Dirty Laundry

    Charleigh glanced up at the clock and realized she had fifteen minutes to run to the bus stop. The buses in Park Slope, a section of Brooklyn that Charleigh adored, came every 20 minutes. If she missed the 7:40 am bus, she would miss her 9:00 am dreaded yearly review meeting with her manager. Charleigh had worked for Charlotte for three years. Charlotte was 10 years younger and 25 pounds lighter than Charleigh. Charlotte had a way of making Charleigh feel older beyond her years. “You just love that chocolate, don’t you Charleigh?” Charlotte would sometimes say as she slithered past Charleigh’s cubicle. “Just go away, you skinny brat!” Charleigh whispered under her breath. Charleigh had been the number one digital advertising salesperson for the past three years and this year was proving to be no different. Doing things like raising Charleigh’s revenue goals 50% higher than the previous year, made it evident that Charleigh was not Charlotte’s favorite person. It seemed that Charlotte was trying her hardest to make Charleigh crack under the pressure.

  “Goodness gracious! Where are those white pants?” Charleigh said out loud to herself in her one bedroom, one bath, 600 sq ft railroad style apartment. Running to the dryer, she quickly opened the door but her heart fell when she realized that she hadn’t turned it on! Already dressed in her red sweater and jean jacket, she really needed those white pants. Now what? she thought as she held the damp straight ankle blue stitched pants up to see how wrinkled they were. Not too bad. She thought as she quickly moved to the bathroom. She grabbed her hairdryer and began blowing the hot air on the pants, focusing on the waist band and crotch area. “I have to wear these pants!” she said to Gracie her cat, as the feline rubbed her gray hair against Charleigh’s ankle. Glancing in the mirror, Charleigh realized that she hadn’t yet applied her make up. That’s the last thing I need is to meet with Charlotte without any makeup on! And my hair is so stacticy today she thought as she pulled her blonde hair into a ponytail.   

  Putting the hairdryer down and shoving herself in the still damp pants, she then slipped her brown low ankle Kate Spade booties on. She grabbed her makeup bag, threw it into her Michael Kors tote, blew a kiss to Gracie, locked the front door and ran to the bus stop just in time to watch it pull away! Her eyes began to well with tears as she pulled her phone out of her tote to call Thelma, Charlotte’s assistant. Thelma and Charleigh had spoken enough for Charleigh to know that Thelma didn’t like Charlotte much more than Charleigh did. 

  “Charlotte Smith’s office. May I help you?” Thelma said in her thick New York accent. “Hey Thelma, it’s me, Charleigh. I have a meeting with you know who at 9:00 am and I just missed the bus!” “Oh man, I feel your pain.” Thelma responded. “I was late last Tuesday and she about bit my head off! My advice is for you to call an Uber and get here on time.” “Good idea Thelma. Thanks. Hope to see you in a few.” 

    Moments after Charleigh used the Lyft app to call for a ride, a message popped up on her phone. ‘Your driver Muhammed is 1.5 miles away and will arrive in seven minutes. Muhammed is driving a 2018 black Toyota Camry.’ Standing on the corner of 5^th and Flatbush Avenues, Charleigh thought “How did I get here?” as she shivered in her still damp pants. Thinking about her parent’s house in Murrysville, PA, where her mother always made sure that Charleigh’s laundry was clean and neatly folded on her bed, she was still happy to be living this new life.

   “Hey lady, did you call for a ride?” Muhammed shouted above the city noise. Charleigh hadn’t noticed the black Camry pull up next to the sidewalk where she was standing. “Oh yes, I’m sorry.” Charleigh said as she threw her bag onto the leather back seat and sat next to it only to smell the same air freshener that every Uber driver seemed to use. What’s with that smell? she thought to herself. 

