“You were so nervous that you wouldn’t make it,” she continued, touching his arm unnecessarily. “But I always knew you would make it. You had it in you from the start.”
“You always believed in me too much.”
“I believed in you because you gave me a reason to,” she said. “How’s your brother, by the way?”
I felt another little spark of discomfort. Phil had never mentioned his brother to me. “I haven’t spoken to him in a while,” Phil’s voice was low with some emotion that I couldn’t name.”
“You haven’t visited him?” Anna asked.
“It’s been years,” he admitted.
I frowned. There was something I was missing—and apparently, despite our months’ worth of conversations, it seemed I didn’t know anything real about Phil.
“Oh shit, I’m so sorry,” he said, glancing over at me. “I’m being so rude. Anna, this is Megan. Megan, this is Anna.”
I shook her hand woodenly, mustering up the faintest smile I could manage. “Nice to meet you,” she said, but I couldn’t tell if she meant it or not. “What are you guys here to see?” she asked.
She addressed the question at me, but when I didn’t reply, Phil stepped in and spoke. I watched them go back and forth, and it was evident from their conversation that they had history. She was an old girlfriend obviously, but she had also been a significant relationship in Phil’s life to know things about him that I didn’t know about yet. I felt a little sick and I couldn’t stand there anymore.
As another rush of people crowded around us, I turned and lost myself in the crowd. I walked away from Phil and Anna, wondering if he would even notice that I was gone.
Chapter Nine
Phil
After so many years, seeing Anna again was a shock. She represented a part of my life that I had left behind, and seeing her reminded me of how far I’d come. She was still beautiful, still friendly as ever, still interested in my life and my family, but there were no feelings attached to her anymore.
“Anyway, Anna, it was nice seeing you again, but we’re on our first date and—”
“Uh, Phil?” she interrupted. “Your date has disappeared.”
With a start, I looked to my side and realized that Megan was no longer standing there. I looked around, trying to catch her among the sea of people.
“Where’d she go?” I asked.
“She didn’t look too happy to meet me,” Anna said gently. “Maybe that had something to do with it.”
I frowned. “That can’t be it.”
“I know jealousy when I see it,” she said. “As I recall, I was the jealous one when we were dating.”
“Fuck,” I cursed.
“Sorry if I fucked things up for you.”
“I gotta go, Anna,” I said, without bothering with a goodbye hug.
My only concern was finding Megan. I replayed the last ten minutes over in my head again. I didn’t think I had been different, had I? I realized that I’d forgotten to introduce Megan immediately. Then I realized I had dropped her hand. I had been holding her hand when I saw Anna, and the fact that she had managed to walk away without me even realizing it meant that I had unconsciously let go at some point.
All of that combined with seeing me meet an old girlfriend might have sent Megan straight towards the exit, but I still couldn’t quite believe she would leave like that. I checked the entire theater for good measure, and I hung around the bathrooms, too, just in case she had needed to use a restroom. But Megan was nowhere in sight.
Finally, I picked up my phone and tried calling. It was ringing, but she didn’t pick up. I tried again immediately, and this time, the line went dead. She had seen I was calling and had cut me off. I was starting to see that Anna was spot on with her observation. Cursing, I headed out towards Brent’s apartment, hoping that she had gone back there.
On my way over, I called Megan’s number again and left a message. “Megan,” I said. “I’m sorry about that… She’s an old girlfriend, but there’s nothing going on between us. There hasn’t been for years. I knew her before becoming a firefighter.”
My exp
lanation sounded flat and flimsy as I was saying it and instead of continuing on with it, I just hung up and headed to the apartment. I realized that Megan might not even have made it back yet. She had either decided to walk, in which she would probably take another fifteen minutes, or she had taken a cab, which I thought was unlikely. Either way, I headed up to Brent’s apartment and knocked hard, hoping to find Megan there.