Grapevines: Part 2

Alice stepped gingerly over the shower curtain laying in the middle of her tiny apartment bathroom. It had been fifteen days since the shower rod fell out of the wall in the middle of her daily 5 a.m. shower, but there it sat right in the middle of the tiled floor. Everything in the apartment was breaking so after the most recent destruction, Alice gave up. She stopped calling the plumber and instead left the collection of pots and pans collecting leaking water throughout the shabby apartment. She let the wallpaper peel and instead of popping her morning waffles in the now broken toaster, she simply threw them in the microwave.

She huddled under the flowing lukewarm water, shivering without the curtain to block the cold waves of the broken air conditioning. Ever since she moved into the building three years ago, she built up a love/hate relationship with her dingy home. It was her first purchase after earning enough money at the bakery to move out of the house her family had lived in since she was a baby. Unlike the rest of her graduating class, she skipped out on leaving Garner for college. What started as a gap year turned into two gap years which turned into three which now, seven years later, was a permanent decision she chose for herself. She enjoyed working at the bakery and Mrs. Williams already promised her it would be hers after she retired in a couple months.

Though it required her to wake up with the roosters, there was something about those three hours spent in the kitchen before the town started moving. With the smell of cinnamon buns and hot buttered croissants wafting through the local favorite, Alice was able to curl up in a booth by the window with the first cup of Mrs. Williams' famous apple cider of the day and watch the sunrise over the main street.

Unfortunately for Alice, the phone woke her up an hour before her alarm clock. Mrs. Williams slow country drawl echoed over the phone, but Alice only caught the words Tyler and dead. The rest of her boss' words jumbled together over the phone line as Alice felt her tongue go dry and her head grow heavy. Mrs. Williams was the only person in town who knew Alice's secret. Gossip over slow moments in the bakery caused for Alice to let slip many a secret to the nosy old lady. After she hung up, the darkness began to press down on her, the stark silence of the room wrapping around her, pushing strangled sobs out. When the suffocating air, heavy with the news, became too much she made her way to the bathroom. Maybe if she went on with her day, following the morning schedule, Tyler would walk through the door at 9:17 on the dot just like he had every day for the past two years since he moved back to Garner.

There wasn't any good reason for her to be so upset, she tried to convince herself as she shivered in the curtain-less shower, goosebumps popping up across her bare skin. The only words Tyler Johnson ever said to her were "mornin', ma'am", "the usual" and "thank ya, darlin'". For goodness' sake, he was three years older than her, its not like they ever spoke to each other growing up. Still, the way his thick southern accent swam across her skin and that one freckle on his cheek always stood out against his permanent tan made Alice positive she was in love. Her nights usually consisted of burnt macaroni and cheese, a couch and Desperate Housewives but when her head hit the pillow she was lost in the white picket fence world of Tyler Johnson, a dog and the average 2.5 kids screaming at her from the back of a minivan.

Alice trudged back to her room, wrapping a soggy towel around her freezing body, trying to ignore the pulsing beat starting at the base of her neck. It would gradually work its way up the back of her head to wrap around to her temples until it eventually overtook her entire skull. She crawled back under the covers, soggy towel and all, letting the migraine take over the pain she was feeling in her chest. If hearts could actually break, Alice was positive this is what was happening under her rib cage. Mrs. Williams had called to give her the day off, knowing the slight melodrama that tended to overtake Alice's life when drastic things happened. Just last week, she broke down over the chocolate covered strawberries when telling Mrs. Williams about how beautiful Reese Witherspoon's wedding looked in the magazines.

Alice fumbled around in the dark before finding her phone on the floor. She dropped it after Mrs. Williams gave her the news. Mia would want to know; she'd been pretty good friends with Tyler in high school and they ran in the same circles since they both came back from college. She choked back a final sob before selecting her happy voice, the one she saved for customers on days when all she wanted to do was sit down behind the counter and eat the entire basket of dinner roll.  It was too high and thinner than her normal one but Mia was probably too sleepy to notice. Four rings chirped out of the earpiece; Alice was reaching for the END button when a click and the angry voice of her best friend permeated the silent sadness of the dark room.

"THE HELL ARE YOU DOING CALLING ME RIGHT NOW? SOMEONE BETTER BE DEAD OR SO HELP ME GOD I'LL CRAWL THROUGH THIS PHONE AND MAKE IT YOU."