Make It Back to Me

August 2009
Ducking into the busy café from the equally as busy sidewalk, Evelyn sighed contently as the cool air washed over her skin. Usually she loved the summer, but the incredible heat wave the east coast was having had not something she was welcoming. Quickly getting in line, she ordered a smoothie and a muffin for a mid afternoon snack, having just got out of classes and not wanting to spoil her appetite for dinner. She had been working herself to the bone with class, with her internship, and with a part time job to pay the bills. It was lucky that she had a lot of money saved up and that her father was willing to help pay for her schooling; it was something he always said he would do. As long as his daughter was in school getting an education, she wouldn’t have to pay for it.

Leaving a dollar in the tip jar, Evelyn sat down at a small table with her order, taking a bite of the muffin just as her stomach rumbled in hunger. She sighed, leaning back against the chair, wiping the back of her hand against her slightly damp forehead. It was just so hot out, and it wasn’t doing anything to help the nausea she had been feeling. She let her mind drift to what the weather like would be in Chicago just then, and she cursed herself for it. Thinking of Chicago brought back nothing but painful memories of her former life there, making a wince appear on her face. She had to stop thinking of Chicago, because when she thought of that city, she thought of Ben Eager, a man she could technically still call her husband.

Her cell phone buzzed from the pocket of her dark wash jean shorts, making her jump in her seat. Pulling the pink covered Blackberry out, she smiled when she saw the name on the screen.

“Hey, Michael,” She greeted, standing from her seat and throwing away the empty muffin wrapper. She grabbed her smoothie and walked from the café and back into the sweltering heat as he replied.

“Hey, beautiful,” He said. “Are you up for dinner tonight?”

“Going out for dinner, no, not really. But you can always bring something home with you.”

He laughed, agreeing to do that instead, knowing she hadn’t felt like doing much ever since the big move to New York. He told her to decide what she wanted and to text him when she decided, and he would get it for her. Grinning at that, she agreed before disconnecting the call and making her way toward the Manhattan apartment she shared with Michael. Surprisingly, the conceited and cocky Michael she had known in Chicago was completely gone. He was nothing but sweet to her, caring toward her, and he made sure that she was taken care of.

When she felt like her life was falling apart a few months back, Michael had been there to pick up the pieces in nothing more than a friend helping out a friend. She was so thankful for him; she honestly wasn’t sure she could have stood to be in New York more than a day without him, but he had listened to her troubles, told her that there was no shame in going back to Chicago, something that had really surprised her. But she had to stay in New York for a little while, at least. She had to try out being a student again at CUNY, even if it had cost her a marriage.

Arriving back at the apartment, she quickly made her way up to their floor, wanting nothing more than to relax in the air conditioned space she could call her own. Knowing Michael wouldn’t be home for another few hours, she thought of taking a cool shower to really feel better. Walking into the master bedroom, the one Michael had insisted she take as her own while he used the guest room, she slid her shorts off, kicked her gladiator style sandals off, and removed her white blouse. She took a deep breath as she looked at her appearance; everyday it disgusted her more. Besides the obvious weight gain, she was pale and had dark circles around her eyes. It seemed like she hadn’t had a full night of sleep since she had arrived in New York on the last day of May, nearly three months before.

She spent the first two weeks of her stay in New York crying everyday and feeling sorry for herself, wishing like hell she had never applied to CUNY to begin with, but once Michael had forced her into a shower, forced her to eat, and forced to really think if she wanted to give up journalism school, she folded and stayed, deciding that she needed to give school a chance.

And now that she was almost done with her first semester (only three more days) she realized that she had really enjoyed herself. The school was everything she thought it would be, but still, she just didn’t feel right. She felt like she was missing something, and unfortunately she knew what she was missing and that was her husband, the introverted, almost brooding, romantic hockey player that had stolen her young heart not quite two years before.

Getting out of the shower, she wrapped a towel around herself before walking back into her bedroom and opening the closet door. Throwing on a pair of yoga capris, she contemplated what shirt to wear. Scanning her closest, she got all the way to the back where she found a garment she had hidden from sight on her first day in New York. Pulling the Blackhawks jersey out of the closet, Evelyn held it against herself, her eyes reading the familiar name on the back. After all, it was her last name, too. Not being able to stop the tears that stung at her eyes, she sat down on her bed with the jersey, wondering if she had made the biggest mistake of her life.

- - -

Something simply had to give, Adam Burish decided. He had gone the whole summer getting his phone calls ignored by both Ben and Evelyn when all he wanted to do was make sure they were okay, talk to them, maybe even convince them they were the stupidest people on the planet. Even then, they were still perfect for each other. They were just too dense to see it. Or at least they were too dense to talk to each other, work out the fight they had before Evelyn had gone halfway across the country.

