(Anna's big day has arrived -- time to move!! What a feeling that is for her, a fresh start in so many ways.)
Moving day, the date that had been circled and re-circled on Anna’s calendar for weeks. Outlined in red and orange marker, it dominated the whole month’s listings. Anna was up early to take it all in, even though she was already starting to miss her morning cup of coffee since the coffee maker was in one of the many boxes. She made a mental note to stop by the bakery near the house to get a donut and some coffee with cream.
Anna scanned the apartment one last time to be sure she had packed everything, and in that one moment her life in that place flashed before her in snippets, like tape on a cutting room floor. The day she moved in, the day that Jeremy moved in, rushing to work in the mornings, quiet evenings at home during winter’s worst, the oppressive tension in the last days before Jeremy abruptly moved out. She grabbed her purse and closed the door behind her as she saw the moving truck pull up in front.
At the house, the furniture company’s truck was already waiting for her to arrive. They were five or ten minutes early which surprised her, so she opened the front door for them and they began the process of bringing in her new things. Anna had taken large pieces of paper and sketched the layout of the living room, dining room, and bedrooms which she hung on the wall with that dorm room stuff. She showed where each piece of furniture would be placed so that the men could go about their business and she didn’t have to hover. She warned them, though, that after the pieces were in place, she might have to adjust a little bit. Anna, always the organized one, thought to buy some of those furniture mover pads though, so actually she could move things by herself if she wanted.
By doing a lot of work ahead of time, Anna ordered pizza at around 5:00 p.m. because everything was done. She had unloaded all of the boxes, made the bed, and made her mother’s house feel like her home. By around 7:00 p.m., she was already nodding off while trying to review the CPA material when her cell phone rang. If her purse hadn’t been on the end table near where she was sitting, she would never have heard it. When she said, “Hello,” the last person she expected to hear on the other end was Jeremy.
“Hi Anna. How are you?” Jeremy asked.
“Fine, doing well,” Anna answered, trying to hide how flustered she was.
“Uh, it’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” he continued. “What’s new?”
Anna thought why should she share the details of her life with someone who thought so little of it that he virtually ran out of the apartment and left? “Nothing much, same old,” she said.
“Well, you know I got married …” he said.
“Yes, I had heard that,” Anna said.
“Do you think that maybe I could come over and we could talk?” he asked suddenly.
“Jeremy …,” Anna said.
“I know, I know, but really, it’s important,” he said.
“Not tonight,” Anna said.
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