The Trouble with Lexie by Jessica Anya Blau

Author:Jessica Anya Blau
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-04-10T04:00:00+00:00

12

PETER WAS WAITING WITH A COFFEE CUP WHEN LEXIE WALKED IN the house. He hugged her, the drink in his hand hot against her back, and rocked her in his arms as if he were mothering a child.

“I’m okay.” Lexie pulled away from the hug. She took the drink, gulped down a mouthful, and then jerked her head back and coughed. It was Irish coffee. And stronger than she would have made it. But probably a good thing considering what she had to accomplish tonight. She took another couple glugs before handing the cup to Peter who slurped from the top as if it were too hot to swallow (it wasn’t).

“Yeah?” Peter brushed the hair from Lexie’s face. “Are you ready to talk about . . . your shitty day?”

The whiskey in the coffee gave Lexie a cottony feeling in her head. But it wasn’t enough to provide the courage needed to break up with Peter. Why hadn’t anyone started a business where you could hire a surrogate to do the hard things that should be done face-to-face: breakups, quitting jobs, asking for money owed, telling someone they’d disappointed you? After growing up in a household where conflict was the central interaction, Lexie was so averse to confrontation that she regularly accepted the normally unacceptable (being overcharged in a restaurant, Janet Irwin’s petty demands, a student complaining about a grade, etc.). Lexie took the cup from Peter and sipped down as much as she could before he removed it from her hands.

“I’ll be ready in a second.” She felt the alcohol like an elevator rising into her cottony skull.

“Did she ever answer your grandmother-of-the-bride email?” Peter finished off the coffee. Maybe to keep Lexie from sucking it down so quickly.

“No. I hope she read it, though.” Lexie stared at Peter. How awful would it be if she did this by text? Beyond reproach, she knew.

“I bet she did. She probably was going to say yes in person.”

“Will you talk to me in the bedroom while I pack?” Lexie walked upstairs ahead of Peter. Maybe she could put off the conversation until after she’d packed her bag.

Peter sat on the bed, watching while Lexie filled her rolling bag. Next, she got the big, ancient suitcase from the hall closet, the one she’d used when she’d moved from California to the East Coast.

“How many nights do you have to stay?” Peter lay back, his arms crossed behind his head.

“Hmmmm, not sure.” Lexie felt like vomiting. Was it possible to load everything into the car and then tell Peter seconds before she drove away? It would serve the face-to-face obligation while saving her the agony of discussion. More than anything, Lexie didn’t want to see Peter’s reaction when she told him it was over. She didn’t want to feel his feelings.

“Can I stay there with you?”

“No. Ruxton might buy condoms for the students, but there’s no way they’d let two people who aren’t married sleep in the dorm together.”

“We should move to Amsterdam.

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