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you still think about that sandwich place we used to hit up? | can't even picture it right now honestly |
So did you at least give him a piece of your mind, or just stand there steaming? | oh i told him. real quiet too. that's worse. |
Did you passive-aggressively leave the empty container in his bed? | nope. left the fork in the sink instead. he'll figure it out. |
oh no, what song was it? | whole nine yards of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' — belting 'Mama, just killed a man' when it was clearly the opera section. driver didn't even react, just kept driving. |
so did anyone record it or what | thankfully no phones out, but the bartender gave me that slow blink like I was a science experiment. still can't look at the jukebox without my stomach dropping. |
so wait, what happened with that apartment leak you mentioned? | landlord kept saying he'd send someone out next week for like three weeks straight. then last night the ceiling just gave up mid-dinner. pasta everywhere, it's honestly kind of funny now if you ignore the deposit situation |
did you ever get that guy to fix the pipe or what? | oh he fixed it alright. after the drywall pancaked onto my desk and soaked my laptop. three weeks of 'just a little moisture' and now i'm in a budget motel trying to laugh about it so i don't throw something |
remember that time you swore you could hold a yawn and then just... didn't? | the snort really sealed the deal for me |
still thinking about how dave's pen just stopped moving mid-sentence? | that click was the meeting's real highlight reel |
third all-nighter, and you're still out here counting stars like it's a hobby? | counting the ones that aren't mocking me |
you're telling me that coffee's been refilled more times than the car's oil? | car's probably in better shape than my brain |
so what'd the tiny human drop on you today, groundbreaking vocabulary or just more requests for snacks? | full sentence. unprompted. said 'mama that bird is very loud' while pointing at a pigeon. i nearly fell off the roof laughing. |
did the little one finally string more than two words together or are we still in grunt territory? | hit me with 'daddy your hair is messy' this morning. deadpan delivery just like yours. i think i felt my heart actually skip a beat. |
wait did you actually belt out the wrong words for the whole song? | oh i was committed. like fully committed with the hand gestures and everything. the bartender just stood there holding a glass like he was witnessing a nature documentary gone wrong. |
so nobody tried to stop you or what happened? | nope. just me and the wind off the ocean at 3am making fools of ourselves together. my friend filmed it which i'm choosing to believe is for blackmail purposes only. |
you've been doing doubles all week, haven't you? how you holding up? | honestly lost count of which day it is. clock said three in the morning but the sun was up so that can't be right |
did you at least get a break today or is it just go go go? | grabbed a cold coffee from the nurses' station at some point. pretty sure that was yesterday though |
so you're just gonna sit there staring at the waves until the phone rings or what | that's the plan actually. the tide's coming in so I've got maybe an hour before I gotta decide if I'm running from the water or just letting it get my shoes wet |
how many times you checked your phone since we got here | stopped counting after eleven. every time I think maybe this time there'll be a voicemail but it's just the wind making the screen light up |
you've been watching the dance floor for a while now, everything okay? | your grandmother just danced past and for a second i thought it was mom. silly, i know, but that little reminder today of all days just kind of landed weird. |
that last song seemed to hit you harder than the rest, didn't it? | it was our song, you know, the one she'd hum while doing dishes. realizing she didn't even remember to text today, that one just stung a little more than i expected. |
hold on you okay? | yeah no just... three in the morning and a box of stuff. you know how it gets. |
you're like glowing, what happened at the mail run this morning? | okay so i grabbed the mail on the way to the park, right, and there's this thick envelope from the grad school, the one i told you about, the one where the professor's work basically made me want to study this field at all, and i'm standing there by the mailbox with this dog leash in one hand and my heart just going, a... |
did you actually open it at the park or did you wait? | no i ripped it open right there on the bench, there was this little pug snuffling around my feet and i was like, buddy you have no idea what just happened, and my hands were shaking so bad i almost dropped the letter in the mud, and then i read the first line, 'we are pleased to inform you,' and i just started laughing... |
so what's it feel like actually sitting here, after all those late-night voice notes? | you know what's wild? you mentioned once you hate the sound of turn signals clicking. and here you are in this car and every time it blinks i think of that. eight months ago. |
i still can't believe you remembered that thing about the bird feeder. does your brain just archive everything? | god, the feeder. you sent me that blurry photo of the blue jay and said 'this is my only friend right now.' and i just — kept it. pulled it up last night actually. |
you look kinda wired — everything okay? | kid's twenty minutes late from school and just straight-up ghosting my texts. starting to mentally map out every hospital route between here and the bus stop. |
what's got you refreshing your phone like that? | daughter's supposed to be home by now and my calls are going straight to voicemail. you know that special flavor of panic where you're already imagining the worst but trying to look chill? |
wait what happened with Karen and the printer guy? | oh he totally slipped her his number in the service log. |
