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

Hawaii, you know. You don’t have to stay here.”
    Tig scowled. “Don’t be ridiculous. That idea has ‘pathetic’ written all over it. ‘Pathetic’ and ‘stalker.’”
    “When my cousin got dumped, she took a pole dancing class. It’s all about empowerment. Building strength.”
    Tig frowned. “I don’t want a fad. I want a future. Besides, stripper classes are the scrapbooking of the new millennium. It’s just a Band-Aid.”
    “Only with better abs. Dr. M, you’ve got a lot of mascara on your face.”
    “Stay focused! We only have one thing on the list.” Tig looked at the ceiling, then wrote,
#2: Get a different job
. “What other job could I do?” As Macie wet a paper towel, took Tig by the chin, and wiped at her cheeks, Tig said, “I hear Starbucks has great bennies.” She pushed Macie’s hands away and wrote
a. Starbucks
,
b. Pottery Barn
, and
c. Ann Taylor
under the
#2
.
    “I’m not a therapist, like you, Dr. M, but I think maybe you should take a break from work.”
    “That would kill me. All I would do is think about Pete and my mother.”
    “Well, that might be okay. Don’t you tell people to reflect a little to get better?”
    “I don’t need to get better. Better than what? I’m good. Pete’s the one who needs to get better. What kind of person does this?” Tig gestured around the room as if displaying the obvious. As if the broken pieces of their relationship could be seen scattered around the room.
    “So what exactly happened? I thought you didn’t want to go with him, but now you do?”
    “I wanted to tell him that I needed more time but then
he
told
me
I needed more time and that he . . . .” Tig paused, because really this was the hardest thing to stomach and the thing that was clearly at the root of her emotions. “He wasn’t that excited about me.”
    “Oh,” Macie said, like the “Oh” had been caught in her throat and she’d been slapped on the back.
    Tig wrote on her list,
#3: Quilt
.
    “Do you quilt, Dr. M?”
    “No, but I could. I’m artistic, deliberate.”
    Macie nodded. “On my days off, I like to stare at the ceiling. You can’t believe the great ideas I come up with. I designed this tattoo during one of those sessions.” Macie rolled up her sleeve and showed Tig a string of ivy with the word
love
written in every leaf.
    Tig added a
#4
to her list, then froze; her body sagged, and a heavy tear dropped onto
Ann Taylor
, smearing the
lor
. Macie put her arm around Tig's shoulders, and Thatcher trotted over and put her head in Tig’s lap.
    “I didn’t know Pete was capable of this. We talked about getting married in Hawaii.”
    “You were engaged?”
    “Sort of. I mean, I agreed with Pete when he talked about a beach wedding. Puka shell rings. I chalk it up to last-ditch spontaneity, magical thinking, and reality television.”
    Macie sat back, bit a dark purple nail.
    Tig took a deep raking breath as if inhaling over an old-time washboard. “I’m sorry, Macie. I bet you never knew I was such a mess.”
    “Um. I just didn’t know very much about you, I guess.” She gave her head a little shake and said, “It doesn’t matter. You’re not a mess, Dr. M. Why not just rest? You don’t need a plan.”
    “I’ve been getting up for school or work or both for the last twenty years. Lying in bed without a plan is as luxurious to me as sitting in quicksand.” She looked down at the palm of her hand, and saw nothing but an open schedule and a long lifeline.
    Macie let her cry and then said, “Okay, Dr. M. Let’s drink this water and put you to bed.”
    “No, I have to go in and see my mom.”
    “Not tonight, Dr. M.” Macie steered her into the bedroom by one arm, where she dragged a folder off the bed and knocked a faded blue shoebox onto the floor. The loose top fell open and yellowed envelopes spilled onto the carpet. Tig scooped up the letters and box and sat on top of the gray quilted bedspread. She fingered the corner of an envelope,