soothes me like a balm.
“It’s no problem.”
Sharon plops that leg back into the water and retrieves my other one. Her ministrations resume and incites a very loud, porn-like bellow from me that sounds like it originated from the depths of my vagina. I forget the phone tucked to my ear.
“Unggghhhh.”
“Didn’t you say you were getting a pedicure?”
“I did,” I mumble back.
“From where? Some back-alley happy-ending masseuse?”
“Do they have those here?” I reply in my most seductive voice, garnering a frown and an eyebrow raise from Sharon.
Nathan coughs in surprise, and I stifle a giggle.
“I’m kidding. Relax. Sharon’s just an expert with her hands.”
Sharon probably wishes I wasn’t a paying client so she could slap me into next week.
A smile reveals itself in his voice. “Anyway, I called to see what else you needed at your place for the baby.”
“Oh, um. Not much. We have the shower next week after the twenty-week ultrasound. You’ll be there?” I gnaw my bottom lip and wait for his answer.
“Of course,” he murmurs. “I just want to help in any way I can right now.”
The calls to check in to see if I need anything have been nice, but when I tell him no, that’s the end of it. We haven’t spent time together since the restaurant incident nearly a month ago. Cami’s been pretty tightlipped, claiming she doesn’t know anything, but it doesn’t make sense then that he hasn’t even popped by to see me at work. We typically run into each other a couple of times a week during his rotation. The past month has been extra lonely.
At least I have my other best friend picking up the slack. Almost as if she knows something she isn’t telling me.
“I appreciate it. I still need the larger items, but Cami insisted I wait until after the shower before picking them up. She said she might have a surprise, but also that I’ll be receiving some gift cards that we can put to good use.”
“Well, let me know if you need any furniture put together. I’m happy to run by and help.”
“You’ll be the first to know, lover boy.”
An awkward silence descends on the line. I should ask him to hang out or something … right? This is weird. I miss our easy friendship and lazy evenings hanging out with a movie and popcorn or a board game.
A part of me regrets trying to slap a label on this situation, even if I did have the best intentions at the time. I wanted to take the pressure off him to do anything he felt he had to do, considering the circumstances. I’m a thirty-seven-year-old woman with a stable career and a house I’m halfway through paying off. I can handle raising a child.
What I don’t know is if I could handle being stuck in a loveless marriage with my best friend, whom I already love platonically, because of some misguided intention to do the “right” thing.
“I’ll let you go, okay? Enjoy your pedicure.”
The moment slips through my grip like a handful of water. I inwardly sigh, feeling a bit like a coward. “Sure. Talk to you later.”
“Later.”
