Page 45 of Only After We Met
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: Reasons
My sister says you’re interesting. Not just that, but “addictive.” Like one of those series where the writers manage to make youalways want to watch the next episode. Why? Because things happen that you can’t predict. Surprises. And you want to know more. People don’t get hooked on something if they know how it ends. At least, not as intensely.
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: RE: Reasons
You’re losing me, Ginger Snap.
But I like that thing about me being addictive.
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: Relax
Don’t let it go to your head. What I mean is, what would happen if you suddenly got tired of me and stopped writing? It’d be like not knowing the ending.
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: RE: Relax
I’ll never get tired of you.
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: RE: RE: Relax
I see you’ve run out of words to tell me about your past. Get some rest. Your fingers must be rubbed raw. (I’m being sarcastic, in case you can’t tell.)
PS: I’ll never get tired of you either.
21
Rhys
When I was little, I thought Sundays were the best day of the week. I can almost still feel the happiness I felt upon waking. I’d open my eyes and realize I didn’t have school and my dad would be at home all day. I remember the light that would come through the kitchen window in spring, the sound of branches swaying in the garden, the birds chirping, how happy I was as I ate my cereal and Dad read the newspaper across from me, drinking his coffee. Sometimes he’d frown, displeased. Or maybe laugh. Sometimes he’d read a story aloud, especially as I started getting older. I’d try to respond appropriately. Years later, we started arguing, and my mother would grin on the other side of the table; then finally she’d leave. Probably she got bored of listening to us.
It wasn’t just being with family that made Sundays special. It was rather…a feeling. A warm, agreeable, lazy feeling, but lazy in the good sense of the term. I never felt that again, and with the passage of years, it vanished.
22
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: Los Angeles