A Neighbor’s Lie

With her heart churning over it, Chloe sent the call. She fully expected it to go to voicemail. So when it was answered on the second ring by a chipper-sounding Danielle, it took Chloe a moment to respond.

“Hey, Danielle.”

“Chloe, how are you?” she asked. It was so odd to hear Danielle’s voice with an edge of cheer to it.

“Pretty good. I moved into the apartment today. I thought about how nice it would be to celebrate it by having you come visit and have a bottle of wine and some really unhealthy food. But then I remembered your new job.”

“Yeah, grinding away,” Danielle said with a laugh.

“Are you liking it?”

“Chloe, I’m loving it. I mean, sure, it’s only been three weeks but it’s like I was born for this job. I know it’s only bartending but…”

“Well, you’re assistant manager, too, right?”

“Yeah. A title that still scares me.”

“I’m glad you’re liking it.”

“Well, how about you? How’s the apartment? How was the move?”

She didn’t want Danielle knowing she had moved it all in by herself, so she kept the answer generic—which she hated to do. “Not too bad. I still have to unpack, but I’m just glad to be in, you know?”

“I’ll absolutely come have that wine and greasy food with you soon, though. How is everything else?”

“Honestly?”

Danielle was quiet for a moment before she responded with: “Uh-oh.”

“I’ve been thinking about Dad. I’ve been thinking about going to see him.”

“And why in God’s name would you do that?”

“I wish I had a good answer for you,” Chloe said. “After everything that happened, I just feel like I need to. I have to make sense of it all.”

“My God, Chloe. Leave it alone. Isn’t this new job of yours supposed to keep you busy solving other crimes? Man…I thought I was the one who spent all of her time living in the past.”

“Why does it upset you so much?” Chloe asked. “Me going to see him…”

“Because I feel like we’ve both given him enough of our lives. And I know if you see him, my name is going to come out of one of your mouths and I’d rather not have that happen. I’m done with him, Chloe. I wish you could be, too.”

Yeah, I wish the same thing, Chloe said but kept the comment to herself.

“Chloe, I love you, but if you plan on the rest of this conversation being about him I’m going to say goodbye now.”

“When are you working again?” Chloe asked.

“Every night this week, except Saturday.”

“Maybe I’ll come by and see you Friday afternoon. I expect you to serve me whatever drink you consider your specialty.”

“Better not plan on driving home, then,” Danielle said.

“Noted.”

“How about you? When does your new job start?”

“Tomorrow morning, actually.”

“In the middle of the week?” Danielle asked.

“It’s sort of an orientation thing. Mostly meetings and all of that for the first day or so.”

“I’m excited for you,” Danielle said. “I know how much you’ve wanted this.”

It was nice to hear Danielle speaking highly of her work. Not only that, but even pretending to take an interest in it.

There was a heavy silence between them, one that mercifully ended with Danielle saying something that was rather out of character for her. “Be safe, Chloe. With the job…with Dad…with all of it.”

“I will,” Chloe said, the comment taking her off guard.

Danielle ended the call, leaving Chloe to look around the central area of her apartment. It was hard to see the totality of the place because of all of her clutter but she already felt that the place was home.

Nothing like an awkward conversation with Danielle to make a place feel like home, she thought idly.

Slowly, stretching her back, Chloe got out of the recliner and went to the box closest to her. She started to unpack it, getting a sense of what her life would be like if she didn’t figure out how to reconcile relationships. Whether it was with her sister, her father, or her ex-fiancé, she didn’t have the best track record of keeping people close.

At the thought of her ex-fiancé, she came across several framed pictures sitting at the bottom of the first box. There were three pictures in all, photos of her and Steven; two were from their earlier days, when dating had been the only thing on their radar. But the third was a picture of them after he had proposed…after she had said yes and nearly started crying.

She gathered the pictures up out of the box and placed them on the kitchen counter. She rummaged around and found her trashcan sitting on the other side of the room, next to her mattress. She took the pictures to it and dropped them into the trashcan. The sound of the glass breaking in the frames was a little too delightful.

Easy enough, she thought. Can’t wait to move on from that debacle. Now, why can’t you move on from this nonsense with your father just as easily?

She had no answer for that. And the thing that scared her was that she felt the answer might be hiding in a conversation with him.

With that thought, the apartment seemed emptier than before and Chloe felt very much alone. The mere thought of it made her go to the refrigerator and start on the six-pack she’d purchased earlier in the day. She opened the bottle, a little alarmed at just how good that first swallow was.

She did her best to occupy herself that afternoon and well into the night, not by unpacking but by slowly going through the boxes one by one and trying to decide if she needed each and every item. The trophy she’d won for the debate team in high school went the way of the trashcan. The Fiona Apple CD she had been listening to when she lost her virginity as a sophomore in high school, she kept.

Any pictures of her father went into the trash. It hurt to do it at first but by the time she was on the fourth bottle of beer, it was easier.

She made it through two boxes…and would have probably gone through at least one more if she had not gone to the fridge only to find that she had somehow gone through the entire six-pack. She looked at the clock on the stove and let out a little gasp at what she saw.

It was 12:45 at night. So much for getting a good night’s sleep before my first day, she thought.

But what was even more alarming was the fact that she was more upset about the empty six-pack than having a potentially groggy morning on her first day with the bureau. She fell into bed after brushing her teeth, the room spinning a bit, as she realized that what she had really been trying to do that night was make herself not give a care about trying to erase memories of her father.

CHAPTER TWO