Over

Heidi called me Friday afternoon and asked about my plans for the evening. I’m tired. Trying to charm her is exhausting, I’ve been having trouble sleeping and I’ve been getting cranky easily lately. Anyway – for the first time, I lied to her. I told her I was going to work late.

Paddle girl invited me to a party – a pot luck and bon fire for her rowing team on the beach down in Santa Cruz. She assured me that there would be other geezers there - coaches, parents, and the like – but that just didn’t seem like a good idea.

I was planning to head over to HMB brewery and have a few IPAs and then spend the night at motel down the street. I needed to tie one on in the company of my old friends. I was headed to my favorite local watering hole.

I knocked off work at about 6, and headed over to Half Moon Bay – there was a lot of traffic and it took over an hour. Once there I found a few friends and we downed a couple of beers and I ordered dinner.

Laughing and having fun with my drinking buddies, my phone rang. Now, I’m just not experienced enough at sneaking around. I don’t normally screen my calls – and I don’t have distinctive rings for everyone I know, and with loud happy chatter in the background I answered the phone without looking at the called ID. You guessed it, it was Heidi.

“You’re not at work.” She accused.

“Uh, yeah” I said sheepishly.

“I’m outside your office. I saw Pete leaving. He said you left hours ago.”

Oh, crap. “I, uh…” I was searching for an excuse.

“Don’t bother making anything up. I think this tells me everything I need to know.”

“I’m sorry…”

“You” she interrupted “can pick up your jacket, hat, and CDs from the receptionist at my office. I’ll expect my things back on Monday.” I’m on a plane to Tokyo Monday morning, I need to figure this out.

“The CDs were a gift.”

“I don’t care. I don’t want ‘em.”

“OK.”

“And don’t you go off thinking I dumped you. You shit.”

Um, hello, you are dumping me.

She hung up.

Two minutes later the phone rang again. This time I checked the caller ID. It was her. She started yelling at me again.

When she stopped I said. “Heidi, I’m really sorry things didn’t work out. I really appreciate all the things you did for me. I wish you nothing the best.”

“I don’t give a shit what you wish…” she went on yelling. I listened. It seemed rude for me to hang up. She yelled some more. She cried. She hung up. I turned off my phone and ordered some bourbon.

I really didn’t want to end things with her like that. Man, I handled that badly.

I'm really going to miss that wonderful accent.