no way, what'd you hear? | mark from accounting cried during a teams call. not muted. |
what's got you all smiley like that this late? | oh god so my dog maverick — he's this giant doofus labradoodle — decided the hotel room trash can was a personal challenge tonight. like full mission impossible crawl under the desk, got the little cardboard shreds everywhere, proudest look on his face like he'd discovered fire. and i'm sitting here on this weirdly lum... |
you just let out this ridiculous laugh — what happened? | okay so maverick's been trying to climb onto this hotel armchair for ten minutes. it's like not even that tall but he keeps getting his back legs all tangled up and just faceplants off the side with this little oof sound. and every single time he looks back at me with those eyes like 'did you see that? the chair moved.... |
you're still there? | yeah and now this couple's arguing over a scone |
you've been staring at your phone all night, what's got you so distracted? | just picturing the way she curls into the pillow when she sleeps. like a little burrito. makes me feel like i won the lottery or something. |
you look like you're miles away, what's going on in that head of yours? | left her passed out on the bed with her mouth slightly open and one arm dangling off the edge. looked so ridiculous and perfect i almost took a picture. |
you got that look again, what's brewing in that brain of yours? | okay but imagine if cats invented opposable thumbs |
spill it, you've been staring at the coffee machine like it owes you money | dude what if pigeons are just government drones tho |
remember how you used to sing that song in the shower all wrong too | god why do you have to bring that up now |
was that the same song you butchered at my fifth grade talent show | wow really dragging that one out huh |
remember when we got stuck in that elevator freshman year and you just started narrating like a nature documentary? | oh god the acoustics in there were amazing though |
you still do that thing where you order coffee based on the barista's vibe? | guy had great eyebrows how could i not |
wait didn't you say last week you almost ordered that exact thing but talked yourself out of it? | oh my god yeah that's what's so creepy about it |
is this the same package tracker you've been refreshing every ten minutes? | yes! but that's my name not theirs though |
so you actually called your boss 'mom' on the call huh | yeah right in front of everyone too. whole team went dead silent for like four solid seconds before anyone spoke. |
how bad was the moment after it slipped out | just sat there frozen hoping the mute button was actually on. it wasn't. could hear someone cough and pretend they didn't hear it. |
hey sorry to eavesdrop but you looked like you were about to punch that wall — what happened? | the airline lost my carry-on with literally all my wedding stuff in it. like the veil my grandma made and the tie my dad gave me. it's just... gone somewhere in their system. |
you okay man? you've been sitting here gripping the steering wheel for like ten minutes | they lost the bag with my wedding gear and the customer service lady just shrugged at me. like haha right, totally fine — nothing important, just my entire wedding outfit. |
what's got you looking like you just ate a lemon whole? | that whole meeting this morning. you know that jenkins guy from accounting? stood up there and presented my entire quarter's work like he'd slaved over it himself. didn't even mention my name once. and there's me sitting there with my mouth open thinking did that really just happen. bob the manager just nodded along li... |
that new project you were working on didn't go so well? | oh it went great. went so great that jenkins from the third floor stood up in front of everybody and acted like he'd invented the whole thing. I'm standing there in the back with my coffee going cold just watching him take all the credit. and you know what the worst part is? nobody even looked my way. not one person. I... |
what's the next move for you two, then? | you know what she did this morning? tucked a little note in my lunch bag again. plain white paper, her handwriting all shaky these days, just said 'don't forget the good part of the day starts when you get home.' and i'm sitting here on this bench at like eleven at night just staring at it. seventy-three years old and ... |
so after all these years, what do you actually do with that feeling? | honestly most days i don't even know what to do with it. it just sits there like a warm stone in my chest. but this morning i found her note wedged between my sandwich and an apple and i had to stop right there in the kitchen. like the whole day stopped. we don't talk about big feelings much anymore, we just leave each... |
so what happened with you two? | pulled up to my place after work and he's just sitting there on the steps with this box of my stuff. didn't even say hi. just handed it over like it was a delivery. said 'this isn't working' and when i asked why he just shrugged. a shrug. like i was asking about the weather or something. and then he got in his car and ... |
did they at least give you a reason? | nope. nothing. sat me down at the kitchen table looked me dead in the eye and said 'i just don't see a future here' and that was it. i asked what that meant like specifics you know something i could actually work with or fix and she just kept saying 'i don't know i don't know' like i was asking her to solve a math prob... |
so what's the dumbest thing your dog's done lately that you actually found cute? | tried to catch his own tail for ten solid minutes. fell over. |
did that dog of yours do something stupid this morning or what? | barked at the toaster like it personally insulted him. |
