Don't Say You Love Me

Chapter FIFTY

Cohen

She didn't say she loves me, but I have to be okay with that.

   She called me. After almost a whole month, Teegan called me. I knew she needed space and time to get settled into her new life in New York. But my hopes were starting to fade of her actually wanting to talk to me ever again. And it would have to have been something I had to accept.

  But she called. Hearing her voice was the best part of my day.

  I've been spending my days working at the pet store down the road from my mom's house. I'm calling it my mom's house because she bought the house back in the spring. She has been here the whole time. It's Margo's house, too. But it's not mine. I'm just staying here for a while. The pet store is fine. The owners are an older couple who were looking for help a few days a week. It's worked out for me because I had nothing else to do with my time. I miss Rex, but he checks in often. He's been gone for a week and even though he's only two hours away, it feels like he's starting his whole new life without me, too. He invited me to go see a concert with him in a couple weeks in L.A., and my mom said I could take her car. I'm really looking forward to that.

  "Cohen!"

   I hear Margo calling me from downstairs, but I'm choosing to ignore her. We've been getting along fine but since she's not old enough to drive, she's been asking me to drive her and her friends around. I'm not a big fan of that.

  "Cohen, come downstairs!" Margo calls again.

  She sounds annoyed with me so I throw open my bedroom door and head downstairs to see what she wants. It's Saturday afternoon and I'm off today. Margo's weekends are usually filled with hanging out with her friends or going to the mall or the movies, so I'm surprised she's home. My mom's not home. Her car's not in the driveway.

   "What?" I ask my sister, going into the living room where I assume she is.

   She is there, along with her best friend Serena. They are eating a bag of chips and watching TV. Margo looks over at me and rolls her eyes dramatically, as if my presence now annoys her.

  "I called you like ten minutes ago."

  "Yeah. What do you want?" I ask her, confused.

  "Grandma called the house phone, she wanted to talk to you." Margo doesn't seem concerned about this, but immediately I wonder what this is all about.

  Grandma and Grandpa Thrasher, mom's parents, live up in Connecticut. They are in their seventies and used to make the trip down to California a couple of times a year to visit us. We'd go up there either in the summer or for Christmas, too. The last time I saw them was my dad's funeral, and they weren't here for a visit. It was so depressing for everyone.

  Now that I'm thinking about it, I haven't talked to them since then. That was six months ago.

  "Uh, so... what did you tell her?" I ask my sister, who has already gone back to watching TV.

  "I just said you were busy and I'd tell you to call her." She shrugs. "Call her."

  "Wow, thanks, Margo," I answer and shake my head.

  "Yeah, you're welcome. It sounded important," Margo finishes.

  I grab the cordless phone off the base in the living room and go through to the kitchen. Just the fact that my mom has a house phone is weird on it's own, but using it is awkward, too. I have to go over to my mom's calendar where she keeps a list of important phone numbers, and Grandma and Grandpa's number is there. I dial and then hold it up to my ear, waiting.