“So what’s going on with The Crush, Trace?”

“Oh that,” I replied, as I pulled a rumpled denim shirt from my suitcase.

“Yeah, that.” His voice was tinny, as I had him on speaker. It was New Year’s Eve and Zeke had called to check in. He and Boomer were visiting his family in Oregon and I was in NYC unpacking from my California Hometown Holiday trip. “You seemed so into it. And then we never heard about him again.”

“I found out he was seeing someone.” I smelled the armpit of the shirt. Had I worn this? I couldn’t remember.

“Ah, sorry kid.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.” I tossed the shirt into the laundry, just to be safe. I reached for a pair of pants. “Awhile back I saw him at a dinner party and there was this vegetable platter and he literally rummaged through the entire pile before he made his choice. Like, he manhandled every broccoli floret. It kind of grossed me out.” I hung the pants in the closet. They were clean.

Zeke chuckled. “Well, good riddance on that then. Didn’t you have Date Number Two a few weeks ago?”

“I did.” I unfolded the journal my cousin had given me for Christmas from it’s nest in a pair of pajamas at the bottom of my luggage.

“Are you going to write about it?’

I made a quick note to add the journal to my Thank You card list and then placed it by my bedside. “I don’t think so. There’s not much to tell.”

“Not a love connection?”

“Not at all.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not going to tell you because then I’d have to write about it and it would make me seem shallow.”

“Ha! Okay.”

“What are you doing tonight?” I asked, as I shooed The Cat from out of my suitcase.

I heard him click Boomer’s collar to his leash. “Well, Boomer and I are heading out for our nightly walk and then we’re just going to hang out with the family.”

“That sounds nice.”

I heard a door open and then his voice echoed off the nearby house as he moved outside. “So you’re really not going to go out tonight? It’s New Year’s Eve and you’re in New York City!”

“No, no I’m not.”

“Why?”

“I had some bad drunken nights at home so I’m staying in. I kind of just want to chill out for a while.” I moved to the computer and pulled up Pandora. I clicked on my ‘Girls Brunch’ station.

“Well, our hometown will do that.”

“Yeah,” I said.

“So, if you’re not going to write about your date and you have nothing going on for New Year’s, what are you going to post this week?”

“I don’t know.”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to put something up on the 2nd?”

“I did.”

“Well, then what are you going to write about?”

“I don’t know, Zeke,” I said. “Maybe I’ll just write about this.” I opened the kitchen cabinet to get a can of cat-food as she was still too preoccupied with my suitcase.

“This?” He sounded surprised. “But this isn’t that interesting.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “But sometimes life isn’t that interesting.”

Image – My Hometown Sunset at Christmas.