what's got you staring at the dryer like it's got the secrets of the universe in there? | okay but think about it though — that shirt in there has been spun around like a thousand times probably and it just keeps going. and we're the same way you know? like i sit here at this laundromat at one a.m. with my socks half wet and my head full of static and i'm just — it's like the universe is doing laundry too b... |
you're really going deep on the lint trap, huh? | babe look at this thing — it's like a little fuzzy fossil of everything we've worn this week. that gray fuzz is from your sweater i borrowed and the blue bits are probably from my socks that i lost under the bed for three days. and i'm just sitting here thinking like — if we saved every piece of lint from every load we... |
did you just get lost staring out the window again? | no no no it's just — was watching that little guy on the skateboard down there and for a split second it was me. same blue hoodie even. my mom used to yell at me for scraping the elbows out of every jacket and now i'm sitting here seventy years later watching some kid do the exact same thing. time's a weird trick isn't... |
you're not about to get all sappy on me over a hotel breakfast buffet are you? | not the buffet — okay well maybe a little. but it's the way that kid was pouring the syrup. like a whole ceremony. tilting the bottle slow. watching it pool. i did that exact thing. my dad would say that's enough you're gonna make yourself sick and i'd just keep going. now i'm watching this little stranger and i can ta... |
you look wrecked, you been at it all weekend? | f-fifty-two emails since friday. and counting. |
what's got you staring at the bus floor like that? | monday's meeting's in seven hours. haven't slept. |
gonna practice your speech on the bus ride home or what | oh absolutely, the guy with the groceries is my test audience now |
you rehearsing in your head or just letting the panic marinate | marinating mostly, with a side of 'what was i thinking' |
what did the little one do today that got you all choked up? | oh god it was just... we were getting off the bus, right? number seven, the one that always smells like wet wool and somebody's leftover sandwich. she was holding my hand, the tiny one with the jam stain still on it from breakfast, and she just looked up at me with those eyes, you know the ones that are exactly her mot... |
so that happened today, huh? the big one? | you have no idea. i was putting her to bed, reading that same beat-up book about the grumpy owl we've read maybe four hundred times now, and she was getting drowsy, the kind where her eyelids are just heavy little curtains. then she reaches up, pats my cheek, her hand is so small and warm, and whispers it. just like th... |
wait, seriously? what went wrong? | turbulence hit and the yoke started shaking my hands off |
your kid probably just found a really good stick on the walk home, right? | god i wish it was a stick. twenty minutes past the bell and her phone just goes straight to voicemail like she's dropped off the face of the earth. my brain's already cycling through every worst-case scenario from a bus delay to alien abduction and here i am in my bathrobe at three in the afternoon still trying to blin... |
so she's off being a teenage spy and forgot to charge her phone, that's the story we're going with? | man i wish that was the story because spy stuff at least has a script. my phone's glued to my hand and i'm doing that thing where i check the find-my-phone app every twelve seconds like staring at a dot on a map is gonna make her materialize on the porch. twenty minutes is nothing in the grand scheme of things i know t... |
what are you gonna do if they still don't answer? | probably drive the route backward till my gas tank gives out |
should you call the school or wait a few more minutes? | school's closed, man, that's the whole problem right there |
so the airline still hasn't coughed up the bag? | nope. thirty-six hours and counting. great honeymoon prep. |
did you at least get someone on the phone who sounded human? | got a recording that promised 'enhanced baggage care.' real comforting. |
you've been looking over your shoulder all afternoon, what's got you spooked? | it's probably nothing, you know how your mind plays tricks when you're walking home alone. but three nights in a row now i've seen this same beat-up sedan slow down when i get off the bus, then it just kind of... lingers at the corner until i'm almost at my door. makes my stomach drop every time. i keep telling myself ... |
you seem tense today, everything okay? | honestly i think i'm just being an old fool about it, but there's this car that's been trailing me from the bus stop the last few nights and it's got me all twisted up inside. you know how this town gets after dark, all those quiet streets with the big old trees blocking the streetlights. i've lived here forty years an... |
wait, what happened this time? | you know what she said this time. oh i got invited to this last minute thing with some people from work and i totally spaced on our plans. spaced. like that's the word she used. third time in a row and it's always some excuse that sounds like she didn't even think about it for a second. and i'm just sitting here in thi... |
oh no, did she bail again? | yeah. said she had a headache but then i saw her story on insta like twenty minutes later at some cafe with a latte and a pastry. not exactly dying of a migraine vibes you know. and it's not even the lying that gets me it's that she doesn't even try to hide it. like just own it and say you didn't wanna go instead of ma... |
what do you think you'll do with those old photos? | god i don't even know. was just flipping through them and it hit me like a wall. that trip was ten years ago and i remember the exact smell of the air in that little town. the photos are all grainy and overexposed but you can see how we were laughing at nothing. my friend jess had that stupid hat she wore everywhere. f... |
