Crossroads (Emily)

She was crying.

She was staring at a McDonald’s McRib billboard, stopped at a stoplight, she had tears streaming down her face.

The tears had nothing to do with the McRib, and everything to with the foreclosure notice sitting there on the passenger side. She hadn’t told Eddie yet.

Two more turns and she’d be home. Ten more minutes at the most.

What would she tell him? It wouldn’t matter really. It would all be her fault anyway.

She brushed a tear away and absently brushed her brown hair out of her eyes. She was tired. Bone tired, her mom would say. She had just finished her shift at the all night diner, now she had to squeeze in a couple hours of sleep before going to her classes at the small community college.

One turn, five more minutes.

What would she tell him?

He was going to be furious.

Last turn, the driveway.

She turned the car off, grabbed most of her tips and shoved them in her bra. Eddie wouldn’t look there. It had been a good night, better than usual, and she wanted to hide her hard earned earnings away.

She opened the door. She could already hear him snoring. She held the envelope in her hand. What would she tell him?

He was passed out on the sofa, the empty beer bottles scattered around him like bowling pins. Some up, some down. Eddie had never been good at bowling.

She glanced at the kitchen, at the dishes piled in the sink, the trash overflowing. The empty take- out boxes littering the counters and spilling onto the floor.

She was disgusted.

She glanced at Eddie again. Snoring so peacefully on the sofa, not a care in the world.

What would she tell him?

Emily walked down the hall. Without even thinking, she grabbed her suitcase. She packed a few changes of clothes, threw in her toiletries. Grabbed what little pictures and momentoes she had, tossed them in too.

Then, carrying, not rolling, the suitcase, she didn’t want to wake up Sleeping Beauty, she walked back down the hall.

What would she tell him?

She opened the envelope, threw the notice on his belly, and walked out the door.