Chapter 3
The next morning, I woke up to the sound of phone ringing relentlessly. It took me a few seconds to register what was happening. I looked down at myself. I was still wearing my waitress uniform. I had done this a million times before and was adding to my ever growing list of lazy habits I needed to quit. I reached over to my phone on the nightstand, right next to my now empty plate of food from the night before.
“Hello?” my voice was so raspy. Whoever was on the other line was definitely going to know that they woke me. I noticed a glass of water next to the phone. Score! High five to me for bringing a drink to bed, even though I should have remembered to take it before falling asleep.
“Hey pumpkin. Did I wake you?” My Dad was on the other line. I took a quick gulp of my water before I responded.
“Not really. What’s up?”
“We’re running low on tomatoes, think you can do something about that before you get here?” he asked.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll pick up some on my way there.”
He thanked me, but not before he went on a long and droned out explanation of what type of tomatoes I had to pick up, the same long explanation he had given me a million times before. The moment he took a breath, I chimed in.
“Okay, I’ve got it all handled. Don’t worry, see you later Dad.” I hang up and got to work preparing myself for the day.
***
“Teresa? Teresa Baxter, is that you?”
I was in the produce section of the local market searching for my Dad’s perfect tomatoes when I heard my name. I turned around and found myself face to face with a middle aged woman and three young children hanging around her calves. I wasn’t sure who would be questioning my identity in the market. I was here every other day and everyone knew me. I stared at the woman’s face for a moment, but I couldn’t place her anywhere in my head so I looked down at her children hoping to see some trait to tag them to a family bloodline I was familiar with.
“Yes. I’m Teresa.”
“Teresa! It’s Janet. We were in the same class for like, twelve years!”
Just then I remembered her. Time had taken a toll on her. The three young children that she seemed to be producing back to back, I mean they all looked under five, weren’t helping her retain her youth either. She was almost unrecognizable. The last mental picture I had of her before this day was a vibrant and full of life girl back in high school. What had happened to her? She looked seriously run down. The grey was settling into her hair, and it wasn’t just at her roots. Her weight gain made me feel comfortable in my own skin for the first time in a long time and the depression in her eyes far exceeded what I saw in Brian’s the night before.
“Janet!” I said instinctively, trying to disguise my shock, or at least pass it off as a good type of shock, the happy to see her kind. “How are you? What are you doing here?” It was genuinely nice to see someone from back in the day, but not really exciting.
“Teresa, it is so nice to see you after all this time. I’m back in town for a week. I’m staying with my parents. You should stop by. They would love to see you. I wouldn’t have stayed the entire week, but you know, the reunion and all. Perfect timing, don’t you think?” Teresa was enthusiastic. She gave off this vibe that made me wonder what she expected me to say her. At that particular moment, my brain felt like it was shutting down. “Teresa? Aren’t you excited about the reunion?” she asked, grinning from ear to ear. “My parents will keep an eye on these little monsters for the evening, so I really plan to live it up!”
“Well, I hope you have a good time. Tell everyone hello for me,” I said as I bagged up the two tomatoes I was holding. I gave her a sheepish smile as I prepared to bid her a good day, but the poor looked like I had just slapped her in the face. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“You’re not going? You’re one of the only people I was excited about coming back to party with. I don’t have to a mom for one night and I imagined the perfect night would have you and me going out and living like we’re in high school again, you know?” She was so excited it tugged at my heart a little that she thought my company would be so much pleasure. “You have to go! Pretty please? We need this. We need to go out and fun.” Her emphasis on the needing part made me suspect that her children were really tiring her out.
“I’ll think about it. Okay? It was really good to see you though, Janet, but I have to get going. My Dad is waiting for me at the restaurant. He needs tomatoes real bad,” I said as I jiggled the plastic produce bag in my hand. “I’ll see you later.” I looked down and waved at the kids and headed in the other direction.
“You will see me soon, Teresa. Next weekend to be exact, at the reunion. You can’t miss it!” She almost made it sound like a threat. As if something bad would happen to me if I didn’t show up.