Free Textual Encounters: 2 by Morgan Parker

that’s the truth? If so, when’s the last time you texted her?
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    Jake
    9:56pm:
    What’s really going on here, Katie? Why does it feel like my world is falling apart? And like I have no control over it?
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    9:57pm:
    You’ve made your bed, Jake. Now it’s time to sleep in it.
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    Jake
    9:57pm:
    What does that mean? Will you rub my back to help me fall asleep?
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    9:57pm:
    Tell me about Christine , Funny Man.
     
    10:07pm:
    That’s what I thought.
     
    10:08pm:
    Ass. Hole.
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    The scent of Will’s fancy soap wafts over me and I tense up immediately. By now sunlight fills the room and I can’t rely on a reflection in the large window overlooking the early city. But I can tell that he’s standing behind me, I can hear his breaths and almost feel his body heat. And I can tell that he notices my uneasiness because he steps back, his polished shoes clacking on the floor and his freshly pressed custom suit rippling like paper.
     
    “Are you okay?” he asks.
     
    I don’t turn around because the tears in my eyes have no reason to be there. Except to me, they do. They burn from the words I just read about how Jake feels about me. I DO NOT LOVE Rachel like that. She’s a good piece of ass when nothing else is there…
     
    Will retreats to the kitchen and I wonder if Maria has arrived for the day already. If so, I didn’t hear her sneak in.
     
    “Rachel?” Will calls from the kitchen. “You okay?”
     
    At last, I breathe.
     
    “Yes, I’m fine.” I wipe my eyes. She’s a warm body when I need it the most. Rachel is my fuck-buddy when I hit rock-bottom. “Have a nice day.”
     
    His footsteps creep back into the living room where I’m sitting. I slip my trembling hands underneath my thighs to hide them from Will.
     
    “Goodbye, Rachel.” He kisses the top of my head and lets his lips linger a lot longer than they should for a normal Have a nice day kiss. And then there’s the matter of his choice of words – Goodbye.
     
    What does that mean? Or in text-speak, WTF?
     
    He touches my shoulder one last time before leaving the Penthouse for his day, which is linked to my iPhone’s calendar so I’ll know just how late he will be tonight. And if something slipped through the cracks and didn’t make the calendar, Maria will know. There’s no reason for us to be out of sync.
     
    But I also know that I have an early lunch date this morning. With Katie. The woman that Jake loves. More than he loves me, according to his texts.
     
    * * *
     
    Sitting at the table where I brought Jake for dinner that Friday night so long ago, my stomach sinks at the memory of him sitting him across from me. Even though Will and I have eaten at this restaurant a gazillion times since Jake and I reconnected, it’s only Jake that I think about whenever I’m here.
     
    All I think about is Jake.
     
    Still.
     
    Even after he broke my heart by texting those horrible things about me to Katie.
     
    I wonder how I will respond to this younger woman once she shows up. Will I hate her immediately and want to rip her eyes out? Or will I give her a chance to say her piece, to tell me why she wanted to meet to me – although I have a fairly strong suspicion that she will ask me to disappear from Jake’s life forever. At this point, I can’t say he is worth fighting for, not after what he said about me…
     
    A waitress appears and asks if I would like to order something to drink while waiting for my guest. I ask for a Perrier with lime and she walks off at a leisurely pace. There is nothing hurried about this restaurant at all. That Friday night, right before my wedding to Will, Jake and I spent hours here after we finished our meal. We chatted, laughed, flirted without the pressure of having to vacate our seats so that someone