I toss everything with a broken seal and set aside all the unopened items to donate. A homemade lasagna in the fridge makes me pause. While it’s too old to eat now, it was obviously made fresh at some pointin the past few weeks. The thought of Pops hovered over the stove preparing it makes me chuckle. My grandfather was a lot of things, but home cook was not one of them. He mostly survived off cereal, cans of beef stew, and cranberry sauce year round since Nana passed. Good on him for expanding his horizons and trying something new, I suppose.
When I’m finished, I collect the last bag of trash and throw it into the bed of the truck along with the others I’ve collected in my efforts.
My phone pings with a text from Bri as I climb into the cab.
Bri
Captain’s log - Day 4,712…
Is it too early for alcohol?
And I’m still waiting on those tips for hiding a body…
Me
You’re speaking my language. I could use a beer myself right about now.
And I plead the fifth.
Bri
Tomorrow’s a new day. But tonight? We drink!
CHEERS from North Carolina
At the same time, a message comes through from my best friend.
Dubs
LIES!! Your sister is falling in love with me.
A smile cracks through my somber mood, and I toss my phone on the passenger seat.
When I get back to Boulder, I’ll go out for a burger, drown my sorrows in a beer, and turn in early.
Tomorrow is a new day.
11
i hate this dress
Hannah
I wore the dress.
But it’s not my fault.
It’shisfault.
The knot on my forehead, my frazzled mess of a brain, my lost Dum-Dum, my damaged Jimmy Choo, Kristen demanding a dramatic reenactment of our one night together, the carousel of memories that won’t stop since I ran into him,andthis freaking sundress that’s made me late for my date with Daniel—all of it is Rowan’s fault.
Okay, the dress is a stretch. But the blunt force trauma rearranged my brain chemistry. And now I feel an immense pressure for this date to go well as though Rowan’s blow to my head snapped me out of a five-year stupor, church bells ringing, my conscience coming in hot, loudly declaring,“Surprise! You’re still single!”
I wasn’t self-aware enough in the moment (see: blunt force trauma) to inspect Rowan’s left ring finger, but there’s no way that guy can’t walk into a room without at least a dozen women volunteering as tributes to lock him down within the hour.
If he’s not married, he definitely has a girlfriend. And if he has a girlfriend, then I definitely need aboyfriend.Obviously.
Pre-head-injury Hannah, didn’t care how tonight went. Post-head-injury Hannah, though? Yeah, she needs someone other than the six-two soldier with the muscles of steel and teddy-bear dimples to think about.