weren’t you?” Rex asked.
Grant said nothing.
“Hey, it’s not my fault she married someone else.”
“She didn’t marry someone else!” Grant was instantly upset. It was never beyond Rex to say things to get him excited, and he was mostly certain that Annie had not married. Still, though, this was not something he wanted to joke about.
“I know she didn’t, I’m just fucking with you, but you are pissed that she didn’t marry you.”
“I don’t know for sure that she didn’t, but I don’t think she did.” Grant paused. He was unsure of himself, and did not want it to be a reality that Annie was married. Rex was always difficult to keep up with, and this was no exception. Those two things made the conversation difficult.
“Look, I know you were in love with her, may still be. You two were going to get married, and you may still. Anyway, I just have sort of been thinking and, well … looking at things differently.”
“I’m not sure I understand, but that’s normal for the things that you always seem to get yourself involved in. If you are thinking at all, that is a big upswing for you. How ’bout we leave Annie out of the conversation? I am still skeptical about you looking at things differently, considering the part of your anatomy your head is used to residing in...” Grant looked around his living room.
“Hey, it’s not too late. You could see Annie and we could probably have a pretty good time. I haven’t forgotten how to have a good time, but I can’t speak for you. Unless you have a better offer, but I’m guessing you have no offers.”
“I thought I said to leave Annie out of the conversation. It’s been a couple, probably three, maybe four years since I even knew where she was. I ... she wouldn’t see me, I’m sure. Hell, I haven’t talked to you in a couple of years, and her for a couple before that. In your case, it probably hasn’t been fucking long enough.”
“You seeing a trend here in the behavior you bring out in people? I mean the ‘haven’t heard from in a while’ part? After people get out of school, the time really hauls ass. I think it’s because there aren’t any breaks any more. No spring break, no summer break. The only break, is break your ass to make money. Anyway, I talked to her,” Rex said.
“Just because I haven’t talked to you in a while doesn’t mean I now accept bullshit as legal tender.”
“It’s not bullshit. I have talked to her, quite a bit actually. That seems to be more than you can say,” Rex said, sounding more proud of himself than usual.
“I stand by my previous analysis, that you are completely full of shit.”
“I have talked to Annie several times. You will be pleased to hear that, well, for one, she is not married, and two, though she made me jump through some hoops, she agreed to meet us in Palm Springs for a weekend. She was always the good soul, pretty smart and such—well, certainly smarter than you, but that’s not saying much. She cares about everybody. I don’t know how she does it, never did. Hey, she’s a full on doctor now, unless you messed her head up by being around her and she quit entirely since I talked to her last. Maybe she lost faith in humans; could have become a veterinarian possibly. Animals are much better than people. Animals care, people don’t. We need more vets, for that reason alone. Still, maybe she can fix us—err, fix you., I’m fine, mostly,” Rex said. “I still think you should get a dog.”
“There’s nothing wrong with me. You, on the other hand, that’s different. But where did you, how did you—now what?”
“The Ritz, Palm Springs.”
“I know where Palm Springs is, dim bulb.” Grant paused. “Annie and I went there once. I think it was our first trip to California together. Stayed at a small place, built in the thirties, I think. Annie told you she would….”
“She told me she would meet us there. She said she still didn’t trust me, so she was bringing or meeting some friends there, I forget which. Said if I flaked-out, she still was going to go out there and have a good time. Annie did mention something, about some little shitbox motel where you two stayed. Well, we ain’t staying at some little stick-it-inn on my watch. We’re going to the Ritz. You two get there, you can wax nostalgic with each other about some deadbeat place where you saw stars in each other’s eyes. It might actually give you one last chance with her. Plus, give me a chance to buy drinks and shit, and make—” Rex stopped.
“She didn’t say shitbox. Give you a chance to make what?”
“I forget. Plus, I haven’t seen any nice girls in quite a while either, so this ain’t all about you, you know. Nice girls might do me some good. A not-so-nice girl might do me even more good.”
“I get that part, I just—Annie said—she knows I’ll be there, and that you’ll be there, and she still agreed to show? She hates you,” Grant said.
“We both know Annie, unlike us, is not capable of hate, which I never understood. Besides, even though I have been in the middle of the worst ordeal of my life, I can still be quite charming. Let’s just say I charmed Annie into showing. Besides, I just want to get my life back. To do that, I have to put some air in your flat fucking tires, in which case, Annie is the air.”
“You are thinking of someone else with the charming stuff. I don’t know whether to pound the hell out of you before I see her, or after. Both might be better. But Palm Springs, you sure that’s the place to go?” Grant said.
“Why do people always think that they need to go to Nepal, or the top of some fucking mountain somewhere to get insight? Me, I just like to go different places once in a while. It doesn’t need to be all woo-woo and shit, just someplace fun. If a person goes someplace fun once in a while, they are bound to find some sort of, I don’t know … direction, so I’m pretty sure it will come to you. You have two weeks to determine the sequence. If you don’t show up, I’m going to be so fucking pissed. Goodbye,” Rex said, then hung-up.
Grant sat there in the silence of his empty house. This kind of banter with Rex had been a constant with the two of them. They had known each other since high school, and this was always how they spoke with each other. He looked around the room, holding the phone as it began to beep at him. He was having a hard time believing he was going to see his best friend Rex. If Rex were telling the truth, and Grant doubted that he was, he was going to see Annie Sims, the woman he almost married, the woman he still thought about, even after all the time that had passed since they had been together. The vision of the small motel he and Annie had stayed at the last time they were together in Palm Springs came into his mind. He wasn’t even sure how long ago it was. He remembered how great it had been when he was with her, and worries were few when they were together. He knew if he thought about it more, he could remember exactly how long it had been, but it also would remind him how much it pained him to not have Annie in his life.
Grant noticed how quiet his living room was, how confining the room suddenly seemed, despite the conspicuous lack of furniture. He was here all the time, but he was suddenly pained by the absence of conversation, the absence of anyone ever in the room but him. What he would have given to be back at that little motel with Annie, and their life together ahead of them. He would have done things differently this time around, so he could be having the conversation with Annie right now, instead of thinking about this mysterious trip to Palm Springs that his newly-resurrected friend had concocted, and what would Annie say when she saw him, and how long had it really been since she walked away from him that night in the dark? He thought about pulling the
