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Roy was tough to shop for. I wanted to get him something he’d be able to use, and since he liked to hunt, I figured a knife would not only be practical, but very much appreciated, too.
Apparently, I was wrong.
“It’s nice,” he mumbled as he put it back into the box. “Thanks.”
I tipped my head to the side and eyed him curiously. “Why do I get the feeling you don’t like it?”
Roy placed the box off to the side and brought his eyes to mine. “It’s not that, Devyn. It’s just that I can’t exactly go hunting anywhere when I don’t have a working car.”
“Well, hunting season hasn’t exactly started yet,” I reasoned. “I’m sure you’ll have a job by then, and you’ll be able to get your car fixed.”
He shrugged. “For the money you’re spending on dinner, a movie, and this knife, I could have just used the cash to get my car fixed.”
Hurt moved through me. “I’m sorry, Roy. I thought you’d like having some time together and doing something special for your birthday.”
I had to wonder if he’d realized how much his words had stung, because he quickly apologized. “No, I’m sorry. It was very thoughtful of you, and I’m looking forward to having a good time tonight. I’m just stressed about my current situation.”
“I appreciate the apology, and I understand how you’re feeling.”
As soon as I got the words out, Roy reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He immediately started tapping away on it. I waited until he finished and set it face down on the table. “Sorry. I’ve been getting a lot of social media notifications and text messages today, and it seems they haven’t stopped yet.”
I shrugged it off and insisted, “It’s okay. I’m glad you’ve had some friends reaching out to you today. I’m sure that has helped turn the day around a bit for you.”
“It’s been nice.”
His phone buzzed again. Roy didn’t hesitate to pick it up and start tapping away again. This time, I didn’t wait until he finished before I started to speak again. “So, I’ve got good news and bad news.”
“Oh, yeah?” he replied, not looking up from his phone.
“The bad news is that the job I’d been telling you about last week, the one with that five-thousand-square-feet house, didn’t pan out. I think they’ve hired someone else,” I shared.
Roy continued responding to messages on his phone for another few seconds before he looked up and asked, “Oh, you didn’t get it?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
He glanced down at the phone, back to me, and down at the phone once more before he started tapping on the screen again as he asked, “So, what’s the good news?”
“I’ve got two more consultations lined up for next week,” I told him. “I don’t know yet how frequently they’ll want me to come cleaning for them or the specific level of cleaning service that they’re looking for, but if I managed to snag both of them, it’s definitely going to be an extra couple hundred dollars a month,” I told him.
Long moments of me staring at Roy as he remained engrossed in his phone passed. I felt like a fool as I waited for him to finish. I didn’t want to begrudge him for simply responding to birthday wishes, but I wished he’d at least set the phone aside throughout dinner.
Eventually, he put it down, returned his attention to me, and said, “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
I let out a sigh of frustration and repeated myself. From that point forward, Roy had been mostly focused on the two of us and our conversation throughout dinner. He had picked up his phone only two or three more times, and he made the responses quick. We spent the better part of our dinner talking about my potential new clients and his job prospects. He was looking for something, but he still hadn’t had any luck.
Before I knew it, we’d made it to the movie theater.
I paid for our tickets, and we made our way in to grab seats. For a Friday evening, it was surprisingly empty in the theater. Or, at least, the movie we were seeing wasn’t crowded, even if there were still about ten or fifteen minutes before it was set to start.
We hadn’t been seated there for more than two minutes when Roy said, “Hey, I think dinner isn’t sitting well with me. I’m going to run to the bathroom quickly.”
“Are you okay?”
He nodded. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
For the next few minutes, I decided to pull out my own phone. It had been stuffed in my purse from the moment I’d texted Roy to let him know that I’d arrived to pick him up for dinner.
