Love by the Books by Ruby Grandin

Author:Ruby Grandin [Grandin, Ruby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rose and Star Press, First Edition
Published: 2013-12-02T07:00:00+00:00

“One Last Chance”

Abby walked home alone. She put on her favorite old sweatshirt and tried to console herself with a pint of ice cream (Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie) and a marathon of How I Met Your Mother. But every time she closed her eyes, she could still see Jane’s expression, right before she’d turned to leave, walking out on their art gallery date. What had been their first date. Their ruined first date.

When the phone ringing next to her ear jolted her awake to bright sunshine, she realized that she'd fallen asleep on the sofa. She fumbled with the handset and picked up her phone. "Hello?"

"Abby? It's Jackson. We had you on the schedule for 10 a.m. today; I got a little concerned when you didn't come in."

Oh, shit. She looked at the clock. Friday morning, 10:30 a.m.—she had forgotten to set an alarm and now she'd overslept and was late for work. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, I overslept. I am really sorry, Jackson. I'll be right in!" Abby looked down at her sweatshirt in disgust as she realized that her ice cream spoon was fused to the front of it.

"Why don't you take your time and come in at noon? If you need to make up the hours we can figure out some time next week for it. Is everything all right?"

Abby paused. Everything was decidedly not all right. Her love life had taken a nosedive just when it had finally been looking so good. She’d eaten so much ice cream that she felt sick now, she’d overslept her work shift, and she was about to cry in front of her boss. She took a deep breath. “I’m fine. I just...I feel really bad about oversleeping. I’ll be in by noon, and I just want to apologize for how unprofessional this was of me.”

“Don’t think another moment on it. You’ve never been late before, and I’m sure you won’t let it happen again. It’s been pretty quiet here this morning, so take the time you need.”

Abby felt tears threatening. “Thank you. I’ll be there soon.” She hung up the phone.

She peeled the spoon off her shirt and rinsed it in the sink. The dried on chocolate was probably going to stain the shirt fabric. She threw the shirt onto the top of her laundry pile and headed for the shower.

Abby felt a little nauseated after her shower, probably because of the hot water on top the “ice cream hangover.” She dressed plainly, pulled her hair back into a bun, and went to work. The day passed in a blur of forgotten moments that receded back into a general fog as soon as they were finished. Jackson let her go early and even asked if she was feeling well. He told her to get some rest and feel better on Monday.

When she looked up at the cafe she couldn’t see who was working. She hunched her shoulders and headed back home.

Abby called her sister when she got there.

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