Catch Me When I Fall

Hollow Threats

Closing the door of her vehicle, Karla sat for a moment to decompress after her shift; her forehead on the steering wheel, her eyes closed. Hearing her phone vibrate, she took a moment before looking at the screen. She had asked Ricky if he needed anything from the store before she left for the day. His message reply was a single word, 'No.' That was good enough for her; she held down the clutch before starting her truck to leave the parking lot.

Reflecting on the day on her drive home, Karla wondered if she had been too selective with her hiring candidates. Of the four interviewees, she scheduled only one for a follow-up interview with the Store Manager. She shook her head. Though the Store Manager had the final say, it was she who would have to deal with the new hires to get them settled into their respective areas. Thankfully, the transfers would be her only interviews tomorrow, if one could call it that. They already had the job; it was just a matter of being a good fit for the store and whether they would actually want to transfer after seeing first-hand the chaos that ensues on a daily basis.

Pulling into the driveway of her house, she was thankful to finally be home. Forcing the door to her pickup closed, she made a mental note to get the latch fixed. She had been thinking about getting it done for some time, but hasn't had the time or money. Already pouring any extra money into getting Ricky's car fixed so he can no longer have an excuse not to get out of the house and work. She already dropped two thousand dollars to buy the car initially, warning him about the small coolant leak and to keep an eye on the coolant levels. It wasn't a severe leak, and it was only leaking out of a broken weld in the radiator itself, and not into the oil as she feared. Easy enough to keep an eye on until she could drop a few hundred dollars on a new radiator and what it would cost for a shop to replace it. But on one unfortunate day, she got a call from Ricky just a few minutes after she clocked in for work, saying that his car had broken down on his way home. It had overheated, not even a mile from home. Now, instead of just a new radiator, there was also some damage to the engine itself. The owner of the shop they brought it to was an old flame of hers from high school, not that she would tell Ricky that. He recommended taking a motor and transmission from a donor car to replace those in Ricky's car, as the body of his car was still in good shape. He offered this at a discount, and within Karla's meager budget, but on the understanding that it would not be a top-priority project for the shop. Making a monthly payment based on the estimate the mechanic had given her. It wouldn't be much longer that he would be without a vehicle, as she had made the last payment two months ago.

Walking up the driveway, she noticed that her flowerbeds were wilted from the hot sun, and the weeds around the house were, in fact, not whacked. Karla clenched her jaw but swallowed her frustration as she set her things down to water the plants before going inside. "Ricky," she called out, closing the door behind her, kicking her sneakers off on the doormat.

"Yeah?" Karla hadn't noticed he was lying on the couch when she walked in.

Karla looked over the back of the couch. Ricky was lying on his back, his phone held above him as he scrolled. "How was your day?"

Ricky shrugged, "It was fine." He never asked how her day was anymore. "You get my cola?" He looked up at her.

Her face went ashen, her shoulders dropped, "I'm so sorry, I forgot."

"Seriously? I asked you to do one thing for me. Is that so much to ask from you?" He sat up to give Karla a look of impatience and irritability.

"I asked you to remind me, and when I asked if you needed anything from the store, you said no."

"You just don't care about me enough to remember anything I say," Ricky rolled his eyes at her. "You do this all the time."

"I-I'm sorry. I can run back to the store; it's not a big deal."

"God, don't bother. If you care, you should remember, I shouldn't have to remind you when I need something." He stood up to walk away from her.

"I told you this morning I had a full day today. I asked you to remind me, so I wouldn't forget, because I was going to have so much on my mind today," Karla said, exasperated, starting to follow him.

"Oh, but I wasn't important enough for you to keep in mind? Typical of you to forget all about me and put work first."

"You are important, I'm sorry I forgot. I'm just tired, and I wanted to come home."

"You're always tired, you can't keep using that as an excuse if you don't do anything to change. Maybe I should just kill myself." He went into their bedroom, slamming the door in Karla's face, locking it behind him before she could reach for the doorknob.

"Ricky, come on," Karla tried to turn the doorknob; it wasn't budging. She had half a mind to break the door down with her fists. "You said you were going to weed-whack and water the plants for me, but when I walked through that f*****g door, was I all over your ass because you probably 'forgot'?"

"See? I'm just useless, you should just leave me. You'll probably find a better man at another meeting when you go out of town," he didn't sound the least bit remorseful, and didn't acknowledge that he hadn't done what he said he was going to.

"Would you stop throwing a tantrum?" Silence came from the other side of the door as Karla waited for a response from Ricky. Silently, she made some angry gestures towards the door before storming back into the living room, "I'll be back, Ricky," she grabbed her purse, huffing as she walked out the door. Though she was mad, she didn't slam doors; she tried not to yell angrily or even raise her voice unless it was to talk through the door at the pitiful man pouting on the other side. Lest he accuses Karla of yelling at him and being "aggressive."

Jamming the key into the ignition, her truck started after only one turn of the key, the engine still being warm from running not that long ago when she got home. Pulling onto the dirt road, she was still seething with anger and frustration. Why were such little things a cause for implosion? It was the littlest things that seemed to set him off without warning. Her grip tightened on the steering wheel as she waited to merge onto the highway.

Tears stinging the corners of her eyes, Karla tried to keep her emotions in check to put on a front when she returned to the store for a measly $5 six-pack of cola that just could not wait another 24 hours. Heaven forbid he drank water, juice, milk, or any of the many options he had to choose from that didn't require driving another 10 miles back into town.