546. IT IS LIKE HE KNOWS

Okay. Wow. I am not sure what is more mind numbing. Dealing with the NY DMV. Or the realization that after 53 minutes on the phone with the DMV (53 minutes of my life that I CANNOT get back) that we are saving $10 per plate to move the cars from Manhattan County to Suffolk County. Surely my time has to be worth more than $20?

Ugh. I hang up the phone and push away from my desk. It’s lunchtime so I get my peanut butter sandwiches from the fridge and take a bite. I set one sandwich on my desk and nibble on the second. I begin eating the crust and saving the middle, where the bread is soft and layered with peanut butter, for last. I do this. For some reason, I like to save the yummiest thing for last. Like with life savers, I eat the green, then the orange, yellow, pineapple and then the best ones – the cherry ones – for last. One would think you want to eat your favorite thing first, but me; I want my favorite thing to be the last.

I stand by the window and stare at the traffic moving along the street. I have plenty of filing to tend to. Then I remember that I have to remind Daniel to write two checks to the DMV for license plate tab fees. But right now, I just want to enjoy a few minutes of peace and quiet and watch the army of yellow cabs race down the street.

From across the office I hear my phone beeping, alerting me to a text. I take a couple more bites of my lunch, brush the bread crumbs against my skirt and walk back to my desk. I am expecting a message from Tate asking how my day is going. Or Siobhan wanting to meet up for dinner. Or Ainsley asking the next time I have a volunteer meeting. I am not expecting this.

Text from Town and Country: Hey. How are you?

I read the four words, twelve times. How is this possible? What is going on? Is this really happening? Again?

I mean I really smarted for several days after he yelled at me over text. It took several days after that to get okay with knowing he ended our friendship. It took all my might not to wish him a happy birthday. And slowly, days, spilled into a week and the weeks into one month and then the second. In time, I accepted that this “relationship” had been lopsided since day go. That I had always liked him more than he liked me.

Eventually, I stopped thinking about him. Eventually I stopped hoping that there was something there. Eventually I stopped wishing that something could come about when he had more time and space in his head and heart and mind for me. Yes, I wished I had not had never found him attractive. But I did. So now, I just wanted to be Town and Country free.

So now that I am OVER him, NOW is when he decides to resurface? Does he have some Desi Girl-dar? It is like he KNOWS that I decided to move on --- and knowing that I am moving on, this is when he returns? What kind of messed up universe do I live in?