You can always tell when I’m PMSing because I get a bit of Tourette’s and start swearing at things that really don’t deserve it. Normally my phone ringing while I’m in the middle of doing some dishes is a welcome relief. But today it causes a row of curses to spew out of my mouth. Bubbles fly everywhere as I shake off my hands and reach for my phone.

“Hello.” I don’t even try to sound pleasant.

“Did I call at a bad time?”

A large sigh escapes me and I wipe my forehead with my still damp hand. “What’s up, Justin.”

“I was just wondering what you’re doing right now.”

“Cleaning.”

“You don’t clean,” he says with a laugh and I roll my eyes.

“My mom’s coming over so I thought I should have my apartment somewhat presentable.”

“Oh. Nevermind then.”

He sounds rejected. “What?”

“No, I was going to see if you wanted to come over.”

“Not tonight.”

“Okay.”

“Are you that bored?”

“No.” I hear him move around and groan a bit. “I just got in a fight with Janice and I wanted to talk to someone about it.”

My eyebrows rise. “I don’t think I’m the one you should be talking to about problems with your girlfriend. Where’s Trace?”

Justin sighs. “He says the same thing over and over.”

“I’d probably have nothing new to add.” Seriously, where does Justin come from that he thinks it would be appropriate to talk about his love problems with his ex girlfriend? Especially an ex girlfriend who is hated by his current girlfriend? He’s got a screw loose.

“Okay,” I say after a minute of silence. “So good luck with that.”

“Oh. Yeah. Do you want to come over after your mom’s gone?”

“She’ll be here late so no.”

“Alright. What if-”

“Call Trace or your mom or something,” I say, interrupting him. Sometimes he gets so needy and it drives me nuts. “I have to go.”

“Yeah, okay. Say hi to your mom for me.”

“I will. Bye.” I hang up the phone and breath out a curse. On a good day I don’t have a lot of patience to listen to people and their love problems. Today, the thought of gouging out my eyes with a spoon is more appealing than listening to Justin bellyache about his roller coaster of a relationship with Janice.

Justin’s call takes up the rest of my cleaning time and before I can go back to the dishes, there’s a knock on my front door. I abandon the dirty dishes and go to get the door.

“Sweetie, the lock on the front of your building is broken,” my mom says as she steps into my apartment and gives me a hug.

I squeeze my arms tight around her. “I know. I called last week but no one’s come to fix it yet.”

It would be the perfect opportunity for my mom to lecture me on how ghetto this building is and the lack of safety of the neighborhood but she knows it would just be a waste of her breath. “Call again tomorrow,” she simply says, dropping her arms from around me and giving me a kiss before coming all the way into my apartment.

I close and lock the door behind her. “Is dad working tonight?” I ask, wandering behind her to the kitchen.

“He’s at the Laker’s game with Stan Mackenzie.” Her eyes flicker around my tiny kitchen. “Were you doing dishes?”

“I was trying to but then Justin called wanting to bitch about him and Janice and I got distracted. He says hi by the way.”

My mom slips her rings from her finger, sets them to the side and then dips her hands into the soapy water. I don’t even bother telling her she doesn’t need to finish them for me because I know she would just wave me off. My mom’s one of those crazy people who actually enjoys cleaning. “Are he and Janice having trouble?”

I shrug. “I don’t really know,” I say, grabbing a towel so I can start drying the dishes. “I can’t handle listening to all the issues they have so I told him to call his mom or Trace. I don’t have all night to sit and listen to him whine.”

“Well at least he considers you a good enough friend that he can confide in you about things like that.”

I dry off a plate and set it to the side. “And normally I’d be flattered but…what exactly am I supposed to say? I don’t like Janice and I don’t particularly like Justin when he’s around her. So why would he call someone who doesn’t even like his girlfriend to talk about relationship problems. Shouldn’t he just assume that I’d tell him to break up with her?”

My mom’s quiet for a moment before giving me a look. “Maybe that’s why he’s calling you. Maybe he wants that advice.”

I hadn’t considered that and I let her words go over in my mind a few times as I ran my towel inside a glass. “Trace tells him that all the time. Anything I tell him will be the same shit Trace is constantly telling him.”

“Maybe it means something different coming from you.”

I don’t like the thought of that. “It shouldn’t.”

“But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t.”

I roll my eyes and lean back against the counter. “I just don’t think it’s appropriate for me to give him advice for his relationship with Janice,” I say, taking the last plate dish from my mom to dry off. She pulls the plug to let the water drain and dries off her hands.

“Maybe not.” She helps me put my dishes back in the cupboards and then goes to my small table and sits down. “Is Wes working tonight?”

I can’t help but roll my eyes again. “When isn’t he?” I return. I give Horace a nudge with my foot to move him out of the way and then drop into the chair across from her. “There’s some important client.”

“There’s always an important client, Sweetie.”

“I’m beginning to get that.” I push my chair onto the back two legs and prop my feet onto the edge of the table. “How have you not strangled Dad by now?”