  “New York Time’s building, right?” Muhammed asked in a distinct Indian accent. “Yes.” Charleigh answered groping in her tote for her makeup bag. I at least need to get some mascara on Charleigh thought opening the tube of mascara. “Hold on!” Muhammed shouted as a scooter flew in front of the Camry causing him to slam on the brakes. “Darn kids these days!” Muhammed muttered. Charleigh looked down at her white pants and saw the ugly smudge of mascara on her pants. “Oh no! Quick, get me to a dry cleaner!” “A dry cleaner, I didn’t think you were doing laundry, I thought I was taking you to the New York Time’s building. You know, where the newspaper is dying.” “Your lousy driving just made a mess of my pants!” Charleigh shouted. “Sorry lady, I saved us from an accident! Would you rather have clean pants or maybe broken bones?” “There’s a dry cleaner a block from the Time’s building, please bring me there.” Charleigh said thinking There’s a dry cleaner on every block of this city. How many dirty clothes can these people produce?

    “Thanks, have a great day.” Charleigh said, slamming the door of the Camry. Running into the dry cleaning store, she was upset to see that she was the fourth person in line. Oh man, what am I going to do now? she thought. Tapping her Apple watch to see the time, she realized she would never make her 9:00 am meeting. 

     Ignoring the people ahead of her, Charleigh shouted at the woman behind the counter. “Excuse me, I have an emergency!” “I call 911!” the worker shouted back. “No! Not that kind of an emergency.!” “Who do you think you are, barging in here like this?” said a man turning towards Charleigh shocked to see who she was and embarrassed by how sharply he had spoken to her. “Charleigh?” Charleigh gasped. “Dominic? Um, how are you?” Charleigh stammered. “I’m okay. You?” “Not so good right now.” Charleigh responded as she glanced down. “Here, go ahead of me.” Dominic offered.

   “Lady, I have spot cleaner. You come here.” The worker motioned Charleigh around the counter. Three minutes later, after a few sprays of cleaner and blotting her pants, Charleigh turned to Dominic. “Thanks Dom.” “Anytime, he said as he put his dress shirts on the counter. “Gotta run.” Charleigh said walking away. “Take care.” Dominic replied. Charleigh didn’t look back as she ran to the Time’s building, but couldn’t help thinking about how handsome he had always been to her. She loved the combination of his black hair and hazel eyes.  

    At his desk later that day, Dominic sat back in his large leather chair and couldn’t get Charleigh’s blue eyes out of his head. What a jerk I was, he thought. “I wonder if she would answer if I call her. I wonder if she has the same number?” he said quietly. “Are you talking to me?” Nancy, his admin assistant asked when he picked the phone up. “No, sorry. Just thinking out loud.”  “The dryer cleaner called earlier and said your laundry is ready.” Nancy said as she grabbed her jacket.

    Dominic handed the ticket to the cashier to Woo’s Laundry. “You pick up already.” “What? I didn’t pick my clothes up. I just dropped them off this morning.” “Your lady was here five minutes ago and she pick them up.” “Why would you give someone else my clothes?” “She say you sick and she your sister.” “What did she look like? Do you know her name?” The cashier looked through the signed receipts and said, “Her name Karlee.” “Karlee? You gave my clothes to a stranger?” “She say you sick! Are you better now?”  “This is crazy. I want to speak to the manager.” “I am manager. Go call your sister, she have your clothes.” 

    Dominic threw his hands in the air and walked through the door onto the crowded sidewalk. “Karlee? Karlee? I don’t know a Karlee.” He said as if there was someone listening to him. “Charleigh!” He yelled. “Seriously? No way!” He smiled as he saw her picture pop up when he pressed her number on his cell phone. Those eyes. “Hi, it’s Charleigh. Leave me a message!” he heard.  “Hey Charleigh, this seems unreal, and I understand if you don’t want to call me, but I need to ask you something.”