No one surrounding the couple knew what really happened, except for Phoebe, and she wasn’t giving up any information for the rest of the team to gossip about. Of course she knew what had gone on, but it didn’t mean she liked it. She told Adam she had tried so many times to get Evelyn to come back, especially with the way she was. The way she is, Adam always wondered. What the hell does that mean? At first Adam thought she had meant that Evelyn was depressed, but he had a suspicion it was something more.

He had a feeling that if Phoebe knew where he was, she would kick his ass, but he didn’t care. He was sick of seeing one of his best friends miserable, and he was sure that even though he couldn’t actually see Evelyn, she was miserable too. Looking down at the slip of paper in his hand, his sloppy scrawl telling him the address of his destination, he stared at the buildings next to him, looking for their addresses. He grinned his famous Adam Burish grin before walking into the lobby of the building he had been looking for, acting like he was supposed to be there. He wasn’t practically breaking in or anything…

He twiddled his thumbs as he rode the elevator to the designated floor. When he heard the ‘ding’ and the doors swung open, the first apartment he saw was the one he needed. Putting his hand on the door handle, he turned it to find it unlocked. Shaking his head in disappointment, he walked into the apartment quietly.

“Michael?” He heard from the bedroom. “Is that you?”

Adam froze, not knowing what to say. Settling on, “Yes,” he called back to her. He heard a door open, and he saw the beautiful brunette practically bounce out of a bedroom, a huge tee shirt dangling from her body.

“What did you get to ea-” She stopped, her eyes wide as she looked at the man in her living room. “Adam?!”

“Hey, Evelyn, long time no talk, huh?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Well…” He started, flopping himself on the couch. “Since you won’t answer my calls, I decided to come see you, make sure you were alright.” She stared at him, her mouth opening and closing a few times, before she sat down next to him.

“How’d you know where I live?”

“Stole the address from Phoebe’s place; Nik invited a few of the guys over to watch some baseball last week. It was just sitting on her desk.”

Evelyn nodded, looking down at the floor and tucking her feet underneath her. She bit her lip, almost as if she was trying to decide exactly how she felt about seeing Adam again. Sure, she was happy to see him, but seeing him brought back even more painful memories, and after she had almost cried at the café and actually bawled her eyes out over a jersey, she decided she had enough of those for one day.

Wrapping her arms around him, she buried her face into his neck. He laughed a bit and wrapped his arms back around her, thankful she hadn’t hit him or anything, which was something he had been expecting. People always seemed to hit him, he realized. Whether for something that came out of his mouth or an action of his, he was always being hit, mostly by his girlfriend, Kita, though. They stayed hugging for a long while. Adam hadn’t realized how much he had missed Evelyn, really, until she had her arms wrapped around him.

They finally broke apart when the apartment door opened again and Michael walked inside, calling out to Evelyn that he had stopped for Mexican food, one of her favorites. Adam glared lightly at the man, not being able to help it, as Evelyn hopped off the couch and dug into the food containers.

“Uh, Lyn?” Michael questioned, staring at Adam.

“Oh!” She laughed, a tortilla chip in her mouth. “You know who Adam is. He came to check on me.”

“Ah,” Michael said simply, excusing himself and telling Evelyn he was going to change out of his work clothes.

“You know,” Adam started, sitting down at the table and taking the food Evelyn offered him. “I didn’t just come here to check on you.”

“Oh?”

“I came here to convince you to come home.”

“This is my home, Adam.”

“No, it’s not. Your home is in Chicago, with Ben and the rest of us. Tell me you are one hundred percent happy here, Lyn. Go ahead.”

“Adam…”

“I’m being serious.”

“Okay, fine. I’m not one hundred percent happy here, okay? New York’s not everything it cracked up to be, but I feel like… If I go back, I’ll be a failure.”

“No! No one is going to think that, Lyn. Everyone is going to be fucking ecstatic that you’re back.”

“And Ben?”

“Ben’s going to be the happiest one of all of us.”

“Then why hasn’t he called me?”

“Why have you called him? A phone works two ways, you know.”

Evelyn sighed, sitting down at the table, her head in her hands. She stared across as Adam, as Michael came from the bedroom. He stopped when he felt the tension in the kitchen, wondering if he should give Evelyn and her friend some privacy, but he stayed rooted to his spot. Evelyn groaned, standing up.

“There’s a complication, Adam.”

“What complication?”

“How the hell do I go home to Ben and tell him I’m not only sorry for everything, but that I’ve been keeping a secret from him since I left.”

“What?” Adam asked, pulling his face together in confusion. “What secret?”

Evelyn walked to his side of the table until she was mere inches from him. Pulling the baggy tee shirt up, she revealed her stomach, her rather large stomach. Adam stared at it with wide eyes for a few moments before he brought his blue eyes up to meet her brown ones.

“I’m pregnant, Adam.”