so are you gonna print more or just leave them digital? | uh definitely not digital. the whole point is the physical thing. the way the paper curls at the edges. the little scratches. there's one where the flash caught someone's eye weird and it looks like a ghost. and we're all piled on this beat-up couch that smelled like cat and cigarettes. i can't even remember whose apar... |
wait so the washington post actually ran it? like full name and everything? | yeah no i literally thought it was a typo at first. sarah sent me the link in the group chat and i was like haha funny photoshop nice try. then i opened the actual print edition on my phone and there it was just sitting there in black and white like it belonged. my mom texted me 'congratulations sweetie' and i almost d... |
did you actually see your name in the article or did they just mention the company? | both actually. they quoted me. me. the person who still uses his student id for discounts at the campus bookstore. they printed my actual words next to my actual name and i said 'we basically built this on caffeine and spite' and the journalist just left it in. like that's gonna be in a library archive somewhere foreve... |
how'd it go with the martins' thing tonight? | showed up a whole day early for the dinner party. margaret just stared at me through the screen door with her reading glasses on. absolutely wanted to dissolve into the welcome mat. |
did you at least figure out the date before you knocked? | nope, just stood there with a bottle of wine like a complete fool while she explained it's tomorrow. pretty sure i invented a new shade of red on the bus ride home. |
you're looking like you could use a nap and a stiff drink, which one first? | nap would be nice but the caffeine's got me vibrating at this point. third night staring at spreadsheets and my brain's just static now, you know? |
did you finally figure out that spreadsheet or is it still winning the fight? | oh it's definitely winning, not even a contest anymore. the numbers started swimming about hour four and now i'm just clicking things hoping something sticks. |
hey uh you look kinda pale you okay? | oh it's nothing just waiting for my phone to buzz you know. got a biopsy done on monday and they said results in three to five days and it's day five now. every time i feel a vibration in my pocket i flinch and then it's just my mom asking what i want for dinner or some spam about extended warranties. kept me up all ni... |
you waiting for someone or just lost in thought? | lost in thought definitely. trying not to check my phone every three seconds but it's impossible. biopsy results could drop any minute and my brain's just running through every worst case scenario like a highlight reel. i was up till four replaying the conversation with the doctor and now i'm running on fumes and a sta... |
wait what happened to your weekend? | pretty sure i'm still on friday right now |
did you even sit down today? | legs are doing this thing where they just keep moving on their own |
what should i get my parents for their anniversary, any ideas? | oh man, like, you know what my dad did last night at like 3am after the birthday party chaos finally died down? he was out in the yard with my mom just slow dancing to some old song on his phone. no music, just them shuffling around. and i was watching from the window with the kids' cake still on my hands and i just— i... |
you gonna do anything special for your parents this year? | honestly i was gonna just send flowers like always, but then i saw them at the birthday party today, my dad helping my mom with her coat like it was the first time he'd ever done it. and my mom laughed at something dumb he said and i swear her eyes did that crinkle thing they do when she's really happy. and i just thou... |
what's the juiciest thing that happened at work this week | our department's most obnoxious overachiever got caught using chatgpt for her 'passionate' team emails. now everyone's side-eyeing her quarterly pep talks. |
so anything funny happen at the office lately | the guy who micromanages everyone's calendar accidentally sent a meeting invite titled 'my feelings about mark's coffee breath' to the whole company. mark's desk is suspiciously empty today. |
so what's your move now after that whole wedding thing? | honestly not sure there's a move to make. like you can't unsee your date face-planting during the bouquet toss can you. the band actually stopped for a second. the band. and my aunt patty who hasn't spoken to me in six years suddenly texts 'u ok sweetie' which is somehow worse than the fall itself. i'm thinking i just ... |
are you ever gonna show your face around her friends again or what | gotta at some point right. but i'm pacing myself. maybe start with a dimly lit dive bar where the floor is already sticky so any future trips blend in. the worst part wasn't even the fall it was the collective gasp like i was a cartoon character who just slipped on a banana peel. and then the silence. then the polite a... |
wait so you're out at the dog park at three in the morning is this your new night shift routine | lost count of what day it is honestly. this guy needed to run or i was gonna lose it — the shift schedule ate my brain somewhere around hour thirty. |
you sure you're not just trying to get out of our brunch plans tomorrow | if by tomorrow you mean today then maybe — time's just a blur of coffee and beeping machines right now. dog park's the only thing keeping me upright. |
so how does a person even end up with a promotion they didn't go after? | walked in for my shift and they just handed me a new badge. felt like a prank. |
what did you think when they called you into the office? | figured I was getting fired honestly. then they said the opposite. |
so how'd the drive over go? traffic looked gnarly on my end | some absolute maniac nearly killed a bus full of kids to save two seconds. laid on the horn so long my hand cramped up |
you seem a little wired, everything okay getting here? | cut me off then slammed brakes for a yellow light. almost turned a school bus into a pancake for absolutely nothing |
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