Catching Up to You

Chapter 22 - Commitment-Phobia

The morning after, Trang was nowhere to be seen in the house. She left at six in the morning for the airport without a word. Everyone was still asleep then, so she tiptoed her way out of the front door as quietly as she could.

"...Hello?" Linny picked up the phone in a groggy voice. She realized that she had fallen asleep as

"So, you're right. I'm out of here. Please don't say ''I told you so,'" Trang said, sounding almost out of breath, as she clicked her boots into the sliding entrance of O'Hare.

"Oh... Did you tell her about the baby?"

"Ha! No, too dangerous. We were barely together alone for a day and she was already kicking me out of the house."

On the other end, she could hear a groan and then a sigh. "I think you and Mom are just two very different people."

"Uh, no. I can't believe that you can still defend after all she's done to us." Trang snapped back at her.

"You got to give her a break. We all make mistakes." She couldn't help but scoff at her younger sister's cliche advice.

"That's easy for you to say. I bet you can barely remember some of the things she's done to us, since you were so young then." Her voice began to quiver. She suddenly felt this urge to reach in her back pocket, as if she was about to grab a box of cigarettes that was usually tucked there.

"I remember, but I also know when to grow up and move on."

"..."

"Look, Mom's hurt both of us and I'm sure that we've hurt her, too. People make mistakes and they deserve to be forgiven for them. We're all humans," Linny replied, as if she was an enlightened monk reciting from a Buddhist sutra or worse, a life coach. Trang had always felt both admiration and frustration at how Linny could react to upsetting situations with such a calm attitude. She had never once seen her sister break down in tears or screams, a scene Trang knew Linny would be familiar with when it came to either her older sister or mother.

"I'll say sorry once she's said sorry." Trang's stubborn pout can be clearly heard through the phone.

"Very mature, Trang. That's how you resolve a conflict as an adult in her thirties."

"Anyway, where are you?" Despite being at the airport, Trang realized that she didn't know where she was about to fly to next.

"Um, that is a good question... Where am I?" Linny squinted her eyes out towards her window.

"Wait, what? You don't know where you are? What's happening down there?" she asked, sounding more amused than worried.

"Well... we're still on our way to Orlando.... I think... or at least I hope that's where we're still heading. To be honest, I don't know."

"Great, I'll see you there."

"Wait, are you seriously flying down here? Even after what I just said?"

"Yeah, where else am I going to go?"

"I don't know. I mean, you have friends all over the world! You could fly anywhere." This fact was true. Trang thought it was a special talent of hers for never having to pay a dollar for any overnight stay in most cities she's been to in the past few years due to her wide network of friends and acquaintances who would let her bunk on any couch or floor of theirs.

"Nah, I figured we barely hung out when I got to Boston, so I might as well spend some time with you while you're still soul searching." Linny could hardly believe what Trang said to her. Her older sister's last reason to come home was because she needed to make a pit stop for a month before going MIA in Argentina.

"I don't know how you're traveling so much without work. Where do you get all the money?" A silent pause and then the sound of Trang's fingers tapping on the phone. She made a mental note to herself to ask Linny at a later date to help update her resume. The most recent position on that document was her part-time role as a bartender in Sydney. She made another mental note to have any role that included serving alcohol removed from that list.

"Yeah... I need to get a job soon," she said in a low voice, after confirming a flight and car reservation. Sera, her friend who she met while they were volunteering at an elephant shelter in Thailand together, had moved back to Orlando a year ago and texted her that yes, Trang could come and stay at her place for the time being.

"You can take mine."

"Ha! No, thank you. I'll probably quit the day after based on everything you've shared with me."

"You're such a commitment-phobe."

"Hey, you say it like it's some kind of disease or something. I'll just have you know that I'm proud that I know when to quit something when it's making me unhappy."

"Like your talk with Mom?"

"Hey, did you hear that? I think I'm about to board soon! Oh, shoot - got to get to security now! Love ya'! See you soon, sis." Trang yelled, completely deflecting her younger sister's inquiring jab with a tap on the "end call" button. The truth was she was still five hours away from her time of departure.

With the plethora of time ahead of her, she sat herself down and scrolled through what seemed to be an endless list of names that she barely contacted in the past year. When she stumbled upon Danny's name, she quickly removed it from her contact list. "This is it, " Giving herself a pep talk, she continued, "This is going to be me starting over with my baby. No looking back." Trang opened a new search on her Internet browser: "job agencies in Florida."