A broken heater

            Over the weekend, the heater stopped working at Adam and Carrie’s house, and as the acting landlady, I had to take care of it, which had some interesting moments. 

            I worked over there in the afternoon on Monday while waiting for the heater guys to come and fix it. Adam and Carrie were at work doing their VP thing, and Fred was just gone, probably because of me. Like most things with repair guys go, they were late. So late that Adam and Carrie got back from work before the repair guys came by.

            The two of them went into the kitchen to cook dinner, and I joined them there since I’d finished what I had to get done for work. While the two of them chopped and sautéed and mixed together, we talked about how they’ve kept the house the same, except for putting away some mirrors my father had up, and they told me about a picture they found behind one of the mirrors while moving some into the garage. Carrie gave it to me and I recognized it as one of Eliza from about ten years ago, with this guy she had a thing for, but he hadn’t been as interested and there was some business drama thrown into it. Anyway, it surprised me because I didn’t think Eliza would be the type of person to keep a picture like this. She’s more of a burn-it-with-fire sort of a person when it comes to rejections/break-ups.

            By this time the repair guys had finally made it and started working on the heater. Adam and Carrie’s dinner was almost ready and they started to wonder where Fred was. They said he usually texts when he won’t be coming back in the evening, but they hadn’t gotten anything yet. Adam said it was probably because he’s out with Lucy or Hannah, or both.

            They had an interesting conversation after that. I know I’m using this a lot, but I think it does the speaker justice when I can write out their conversation.

Adam: He’s planning on dating one of them, I’m sure. It’s just a question of who.

Carrie: It seems that way, but I’m not sure. All of his relationships are so sudden, I don’t know why he’s taking so long to date one of them.

Adam: None of his suddenly-started relationship last very long, though. This might mean he’s serious about one of them.

Carrie: Fred? No way.

Adam: Maybe he doesn’t even know which one he wants to date between them and is having trouble deciding. They’re both great women.

Carrie: No, I don’t think that’s it. Our family is used to moving quickly with romance, and he isn’t doing that with them.

Adam: That’s right. We didn’t take long to fall in love, did we?

Carrie: No, we didn’t. And if we talk about how fast we were married, Anne will start thinking our marriage couldn’t possibly make us happy, and we’ll end up divorced.

Me: I’d never think that. You two are perfect for each other. What was the point of waiting if you knew that?

Carrie: Well, it did create a bit of drama at first, working at the same place and everything, but in the end, we didn’t care.

            At this time, the repair guys were done and while I paid them, Fred came back with Lucy in tow, looking very excited. Fred explained that his one of his former business partners owns a cabin up in Aspen, Colorado and invited him to stay with them from the 14^th to the 21^st. They insisted he invite his friends and family to come, too, and Fred was seeing who was interested in going. Adam and Carrie said they didn’t know if they’d be able to go with their work schedule, so we’re still waiting to hear back from them. Lucy said that she and Hannah were already planning on going, and she insisted that I come, too. I was a little uneasy at first, but then I realized that Fred wasn’t uncomfortable around me, and he even looked at me normally. So then I said I would go. 

I’d really wanted to take a vacation before, but no one could really go with me and I didn’t want to go alone, so I’m really excited about this trip. Things should be better with Fred. I mean, yes, it’ll still hurt with Lucy, but why should I let that stop me from doing something that I want to do? I want to go skiing, I’ve missed it, and I should go. At this point, if I try to hide from Fred moving on with someone else, I’ll be hiding from every enjoyable thing. So I’m not going to let it affect me anymore.

Or, more truthfully, I’m going to let it affect me as little as possible.