***
August
I called Ana for the eightieth time. She was avoiding me for no reason. I hated being ignored like I was nobody to her. She was treating me as if I had done something wrong.
“Ana! I can’t believe you didn’t come to my wedding! Do you like upsetting me? Because I’m crying like a baby now!” I said as I left a message.
“Hello?” Ana answered, just as I was about to hang up.
“Ana?”
“Hey! What’s up?” she said as if nothing had happened between us.
“Ana? Where have you been? I’m married now!”
“I know I saw it on TV. You looked hot like I said you would.”
I felt like arguing with her then slamming the phone down, but that would have gotten me nowhere. I knew she was going to act as if nothing happened between us. I didn’t feel like shouting again and losing my voice over something so simple.
“Do you want me to come over?” she asked.
“Yes I do.”
“Okay, I’ll be over in no time!”
When Ana came over, she looked different from the last time I had seen her. She looked…overweight. It was as if she was the size of two women. For someone who cared about their body so much, she was letting herself go and I was wondering why. But I didn’t speak about it, knowing it would hurt her feelings.
“You didn’t do it?” Ana said, as she folded some towels.
“No,” I said.
“So, when you divorce, he will take all your life earnings.”
“We won’t divorce,” I said and placed the folded towels on the kitchen table.
“Being honest, young marriage never lasts.”
“Well, we’re different; we don’t need a prenup.”
“Did you even talk to him about it? I don’t think you understand, Lily.”
“Well, we never talked about it.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Lily.”
“Warn me? Is that like a threat? What are you trying to say, Ana?”
“Oh nothing…”
I was unpacking a box of photos and came across a photo of Kathy and I. “I feel bad about not letting Kathy came to my wedding. I think I overreacted.” I tossed the photo back into the box.
“Yeah, you did. Leslie was the one who hit her, is what Paul said. You should of uninvited her.”
“Hmm…” I stared at Ana’s expression. She had worry-lines in her brows as if she had something to tell me.
“Uh, Lily, I have something to tell you about—”
“Hey, Jerry will be here in two hours, so Ana you need to leave…” Jason came into the room cutting Ana off.
“Who’s Jerry?” Ana said.
“Oh, he’s this, I don’t know…some marriage guy,” I said.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Jason said it’s something all couples should do. So, if one of us dies, which I forbid, we will have wills and stuff.”
“Like life insurance...”
“Uh, I guess so,” I said. “What were you going to say before Jason came in?”
“Oh just bloody-nothings…you know me, always talking.” Ana grabbed her wallet. “I guess I’ll leave then.” She kissed my cheek. “Have fun with Jerry!”
“Ugh,” Jason rolled his eyes and slammed the door behind her. “I can’t stand her.” He changed his sweatshirt to a white t-shirt. “I don’t want you around her so much. She’s bad for your health.”
“She’s my best friend.”
“And I’m her assistant and I don’t like her.”
This was the perfect time to call him out—he dug his own grave. The reason why I never brought up him quitting his job was because I had forgot about it. A part of me wanted to believe that it wasn't true because he was leaving the home randomly throughout the day.
“Assistant? She said you quit over a month ago.”
“Is she drinking? I have been working for her. She lied to you.”
“Or you are lying to me.”
“And?”
“Well, are you lying then? Do you have a girlfriend I don’t know about?”
Jason turned around and grabbed my shoulders. “Listen, I don’t want you talking to Ana anymore.” He snapped and pushed me hard to the floor, resulting in me falling on my behind—that didn’t feel too good afterward.
When Jerry came, I felt relieved because I was afraid of Jason’s temper—I did not talk much though. Mainly, because I did not know much what he was talking about. I just sat there and signed papers.
Jerry was a lot younger than I thought. I imagined him with gray hair and a long beard, but he was about forty with dark brown hair. He was one big man though—about six feet—around Jason’s height.
Jason seemed very uneasy while signing papers. He would look at me and those worry lines that Ana had, were on his face.
“Thank you so much,” Jerry said while leaving.
“What exactly did I just do?” I said as Jerry left.
“Just papers. Business stuff,” Jason replied.
“But it seems like everything was in your name?” I said. “Seriously, Jason…”
“Basically, I will handle your money.”
“My money?”
“Yeah, it’s no big deal.”
“Wait, I thought this whole thing was for life insurance?”
He ran his hands through my hair. “Baby, it was that too; I just helped with your money a bit.”
“But I’m an adult! I can handle my own damn money, Jason.”
“Well, you should have never signed the papers then! If you’re an adult, grow up and stop being so damn naïve!”
“What?” I cried. “You scammed me, didn’t you?”
“No, I did not scam you!”
“Then, what did you do with my money?”
“I put it in a shared savings account! So, stop bitching!” Jason took his large hand and slapped me across my face—the impact made me crash to the floor. “So, don’t bring it up again!”
I was too frightened to get up, that I just watched Jason walk up to the stairs until he was out of sight. I closed my eyes and balled up on the floor as I heard Jason running the shower.
“Lily?” he said.
I opened my eyes and froze in place. I noticed something was different—the carpet. I looked around the entire living room and the carpet was pure white. I got up and walked into our second bedroom downstairs and the carpet was white too.
“Lily?” Jason said again.
I ran up the stairs to Jason’s screams. “What?” I said.
“Where are all the towels?”
“Oh, Ana and I were folding them. They’re on the table.”
“Well, I need—”
“Um, Jason when did you change the carpet?”
“What carpet?” He looked down at the wooden floor.
“The downstairs carpet? It’s white; it used to be golden-brown.” I pulled Jason to the staircase for him to see.
Annoyed, he rolled his eyes and covered his naked body with his robe. “Yeah, I know. It’s always been white. What are you talking about?”
“No it hasn’t. I know—”
“I don’t have time for this, Lily. Get me a towel so I can take a shower and take a nap.”
As I went downstairs to look for the towels that I had folded, I stared at the carpet. I bent down and patted the furry carpet and it felt the same as I last remembered.
“Where’d they go?” I paused and scanned around the room—the towels were gone.
“Lily?” Jason came downstairs with an ugly expression. “Did you find them?”
“Uh, someone moved them. I don’t know where—”
“Here they are!” He pulled the unfolded towels out a box.
“Why are they in there?”
Jason went back upstairs. “Maybe, because you didn’t fold them.”
“But I did,” I murmured. “I know I did.”