ADAM
I watched Lindsey fix me a cup of coffee and couldn’t help but wonder about what was happening in her head.
She seemed different over the last few days, oscillating between heartbreaking sadness and the most sparkling happiness. The fact that the former was more predominant had made me come by her place more often, check up on her.
I couldn’t, however, drag the repairs for longer. I had finally finished with the troublesome railing today and was only hanging around because Lindsey had offered me coffee. It was as good of an excuse as any.
She moved gracefully, handling the china with silent precision. It felt surreal, the porcelain made absolutely no noise when it touched the saucers.
Her routine got interrupted for a second when Mark texted her. I saw her smile and felt the same pang of jealousy I had been feeling for a long time. I chased it away.
Seeing her like that reminded me of my mother. And that comparison didn’t sit well with me.
Lately, Lindsey had been calling or texting Mark more often, and seemed more eager to meet him. My mother used to do that when she thought she still had a chance with my cheating father.
That meant only one thing: Mark had done something to hurt her, but she still had feelings for him.
“The one thing that could render strong women like Lindsey and Mom this needy is cheating. It messes with their self-esteem,” I thought, frowning. Was the bastard cheating on Lindsey?
“Here’s your coffee,” Lindsey disrupted my thoughts.
“Thanks.”
I sipped my espresso in silence as I couldn’t find anything to say and she seemed too busy texting Mark. As I watched her expression change from excitement to disappointment, I struggled to keep my anger in check.
It wasn’t my place, right?
“Well, then. Time to run,” I said, placing my empty cup on the breakfast bar.
She raised her head and looked at me with sadness in her eyes.
“Already?”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
“So, when are you coming again?”
“I don’t know. The railing is done, so...”
“You finished it?” Was that panic in her voice?
“Yep.”
I looked around, awkwardly, waiting for Lindsey to say what seemed to be on her mind. She said nothing.
“OK. See you, Lindsey.”
She walked me to the door and watched me leave. I turned to look back once and she was still in the door, a disappointed expression on her face.
I was officially interested in this Mark character. If he was the reason Lindsey was like that, I had to do something.
I got into Mom’s truck and drove home as fast as it would go. I was getting my new car the next day, a bargain off Craigslist, but for now, her truck was all I had access to.
I found Mom’s house empty. She must’ve still been at work.
With nothing to do and a lot of anger to deal with, I went into the back yard and cleaned the tool shed in detail. Mom was a pretty neat person, so I had less than an hour’s work.
Frustrated, I went into my room and drooped on the bed. Maybe a miracle would make me fall asleep.
It didn’t. I couldn’t stop thinking of Lindsey and Mark, of Mark and some other girl, and of Lindsey consumed with worry, suffering in silence. Then, Lindsey was alone, and I was there, to comfort her.
“What the Hell?” I said out loud and sat up. Was I falling asleep just now? Must’ve been, otherwise those thoughts were the craziest thing going through my mind.
No, I wasn’t a creep. All was behind my obsessive thinking was my concern for Lindsey’s well-being; nothing else.
So, how would I use this concern positively?
I grabbed my old laptop and went on Mark’s social media. As I scrolled through his page, I saw various pictures of him and other girls, but all were friendly, none suspicious enough to warrant more looking into.
“I’m being ridiculous,” I told myself and turned the laptop off. I wasn’t a stalker; I didn’t want to creep through Mark’s stupid posts.
What I had to do was have a man to man conversation with him.
“That’s right,” I thought and stood up. That was more like me.
Satisfied with my thinking, I grabbed a jacket as it had started raining, and got into Mom’s car.
Mark’s campus wasn’t too far from my neighborhood, so I was there in less than twenty minutes. I expected that finding him would be hard, as I knew almost nothing about the guy, but the first student I asked was able to point me to Mark’s dormitory.
“Must be a really popular guy,” I concluded.
I ran through the rain, shielding my face with one and cursing at the College for having housed Mark so far from the main street. I didn’t get near his dormitory, though.
Almost three buildings down the alley, I thought I saw someone looking like him. I stopped and took cover in the entryway of the building across.
I was right. “The bastard!” I muttered, watching Mark passionately kiss a girl before leaving to his dorm.
My first instinct was to follow him and show him how to treat a girl, but thought better of it. The last thing I needed was a civilian record and I could kiss that military housing approval goodbye.
Besides, I felt strangely happy to have discovered Mark’s dirty secret.
“Well, it wouldn’t be a secret anymore.”
I pulled my phone out and dialed Lindsey. I knew from watching my mother that not knowing was worse than living with the suspicion. It had destroyed her self-esteem and she had not been able to hold onto a relationship since the divorce. I wasn’t going to let that happen to Lindsey.
“Is that the only reason?” a foreign thought popped into my head as Lindsey picked up.
“Hey, Adam!” I heard her happy voice.
“We need to talk.”