CHAPTERONE
THEO
“No, Summer, jeez.”I grin as I exit the highway and hang a left. “That’s the whole point of a surprise.”
“I don’t know, Theo. I feel like you should have called Tony first before you drove an hour to his apartment just to surprise him.” My best friend sighs into the phone. “Especially after the way things have been lately.”
My shoulders tense for a minute but I take a deep breath and try to relax. “That’s exactly why I’m doing this. Things have been weird lately—“
“You mean they’ve beenshittylately.”
“Ok, so maybe things have been a little rough...” I bite my lip and white knuckle my steering wheel. “But that’s why I’m doing this. Tony and I have drifted, yeah—“
“And you fight all the time.”
I roll my eyes. “Notallthe time.”
Summer huffs. “Name one time in the last four months when you two have talked and it didn’t turn into a fight.”
I can’t, and my best friend knows it.
But I’m determined to make this work.
Tony and I have been doing the long-distance thing since he finished college when I was a sophomore at NYU, and we’ve been together almost six years. I’ve invested too much time into our relationship to give up because we’re fighting more and struggling to connect like we used to, especially now that my job has allowed me to relocate to Sabine Woods, just over an hour from Tony’s place in Denver, which is the closest we’ve lived to each other since New York.
I have to try to make this work or else I’ve wasted over half a decade on a man I used to be able to picture a future with.
“Theo, honey, I love you like a sister, but I think this is a bad idea.”
“It’ll be fine.” I take a right as my stomach churns, and I glance at the cake on my passenger seat. “Today is Tony’s birthday and I thought it would be nice to come out a day early. Maybe show him I’m still spontaneous and fun like I used to be.”
Summer sighs. “That’s the thing, Theo, you stillare. You’re fun and spontaneous, hilarious and a little wild. Tony is the one who thinks you aren’t like that anymore, and it’s because he’s so wrapped up in himself that he forgot how amazing you are.”
I chew my lip harder.
Determined to make this work or not, I can’t really argue with her. Tony has been pulling away from me for a long time now and putting more distance between us than the miles that actually separate us. He’s hot and cold, shitty then sweet. I don’t hear from him for days at a time on occasion and we barely FaceTime anymore. It’s been a month since I’ve seen him in person and when we were together, Tony immediately picked a fight over a call I took from a client that turned into a knock down, drag out and cut my visit short. He won’t drive to see me, hasn’t even seen my new place, and to be honest, all the things I used to like about him make my skin crawl now.
His drive to succeed looks more like a lot of dinners alone while I wait for my workaholic boyfriend to get home.
His appreciation for what little down time he has looks a lot like laziness reflected in his apartment that’s slowly morphed into his old fraternity house.
The long-dedicated hours spent catering to clients at the never-ending dinners that go until well past midnight seem a little less professional and a lot more like something I should worry about.
Tony doesn’t talk about our future anymore, not in terms of anything other than our careers.
Well, his career and myhobby, as he likes to frequently point out, but while I love what I do and appreciate the freedom it gives me, freelance graphic art and website design can hardly be considered ahobby.
But that’s something else Tony is doing lately, pointing out all the things he used to love about me as if they’re now the bane of his existence.
I’m “too nerdy.”
“Too skinny.”
“Too frumpy and plain.”
My “zest for life has dwindled with age”and now I’m no better than a “reclusive hermit with nothing but my house plants and parrot to keep me company.”
Years ago, when I was painfully shy and embarrassed about all the things he now lists, Tony loved them. Nerdy used to mean intelligent and quirky. Too skinny was never in his vocabulary; I waspetite with subtle curves. Dressing in the oversized sweaters and leggings was something he admired because I didn’tdegrademyself by flaunting what little curves I do have in too-revealing clothing. Not wearing makeup meant I was a classic beauty, and my glasses gave me thatsexy librarianvibe.