She laughs. “He grew out of his workaholic nature. Every lawyer has it in them though.”

“But you know when I was little, I don’t remember Dad being out at meetings every single night.”

“It takes a lot of work, Laina,” she says with a small shrug. “It’s not always easy.”

I rub the heels of my palms into my forehead. “I don’t think I have the patience for this.”

“Are you and Wes having problems?”

“Not like…overt problems. I’m just getting so tired of dealing with him being at work all the time. Even when I finally get him to myself he’s still thinking about work. I can tell.”

My mom regards me for a minute before speaking. “Is Wes right for you?”

I get my upfront personality from my mom but when she pulls it out on me it still has the ability to stop me for a second. I stare at her for a brief moment before looking down at Horace. “Wes is…He’s just Wes.”

“Are you happier with him than you’ve been with any other guy you’ve ever dated?”

I only have to pause briefly. “No.”

She nods and doesn’t have to say anything else. She’s proven her point very easily and now it’s going to be stuck in the back of my mind for a very long time.

It’s quiet for a moment before I groan and drop my head back. “Ugh, why do you do that, Mom?”

She laughs slightly. “Do what?”

“Now I feel like I’m in a dead end relationship.”

“Oh I never said that,” she says with a bit of scolding in her voice. “Just because you aren’t completely happy right now doesn’t mean that you won’t be. It’s just going to take some effort on both your parts.”

“Everything in my life takes effort. Do I really want this one extra thing to deal with?”

“Well is it worth it?”

I haven’t seen Wes for five days and only talked to him on the phone once in those five days. I don’t even know anymore. “I don’t know at this point.” My eyes connect with hers again and I silently ask her what I should do.

“You know I like Wes, Laina. I think he’s a great guy.”

“But not for me?”

“I never said that.” She laughs slightly like she always does when I get myself worked up. “I didn’t mean to cast all this doubt in your mind.”

I drop my chair back to all four legs and get up. “Let’s just talk about something else.”

My mom won’t press a topic if I don’t want to talk about it so she asks me about work and I’m able to temporarily forget about these sudden uncertainties about Wes and my relationship. In fact, I don’t have to think of it at all until midnight when Wes decides to stop by unannounced for a visit. My mom had left twenty minutes before and I had just changed into my pajamas and brushed my teeth when he knocks on my door.

“Hey,” I say, more than a little surprised when I see him. “What are you doing here?”

He steps into my apartment and kicks off his shoes. His tie is loosened around his neck and shirt looks crumpled. His normally perfectly combed hair is wildly out of control and looks like he’s been running his fingers through it all night. He looks more undone than I can ever recall seeing him.

“I just wanted to see you,” he says, dumping all his things on the floor by his shoes. “I know it’s late and I should have called but I didn’t.”

“It’s okay. I was just about to go to bed though.”

He nods and loosens his tie even more. “I’m so tired I feel like I’m going to pass out.”

I guess that means he’s staying over so I turn and go to my bedroom. He enters behind me and strips down to his boxers before joining me in bed. I sigh a bit as his arms go around me and he pulls me against him.

“It feels like so long since I’ve seen you,” he mumbles into my hair.

“That’s because you’re always at work,” I reply, nuzzling my face into his chest. I really enjoy having someone to snuggle up to in bed at night and it feels like forever since I’ve last had that. “Maybe if you would take a break once in a while you’d see me more.”

He squeezes my side as if to gently admonish me. “You know I can’t do that.”

I sigh and pull back so I can turn onto my side facing away from him. My mom is right that Wes and I need to work on our relationship but how exactly are we supposed to do that when Wes is under the impression that he can’t ever NOT be working? “Nevermind then.”

“Laina…” There’s shuffling and then he presses up against me. “You have to understand that I can’t just take two hour lunch breaks or blow off work and leave halfway through the day. I’ll never move up if I do that.”

“Why do you need to move up? What’s wrong with just being an associate?”

“Because I don’t want to be an associate. I want to be partner. And that involves working a lot more than other people.” His arm moves around my stomach. “Come on, Laina. Your dad’s a lawyer. This shouldn’t be new to you.”

“My dad never worked like you do,” I mumble. “He wasn’t completely obsessed with making partner.”

He kisses my shoulder. “I’m not obsessed. But it’s important to me and you knew that when you first met me. Why is this suddenly such a big deal?”

I don’t respond because there’s no arguing with him. He has issues seeing things from other people’s perspectives, especially when it involves his career. I’m already tired and I’m not going to waste my breath having a one sided discussion with him.

“Laina?”

“I’m tired, Wes,” I finally say, hoping he’ll leave it at that. It’s too late for this.

My prayers are answered when he only lets out a sigh and then pulls away so he can settle into bed. Within minutes he’s asleep, leaving me in my thoughts. And now in the quiet all I can think about is the discussion I had with my mom and the one I just had with Wes.

Relationships are just not supposed to be this frustrating.