Karlie woke up shortly after the sun rose, exhausted. The night was long and tiring, the walk wore her down and her body was in pain. She came home late, only had a few hours of sleep before having to get up for work.
But today, though tired and exhausted and what else, there was no groan when rising. She was looking forward to the day, looking forward to it much more than she usually did.
Across town, Taylor was being shaken awake by her mother.
“Taylor! Young lady! Get up, please, your father and I want to go somewhere.”
Taylor made a sort of grunting noise into her pillow.
“We want you to come with us, Taylor. Get up, now.”
Another incoherent noise.
Her mother sighed.
“You shouldn’t doze off so much. If you hadn’t dozed off, you wouldn’t have had to walk all the way home with God knows who and you wouldn’t be so tired in the morning.”
Taylor began to snore.
Her mother sighed again as she left the room and closed the door behind her.
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Karlie was walking the path to work again, thinking about Taylor today. She was thinking about her promise, was wondering if she should go visit Taylor today, or perhaps tomorrow, or perhaps in two days.
She could hardly wait, and smiled happily on her way to work; joyous thoughts putting a bounce in her step.
She reached the dairy with a wide smile on her face, wanting to tell Sean about her night. She looked around for him and realized he wasn’t there.
Karlie approached her manager.
“Mr. Kennedy, do you know where Sean is?”
“Oh, Karlie, I wanted to talk to you about that.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Sean called in sick this morning, and we really have to get some of this milk out. We need you to cover his shift today. It might take a little longer than usual, but we’ll give you double pay, alright?”
Karlie could not say no, sighed a little bit and nodded.
I guess Taylor will have to wait until tomorrow.
“Good, Karlie! Thanks, I knew I could count on you,” Mr. Kennedy laughed,
“When you’re done with your route you just come back here and pick up Sean’s load, alright?”
“Yes, Mr. Kennedy.”
Never before had she been so desperate, so disappointed.
She tried to smile when on her route, was even quieter than usual. She avoided all the people today, did not bother to ring doorbells and exchange greetings, only leaving the milk on the doorstep and leaving without a word.
Never before did she think so much about what she wanted; it had been a long time since she thought about her own desires.
Karlie eventually returned to the store, for her lunch break, missing Sean, missing Taylor, feeling sorry for herself.
I need to stop this. I need to stop this now.
She heaved herself up with a groan and picked up Sean’s load, heading out the door, determined to be detached.
She failed.
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The sun was beginning to set, and there was only one set of bottles to go.
