Free The Rock Season by R.L. Merrill Page A

sipped and she laughed. 
    “I wondered about that,” I said when I stopped coughing. “You’ve always had a healthy appetite and it’s been awhile since you’ve gone out with anyone.”
    She shrugged, running her fingers along her straw. “I haven’t been out, true, but I don’t often kick Mike out of my bed.”
    My eyes bugged out. “You guys are still fooling around!?”  
    She laughed. “Yeah. Sometimes. When neither of us is seeing anyone. I know it’s dumb. We agreed to divorce because we’d been together since I was 17 and he was 20 and we thought we weren’t happy anymore. But I guess I kind of miss him. He’s been telling me he thinks splitting up was a mistake. Guess he figured out what I knew all along, which was that he would never find anyone better than me.”
    I high-fived her! “Damn right, girlfriend!”
    “Besides, he gets to do all kinds of things with me that he’d probably get slapped for if he asked someone else.”  
    I smiled at her and sighed. “How romantic!”
    She kicked me under the table and we laughed.
    “Seriously, though, Maryland. Did you ever think maybe you guys were just frustrated because you had the girls and they took up so much of your lives?”  
    “It very well could be that. I don’t know. I’m just going to see what happens, which brings up something else I wanted to tell you.”
    I frowned. “What is it?”  
    She took a deep breath and smiled. “The girls and I are going to Alaska for a couple of months to stay with my mother.”
    Maryland’s mother was Native Alaskan and her father came from Northern European ancestry. They’d been split up as long as I’d known her. I knew she had been to Alaska to see her mother once or twice, but that they weren’t super close.
    “Wow! That’s a pretty big deal. What do the girls think?”
    She finished off her burger and wadded up the wrapper. “They are excited. My mom’s not doing well health-wise, so I figured we better do this. It means starting Jenna late in Kindergarten but she’ll catch up. She’s young, anyway. Mike is bummed, but I told him this would be good for us, too. Maybe when we get back, he and I can, I don’t know. I don’t know!” We both laughed and then she looked at her phone.
    “The Neon Trees will be on in a few minutes. Think we should hit the restroom before we go to our seats?”  
    I agreed and we took care of our trash and our basic needs. I was waiting for her outside when I saw my Savior walking into the seats. He wasn’t wearing his jacket again and had a bandage on the back of his head still. I started to follow him and then realized I shouldn’t ditch Maryland. When she came out minutes later, I grabbed her hand and started running.
    “Why are we running? OH! You saw him!”  
    I smiled at her and led her to the entry to the 100s. Luckily the seats were only about half full so we started looking around. I couldn’t find him again. We were sitting in the 200s this time since we got the tickets late.
    “Damn,” I said with exasperation.
    Maryland gave me a pouty face and kissed my cheek. “We’ll find him. Fate, remember?”  
    I smiled down at her and turned to cheer as the band took the stage.
    The Neon Trees put on an amazing show. The lead singer Tyler had such a frenetic energy. He was all over the place! We’d seen them a couple of years ago opening for Mutemath and 30 Seconds to Mars. The stage was full of gear and they only had a tiny space to perform in. I was nervous the whole time that he was going to trip and fall!
    About twenty minutes into their set I desperately had to pee again. “Need anything,” I asked Maryland. She said she was good so I trotted up the steps and went out to the snack bar. I used the bathroom and when I came out, Fate blessed me with a sighting. I snuck up behind him in the beer line and stood close to him. He was on his own, so I felt a little brave. I cleared my throat and said, “I didn’t think you were allowed to