I Like You Just Fine When You're Not Around Read Online Free PDF Page A

agree that washing a T-shirt occasionally is not an excessive use of resources. The inconvenient truth here, sweetie, is that you stink like chicken soup and mildew. Why not stop buying new running shoes made by small children in Malaysia, if you really want to help the universe?”
    “You’re such an eco-bully, Tig. Are you coming to Hawaii with me?”
    No hablo happy
, she’d thought. The constant push, push, push that went with Pete’s enthusiasm and decision making made her feel anxious, not loved. She hadn’t made her decision and she didn’t like being pressured. The slightly soapy rim of the amber-colored water glass, the nubby texture of the lightweight plastic against her fingers, felt stingy and cheap. “It’s not what I want or don’t want,” she’d said. “I have responsibilities, Pete.”
    “People do what they want to do. You and I both know that.”
    Pete’s eager persistence had won her over. He was a charismatic man and she loved him. Her counselor brain wasn’t much of a match for those two facts. Quieting her noisy memories, she focused on Pete’s partner resume. The top criteria were all represented: Funny. Check. Smart. Check. Kind. Integrity. Sexy. Check. Check. Check. The second tier was also well represented: Fit. Employed. Kid Friendly. And finally, the tier that should not be named, the tier that was important but shallow and only whispered about with best friends: Nice lips, toenails clipped, and adequate penis size; not huge, not miniscule, just adequate.
    On paper, Pete looked perfect and he felt pretty perfect, too. So she had committed to at least six months in Hawaii, thinking,
Finally, an uncomplicated, nice, normal guy
. Finally, someone who seemed to fit her. And so what if he was more impulsive than she. So what if he exercised like he was running from a swarm of locusts. So what if there were times when she relished the quiet of his long runs and multi-day bike rides. So what.
    The real truth was that she needed a break. She’d agreed to accompany him to Hawaii in a wild moment of anger at her sister, Wendy, an inability to continue to come up with excuses for Pete, and pure exhaustion brought on by being her mother’s sole caretaker. The last one simply broke Tig’s heart. Every time she entered her front door now that her mother was gone, she felt loss, guilt, and grief. It didn’t matter that her mother had become unsafe in Tig’s home, or that her urinary tract infections seemed to sprout out of nowhere. Tig missed her. The best thing for her would be to get out of this house for a while.
    Now, however, all of her reasoning, plans, and ideals had been shoved aside like a dusty curtain, and she had no idea what to do. She turned to Macie and said, “When you say ‘I love you,’ do you mean it like a promise, or do you mean it like, ‘I feel this right now, but things might change tomorrow’?”
    Macie blinked. “Who, me?”
    Tig shook her head. “Never mind. Sit with me. We’ll make a new plan.”
    “We? You want me to help you plan?” Macie smiled and sat at the kitchen table. Tig yanked a yellow legal pad from under a stack of unopened mail, and a wrinkled page of doodles flopped into view. Tig scrawled
Options
at the top of a fresh sheet of paper
.
    “What are my options?” Tig wrote
#1
, circled it, then wrote,
Get job back
.
    Macie smoothed the crinkled paper and examined one of Tig’s doodles. Sketched in blue ink were a palm tree, a cruise ship, and a hula dancer. “You’re a good drawer, Dr. M.”
    Tig grabbed the page from Macie’s hands, strode to the sink, shoved it down the garbage disposal, and flipped the switch. The disposal made the sickening sound of something shoved beyond its limits. “What else can I put on the list? Help me brainstorm.”
    Macie widened her eyes and said, “Not to be, you know, negative, but you can’t get your job back.”
    Tig said, “C’mon, what else?”
    “You could go to Hawaii. It’s not just his