“My goodness, Katie, it’s Friday, but your face is glowing brighter than the sun when it rose this morning. What’s with you?”
Katie walked back to the breakroom to put her lunch in the fridge. “Six weeks since I’ve seen Mitch and he will be coming home tomorrow morning for three days.”
“Six weeks already? Boy, time flies. I’ve been trying to keep you busy so you didn’t daydream about him. And you said the prank calls have died too?”
“Yes. They only call once or twice a week now, which is fine with me. And besides you keeping me busy, I’ve been running laps around the park and playing with Ivy Muffin. I went and got her fixed.”
“Smart move. She could always sneak out and come home with little bambinos in her tummy.” Melanie sipped her coffee. “I’ve noticed you lost weight.”
“I went from a size thirteen to a size ten. I’m not trying to get skinnier, just keeping busy so Mitch isn’t the only thing I’m thinking about. I’m pretty sure I love him.”
“Sure he isn’t a rebound from Kevin?”
Katie knew Melanie wasn’t trying to hurt her, but the name stabbed pain into her heart. “I’ve gotten over him, and Mitch understands everything that happened with Kevin and Autumn. We have a lot in common and I know he won’t play mental games with me like Kevin did. Mitch is truthful and amazing.”
“Great. So in order to keep your mind off him tonight, let’s go to the roller rink and skate. Sound fun?”
“Why not.”
“I’ve got to run some errands after work so I’ll meet you there at seven.”
“Fine. You always seem to ease my burdens.”
She smiled and walked back to her office as Katie walked back to her desk.
***
“Can you still do this?” Melanie turned around and started moving backward in front of Katie.
“Miss Showoff. Give me a couple rounds to get used to these skates and I might give it a try.” Katie wasn’t sure if she really wanted to.
“Chicken.” Melanie was a daredevil and tired anything at least once to say she did it.
Katie came around on her second loop and saw two people she didn’t want to see—Matt and Conner. When Katie thought her life was free of burdens, seeing them didn’t help.
“Come on, Katie, turn around. You used to do it when you were young,” Melanie said as she whisked by her, still skating backward like she had eyes in the back of her head.
To please Melanie, Katie turned around at the corner and didn’t lose her balance. “Hey, I can do this.”
“Told you so.”
Katie skated a couple rounds and the DJ made an announcement over the loudspeaker that it is was pick a partner time. He told the girls to go on one side and the boys on the other.
Melanie and Katie looked at each other and went to sit by the girls’ side. “I remember doing this in junior high and always wanting this boy named Chad to pick me,” Katie said as she retied her skates.
“Did he ever pick you?”
“He kept trying but some girl would always pick him first. We skated together three times out of the countless times I was here.”
“It looks like we might be asked no matter where we sit. Good ol’ Matt and Conner are heading our way. Play it cool, Katie, they mean no harm.”
“Not sure if I believe you.”
Conner came to Melanie and held out his hand. She agreed and left. Katie guessed her husband didn’t mind her skating with other guys. Matt stopped in front of Katie and held out his hand. She shook her head no. Instead of skating off, Matt sat by Katie. She got up, hands on hips, and looked in his eyes.
“Please stay. I have to talk to you.”
“Why should I? You pretty much abducted me and let Conner shove a knife in my face. I know your past, but that doesn’t mean you should get away with every wrong doing a person can do.”
“We, I mean, I know. It was dumb.”
“And then you prank call me and bump my car when I’m driving.”
“That’s want I want to talk to you about, and I want you to believe me.”
“Okay.” She kept her hands on her hips.
“Conner and I didn’t rear-end you, and we’re not the ones prank calling you. There are a couple of gangs in this area. Maybe one of them is messing with you, I don’t know. But I want you to believe we didn’t do it.”
Katie exhaled loudly and looked at the skaters to see if she could find Melanie. She and Conner laughed as they skated by. Katie turned back to Matt. “Can you guys leave me alone for good?”
“We’ve learned our lesson from picking on you, and I don’t want teeth marks on my arm like Conner does.” He laughed. “It looks kind of neat though. Do you believe me about the phone calls and the bumper?”
“I’ll try. And tell Conner I’ll keep my fangs packed away, so I won’t have them with me if he picks on me again.”
“You’re funny.”
“I’m not trying to be, I just don’t want to cause a scene in front of a crowd. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m leaving.”
“Wait.” Matt stood.
“What?”
“I’ll see if I can find out through my connections about the phone calls.”
Katie nodded and skated over to Melanie, who had finished skating with Conner. “Did Conner say he still wants to harass me?”
“No. He said he felt bad for causing you problems. He’s sorry because of the bite mark on his arm.” She laughed. “How was your conversation with Matt?”
“He told me it wasn’t him or Conner making the phone calls but said he had an idea who it could be.”
“Good. My feet are killing me so I’m ready to call it quits.”
“I’m with you. It was fun and did keep my mind off Mitch. I’ll race you to the bench.” Katie took off and beat her.
She got in her car, started the ignition, and looked at the dashboard—it was 11:30 p.m. Mitch’s plane would land in ten hours. I’m sure he’ll go home first and see his family before he comes to see me. Should I go to his place and wait with his family? No, I’m not family, I’ll have to be patient and wait.
Katie pulled out on Main Street and hit the green light on 1st Street. When she was in the middle of 2nd Street and Main, she saw car lights getting closer instead of stopping at the light. Before she could stop, swerve, or speed up, she felt the crash.