Rob and Josh were both packed and ready to go by the time I entered the beach house. I let Josh ride up in the front with the sports radio, and I sat in the back, all alone with my book. I opened up East of Eden and wondered if I could finish it by the time we arrived at church.
After a few minutes, Rob turned down the volume on the radio. “Tough break, man.”
Josh shrugged it off. “Yeah, well, it was fun while it lasted.”
Yep, that was their entire conversation on the subject, very deep and over in a few seconds. Girls, on the other hand, would require an entire car ride and a succession of lengthy phone calls to complete their post break-up debriefing.
In my mind, I reversed their roles, having Josh say the first line and Rob the second. Then my face heated with anger, but I closed my eyes, remembered my dream from the previous night, and cooled off a little.
“I think she’s asleep.” Josh spoke softly, which obviously I wasn’t since I’m retelling this part with great accuracy.
“Then we should talk smack about her,” my boyfriend decided, and I knew he said that part just to see if I’d blurt out something. So I concentrated on deep, slow breathing and passed his test.
There was another lull in the conversation before Josh asked, “Where’d you two go this morning?”
“To watch the sunrise.”
“Yeah, how was that?”
“Amazing,” Rob answered.
Josh heard it in his voice and so did I. I smiled on the inside, and Josh responded, “That’s good, man. I’m really happy for both of you.” And even though Josh was hurting, I knew he really meant it. Then Rob turned up the volume on the sports radio, and I let my thoughts drift to my dream again…