Today's Reading
"That's not why I texted," he said, closing the door behind her. "Lucy's been on her baking stage for two weeks now, and she keeps making me try everything. I feel like I'm on Bake Off." He shut the door and followed Charlotte into the kitchen. "Seriously. I ate one of her snickerdoodles and almost shook her hand."
Charlotte stopped, staring at the several plastic containers of baked goods that sat on the counter. "Did she make dinner rolls?" she asked, pointing at one of them.
"It's pandesal," Gabe said, peering over her shoulder. "Filipino bread roll. She wanted my mom's recipe, but my mom never followed a written recipe in her life, so I just copied one I found online. But she didn't bake anything when she got home from school today."
"Well, that's good, right?" Charlotte glanced in the direction of Lucy's room, lowering her voice. "That means she's on the last stage."
Lucy had broken up with her boyfriend Jake a few months before, ending the long-term relationship after realizing she'd been unhappy in it for a while. Having been friends since kindergarten, Charlotte was well-acquainted with Lucy's post-breakup behaviors. While these behaviors had evolved over the years (Lucy no longer found the need to write letters to the Jonas Brothers in hopes that one of them would be her rebound), Charlotte and Gabe had a pretty clear list of the six stages of Lucy Ortega coping with a breakup.
The Six Stages of Lucy Ortega Coping with a Breakup
by Charlotte Illes (peer reviewed by Gabe Reyes)
1. Listening to music in semidarkness
2. Long, daily bubble baths
3. Watching Anastasia (1997) on repeat
4. Researching trips but never actually following through with them
5. Excessive baking
6. Excessive crocheting
"That's the thing," Gabe said, dropping his voice to a hushed whisper. "She's not crocheting."
Charlotte furrowed her brows. "Are you sure?"
"I checked on her earlier. That's why I texted you. She's just lying on her bed, listening to my breakup playlist."
"Stage One?" That wasn't good. Charlotte couldn't remember a time when Lucy had regressed to an earlier stage, much less all the way back to the first one. Then again, Jake had been her longest relationship, and even though Lucy had been the one to break it off, the loss had still taken its toll on her. Gabe had reported seven total watches of Anastasia, a new record, before Lucy moved on to looking up plane tickets to Rome.
"And the worst part," Gabe continued, "is that I can't hear what songs she's playing, because she's listening with earbuds. My playlist is a spectrum. Is she angry-sad? Nostalgic-sad? Horny-sad?" He grabbed Charlotte's shoulders, shaking her. "I have no idea what her current emotional state is!"
Charlotte grabbed his wrists to stop the shaking. "I'll handle it." She turned on her heel and made her way to Lucy's room, Gabe following close behind.
She knocked gently on the bedroom door. "Hey. It's me."
"Come in," Lucy called from inside.
Charlotte and Gabe peeked into the room. The curtains were closed, with one small lamp on the bedside table bathing the room in a dim yellow glow.
Lucy was lying on her bed with her open laptop on her stomach. She was twenty-five, Latina (Argentinian on her mom's side, Puerto Rican on her dad's), white, with hazel eyes and straight brown hair, which was currently hidden by the hood of a light pink sweatshirt.
"I didn't know you were coming over." She removed an earbud, pointing past them in the direction of the kitchen. "I baked some stuff; please eat it."
"I saw," Charlotte said, trying to hide her concern with enthusiasm as she and Gabe entered the room. She sat on the end of the bed, trying to act casual. "What're you up to?"
"I'm just reading about these Alaska cruises," Lucy said as Gabe threw himself onto the bed. "I was thinking we could go over winter break."
"You hate being cold," Charlotte pointed out.
Gabe mouthed, Stage Four? to Charlotte. Lucy was combining stages. This was uncharted territory.
"Yeah, you're right." The glow from the laptop flashed across Lucy's face as she switched to another tab in her browser. "Italy it is."
Gabe put the loose earbud in his ear as Charlotte cleared her throat.
"Hey, I was thinking," Charlotte said. "Why don't we go out tonight?"
"What?" Gabe asked, incredulous.
Charlotte shot him a glare, then realized, as he quickly removed the earbud like it had shocked him, that he hadn't even been listening to her.
Lucy wrinkled her nose. "I don't know," she said. "I was thinking I might take a bath tonight. Maybe watch Anastasia." She perked up, as if suddenly remembering something. "Hey, what're those triangle cookies that your mom makes?"
This excerpt ends on page 16 of the paperback edition.
Monday we begin the book We Solve Murders by Richard Osman.
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