Wine After Whiskey

By the time James had returned back home to Whitby three weeks later, he still hadn't heard from anything from Tessa. He checked his phone more often than usual and every time a call or text message came through he hoped and wished that it would be her. After the twenty-one plus days had passed the likely hood that he believed Tess would call him back became smaller and smaller; but he never gave up the hope.

The first week in Whitby was spent in between couch hopping at his friend's houses, and spending few nights in his childhood home. When with his friend's, he would bar-hop in an attempt to numb some of the final moments of the season and to forget some of the things he should've been making priorities. After detoxing his body of all the alcohol he had drunken, James realized it was finally time to stand up, be a man, and do what he had planned to do all summer.

Again, he called. The voicemail didn't even come up this time, instead a monotone woman let him know that the number was no longer in service and to call an operator for assistance. James ran his hands through his unruly, and messy brown hair and tried to think of the reasons as to why the phone number was no longer in service.

Had she changed her number since he had called her almost a month before? Did she not want to talk to him that badly that she would go the distance to change the same phone number she'd had since their freshman year of high school? In James's mind, it hadn't made sense; but quite honestly, nothing made much sense in James's mind anymore.

_____

The world just seemed a little bit easier when Tessa was able to have a night off from work and was able to spend it with her little girl. In the past four years they hadn't had much of these "girls nights" because of Tessa having to work more than forty hours a week in order to keep them afloat.

Times were already hard enough with everything, and being a single mother just made everything a lot harder; but she wouldn't have had being a mom any other way. She loved the little girl whose eyes would sparkle with little tears every time she was dropped off at nursery school and would light up every time her mother would return back in the early afternoon after a long shift at the hospital.

The afternoon had been spent with a walk to the park and a extra-long playtime on the playground, leaving them both almost exhausted. When they returned back to their home, Tessa made homemade pizza for dinner and ice cream sundaes for desert. After filling their tummies, both of them settled down in Tessa’s room and watched Tangled not once, but twice, before Tessa fell into puppy dog pouts, and big green eyes that were begging to let her watch The Little Mermaid; it was Aubree’s favorite movie.

They were no more than fifteen minutes into the movie, when a sharp rap came at the door scaring Aubree half to death and bringing Tessa out of the sleepy phase she was beginning to fall into. After telling the little one to stay put and keep watching the movie, Tess padded to the front door, and looked through the peephole.
James.

She hadn’t expected for him to show up on her doorstep. She had hoped that he would get the message of her ignoring and screening his phone calls, and just leave her and Aubree the hell alone. Again he knocked harshly on the door, causing Tessa to jump slightly.

“C’mon Tess, I know you’re in there…” James slurred from the other side of the door. Judging by the way he was stumbling through his words, Tessa concluded that he was drunk. “Tessie?” he knocked on the door quietly.

Tessa pulled on the pair of moccasins that were sitting next to the door, and wrapped a coat around herself, unlocking the door and pushing herself out into the hallway and past James.

“Go home.” she told him as he tried to stumble over to her for a hug. Tessa pushed his muscular body away from her and folded her arms across her chest. “Go home, James. Before you get yourself hurt.” A mischievous grin entranced his face as he crossed his arms across his chest, mocking her body language.

“You look good Tessa.” he commented, his eyes scrolling up and down her body, spending too many seconds on her boy-shorts clad legs. Disgusted, she didn’t know whether to throw up or slap him across the face.

“James, I told you. Go home.”

“I want to see Aubree.” he suddenly changed his tone. Instead of being a little tipsy drunk, he spat out the words and tried to push past her to the door. Tessa shook her head, and swatted his hand away from the handle.

“You are drunk, James. Please go home.” she was begging him. He needed to leave before her neighbors called the cops on a them being too loud, or something. The last thing she needed now was being kicked out of her apartment building.

“I know I’m drunk, Tess. I came to see you guys, I’ve missed you so much. You couldn’t even believe it.” She didn’t. James had been one selfish prick the past four years, and Tessa believed- though she had trust issues after being left with a nine-week old baby- that he had ulterior motives.

Tessa sighed and closed her eyes, trying to will herself out of the situation that she was in. Opening her eyes, she realized her wish hadn’t came true and James was still standing across from her.

“Stay here.” she mumbled, pushing back into her apartment and into the dark hallway that lead to her bedroom. Peaking in, Aubree was fast asleep to the sounds of the sing-a-longs. Pulling the blanket up to keep Aubree warm, and kissing her forehead, she closed the door behind her room and returned back to outside of her apartment.

When she walked out into the darkly lit hallway, James was laid up against the wall his eyes closed and his soft, and shallow breathing making the hallway sound incredibly loud. Tessa let out an exasperated sigh and shoved his shoulder, she wasn’t just going to let him sleep out in the hallway of her apartment building, hung over.

“Get your ass up, James.” she finally spoke after he woke back up. As long as he could keep his mouth shut and not puke on her couch, everything might end up okay this evening.

“Do I get to see her?” he asked hopefully. Tessa shook her head and helped him up off the ground.

“No.” she spoke quietly as she lead his drunken, and tired body into her apartment. “And be quiet. I don’t need you waking up my neighbors.” She handed him a blanket and a pillow and showed him the couch as she waved goodnight to him and padded back to her bedroom wondering why the hell she had just even offered up her couch to him.