A dream trip to Cabo could be what ends Elsie and Tommy’s relationship. Elsie, Tommy, and his family are at the airport. Trouble rears its ugly head when it turns out that Tommy’s mother, Linette, got first-class tickets for everyone but Elsie, who’s booked in coach. Tommy is convinced it must just be a mistake, Elsie is not as magnanimous and is justifiably upset. Tommy fails to convince Elsie to stay. She leaves the airport, takes a cab home, and has another crying jag during that ride. She gets home only to realize that she doesn’t have her house keys. Start Elsie and Tommy’s story here – Not Even Cabo – Will This Vacation Be What Ends It? – Part 1
Chapter 5
Elsie could see them earlier that morning. Her complaining about the stupid hour, him chipper and upbeat. Her dragging her feet as she walked out of the apartment. Him playfully pulling her to him and wrapping her in a brief embrace as he locked the door and dropped the keys into his pants pocket.
She sat on the stairs outside her apartment on the second-floor fighting tears. Then she called a fundi, a handyman to break the lock.
Elsie rejected a call from Tommy as she’d been doing since she left the airport. She had to call two different fundis before she got one who was close enough. She couldn’t stop her knee from bouncing erratically as she waited for the fundi to get there. Her stomach tightened at the thought of her neighbours finding her crying on the stairs. She’d exceeded her monthly quota of crying in front of strangers, and it was barely 8 a.m.
Tommy was still calling and this time she blocked him altogether and began distracting herself by scrolling through her phone as she waited for the fundi. Try as she did, nothing held her attention, which only upset her further.
The fundi got there and immediately embarked on the job of breaking her lock. She watched him at work thinking that was the same way her heart was being broken, then conceded that maybe Tommy was right, maybe she did have a penchant for the dramatic.
Elsie negotiated the bill between sniffles and the old fundi in a threadbare pair of what were once blue overalls. Perhaps feeling sorry for her, the fundi gave her a discount. She almost cried when she saw her account balance after sending him the money. She was spending money she could in no way afford to be spending, which meant she had a long, long month of tightening the fiscal belt ahead of her.
Elsie opened the door to let the fundi out and found herself face to face with an angry Tommy. What the fuck did he have to be angry about, she wondered, making sure he knew she was equally mad.
The fundi glanced from one to the other, then slipped past and hurried off without a word. Elsie tried to close the door on Tommy, but he held it open, just like she’d known he would, his eyes fixed on the busted lock.
Tommy gently pushed the door open, and she let him walk in. He stood fidgeting with the door, trying to figure out if it would close well enough to be safe in the interregnum before she bought a new lock. He locked the door with a tiny sliding lock at the top. It would do for now, but it wasn’t a substitute for the busted lock. Then he turned to her, trying and failing to hide his anger. “Nimekucall a million times. If you’d just answered your damned phone, you wouldn’t have had to break the lock. Now you have to buy a new one. You always pick the hard way.”
“And you always pick the cowardly way.”
They eyed each other silent, both angry and rearing to go, just waiting for the dry tinder all around them to be lit.
He walked into the living room area. “You’re throwing away four years of a good thing because my mom didn’t book you a first-class ticket.”
“Go fuck yourself,” she replied, walking to the door and standing on the tips of her toes to slide the lock open.
He slid behind her, his front to her back, crowding her in, then locked it back up.
She turned to him; anger etched on her features. He stepped back and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and apology. She held him in place with a hard look. “Words.”
When they’d first started dating, whenever he had to apologize, he’d resorted to flowers and chocolates and other rom-com gestures to let her know he was sorry, but he’d never said the words. She’d not been amused or impressed, insisting that she needed words too, maybe even more. She’d made him work through whatever hesitation he had in saying the words. “I’m sorry”, “I shouldn’t have done that”, “I love you”, “I was hurt”, “I’m scared”. He’d learnt to vocalize all sorts of things and so had she.
“I’m sorry, okay? That was a dick thing to say and I’m sorry.”
He moved further into the room, heading for the couch but waiting to see what she would do before deciding whether he should sit down. “Can we please just talk? Elsie, please.”
She remained standing by the door. “What would you like to talk about, Tommy? Maybe the fact that your mother went out of her way to embarrass me? Or maybe how I told you this family vacation thing would not work, and you refused to listen, much less believe me? Oh wait, you know what I think we should talk about? The fact that you cannot talk to your mother. That’s my preference. Do you want to start, or should I go first?”
He stood silent, staring at her; jaw tight with anger. “I have a different idea if you can believe it. I’m thinking we start with the fact that you’ve never met anything you couldn’t blow out of proportion. How any normal person would just take the flight and resolve the issues quietly afterwards, not break down in histrionics in front of a room full of strangers.”
“If I thought even for a second that you were capable of resolving anything with your parents, I’d have taken that flight. If I thought even for one second that you’d stand up for me-” Her voice broke, and she took a deep breath. “Except you’re so desperate to please them, I’m beyond stupefied that you’re here.”
He took a step closer to her. “You didn’t even give me an opportunity to do it.”
She shook her head, “Tommy, please. There is no interaction I’ve had with your parents that hasn’t included varying degrees of them disrespecting me. You’ve never said one thing.”
She started counting them off on her fingers. “You said nothing when they alluded to the fact that I’m too dark. You said nothing when your mother joked about how fat I am and I haven’t even had kids yet. You said nothing when she talked about how beautiful your exes were. All you do is apologize to them after the fact. I’m the fool for believing this time would be different.”
“Not all of us can have that kumbaya-my-parents-are-my-friends shtick. My parents are not yours.” He ground out.
“No, they’re not. And I refuse to compete with your mother for your affection or whatever it is she thinks we’re competing for. I’m not going to be that girl, Tommy. Not even for you.”
He was silent, his eyes glued to the floor, teeth biting into his lips.
Elsie went on, her voice getting steadier, “Your first allegiance is to your family, as it should be. Your mother hates my guts, and you cannot stand up for me. There’s no future here. You know it and I know it.”
Tommy shook his head, denying her words, “Elsie…”
“You know I’m right.”
He could tell her mind was made up and for the life of him, e couldn’t think of anything to say that would change it. This whole resigned to her fate thing she was doing along with her quiet delivery scared him more than any dramatic thing she could have done. He wished with all his heart for the drama. This was worse, so much worse.
He tried again, because damnit, he had to try. “Elsie, we don’t have to-”
“We do. You can’t choose and maybe you shouldn’t have to.” She interrupted. “We can end this well, no drama, just… well.”
He inexplicably found himself nodding in agreement. “I’m sorry… about today and all of it. I’m really sorry.”
She nodded.
They stood looking at each other, none of them saying a word. This was it, he realized. With heavy feet, he dragged himself to the door and handed her her keys. He held on to her hand, unwilling to let go, trying to memorize how she felt. Elsie rose on her heels and wrapped him in a hug. He held her tight and made a note to remember just how tight her arms held him. He finally pulled back and walked out without a backward glance.
This wasn’t how either of them saw the day playing out. Having made this ultra-rational decision together, will they let it all go? Keep reading: Not Even Cabo: Reflections – Part 6
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