His Fingertips Have Memories

Amy had been cooped up in the hotel for two days now and it was driving her crazy. She hadn’t heard from Bob and she didn’t call him. Amy was really depressed and there was nothing to do so she decided to go shopping. Amy was at the store looking through a clothing rack near the entrance of the store when she heard yelling.

“Tommy! Tommy, get back here now!” Amy looked around but didn’t see the women, she heard a child laughing and her stomach tightened. She heard a toddlers foot steps followed by women’s.

“Thomas! Don’t take another step!” shouted the lady. Amy saw the child running towards the door, which led into a busy street. She steeped in front of the door, so the child couldn’t exit. She squatted down to the child and he stopped in front of her.

“Hi,” said Amy, “what’s your name?” The child squealed in excitement and clapped his. He started jumping up and down. Amy’s stomach ached. Amy could hear the women getting closer, frantically calling her child’s name.

“He’s right here,” she said.

“Oh my god!” said the lady, as she bent down and picked up her son. Her eyes were closed and she was hanging on to him for dear life; she was practically in tears. Amy recognized her at once, but she was too preoccupied to even notice her. Amy wanted to leave the store but she knew she had to face her sooner or later. “Don’t ever scare mommy like that again!” The child laughed.

“Mommy!” shirked the child with laugher; Amy thought she was going to cry. Hadn’t she gotten over this by now?

“Hi Marissa,” said Amy quietly. Marissa put Tommy down and grabbed his hand.

“Amy?!” Marissa asked shocked. Amy waved. She didn’t know what to do. Was there anything she could say that would make it okay between them? Could she even begin to apologize for leaving town two months before her best friend’s wedding? She was the maid of honor, and she left. Best friends since high school and now… “What are you doing here?”

“I moved back into town,” she said, with a smile. “I see you have a son, he’s adorable.” Marissa’s eyes softened.

“Yeah,” she said, “Conner and I are expecting another one in about eight months.” She said as she put her hand to her stomach.

“Wow,” said Amy, trying to smile. “Congratulations. How is Conner?”

“He’s fine…why are you back?” she demanded, the anger back in her face. Amy shrugged, Why was she back? “Good question,”’ she wanted to say.

“Donno, My family is here, everyone is here, my life is here…”

“Your life was here, but you threw that all away when you left.”

“Marissa, I know you’re mad, but I’m—”

“Don’t! Don’t even begin to apologize, okay? Don’t. Just do me a favor and go back to wherever it is you came from, okay? You know what, forget that. I don’t need anything from you, just do it for Bob. He doesn’t need you in his life. He’s happy and he doesn’t need you ruining it.” Amy nodded her head.

“I really am sorry, and I hope you’re happy, I really do,” said Amy, tears in her eyes. She turned to leave the store.

“Bye!” shouted Tommy, fiercely waving. She smiled and waved back. She walked to the bus stop and sat on the bench. She was having difficulty breathing. She was upset thather best friendher ex-best friend that Marissa hated her, but she was mostly upset because of what Marissa had said. Bob was happy. It killed her that she was the person ruining his happiness. That was the last thing she wanted to do. Maybe she should just stay out of Bob’s life. Maybe they weren’t supposed to end up together, maybe this was the way things were meant to be.