   As Dominic put his head on the pillow at 1:00 am the next morning, he wondered if she would return his call. Struggling to sleep, the last time he remembered looking at the clock was at 4:00 am. At 5:30 am, the train sound that he had set to go off when a text message arrived sounded. Who’s texting me at 5:30?  ‘Hey Dom. What’s up?’ was the message under Charleigh’s name.  ‘So, this is out of the blue, but did you happen to pick my laundry up yesterday?’ he texted. ‘Yep! Sure did. But then I second guessed myself and I threw it in the dumpster next to the Lucky Garden Chinese restaurant.’ Dominic read the text twice. She had to be kidding.  ‘You did what? You threw my laundry away?’ ‘Yeah, so I thought about the last time I did your laundry, and what I found on it, and got sick to my stomach. Guess I went kind of crazy, huh?’ Dominic laid his phone next to him on the bed and wondered what his next move should be. He knew he deserved nothing less than to have his laundry thrown into a dumpster. 

    Later that day, with heavy eyes and a headache, he picked his phone up, found Charleigh number and tapped on it. “Hello?” she answered.  “Hi Charleigh. How are you?” “Great! How are you doing?” she answered nervously. “I’m okay.” Dominic replied. “So, I thought about the clothes thing, and I’m really sorry. I was having an off day.” Charleigh said, trying to sound kinder than she felt.  “An off day? You threw five Banana Republic shirts away. But in the big picture, it doesn’t matter. I’ve been wanting to call you for weeks.” “And why haven’t you?” Charleigh asked.   “Because you told me to never call you again.” “Dom, I was so angry when I saw that makeup on your shirt, what was I supposed to do?” “Char, you had every right to be angry, but we never finished our conversation.  You wouldn’t let me back inside, and you wouldn’t take my calls.” “Okay Dom, so finish the conversation.” “Do you remember Courtney?” Dom said tentatively. “Unfortunately, I remember Courtney too well. I remember she’s the one that wouldn’t talk to me at your mother’s funeral.” “Please listen. I’m coming clean Charleigh. Courtney and I never had a thing, but I did hug her once or twice when was in tears over her breakup with Marcus.” Charleigh could feel her blood pressure rise and her eyes began to fill with tears. “And that’s supposed to be okay?” “No, it’s not okay and it should have never happened. But I promise you, it never went further than a hug. Charleigh, are you there? Can you hear me? Char?” Dominic said even though he knew the call was disconnected. 

   “Charleigh, these are for you.” Thelma said holding a vase with a dozen red roses in it. Rolling her eyes, Charleigh took the vase and said “Thanks.” “Who are they from? Or is it none of my business?” Thelma said with a hopeful smile.  Maybe there’s a light at the end of this tunnel she’s been in Thelma hoped. Charleigh had shared a few of the ugly details with Thelma after she broke it off with Dominic.  “Let’s see.” Charleigh said as she opened the card. Charleigh, I miss you. Love, Dom   Charleigh felt like the room was spinning. “What do you think?” Charleigh said, handing the card to Thelma. “Should I just ignore him?” “That’s a tough one considering the way he treated you.” Thelma responded.

    Charleigh typed Banana Republic into her browser and ordered five XL men’s shirts. Since she didn’t know where Dom was living, she used his work address for the delivery address. As she was checking out, she clicked on the Yes box to answer the question, Is this a gift? The next page stated Please write a message to the recipient in this box. ‘Dom, I hope these fit. Charleigh’ Hmmmm, she thought, should I write Love Charleigh?  Not a good idea was her final thought as she clicked the Submit Order box.

    Later that day, Charleigh read a text from Dominic. ‘It’s Friday and that means it’s pizza time! Do you want to meet me at Fratelli’s or do you want me to grab a pie and bring it over?’ She swallowed hard. For the past few years, they always had pizza on Friday night.  Wow, that’s a presumptive sale! Charleigh thought. An hour later, Charleigh texted Dom ‘No pizza for me tonight. But I could go for Sushi.’ He hates Sushi she thought as she pressed send. ‘Sushi sounds great to me!’ he replied. Surprised that he agreed, she texted him and said, ‘See you at 7 at Marikos.’ ‘Can’t wait!’ came the immediate reply from Dominic. Am I crazy or what? Charleigh thought as she saw Charlotte’s name on her desk phone as it was ringing. “Come to my office when you can. We have to go over a few accounts.” Charlotte said after Charleigh said “Yes?” “Charlotte, it’s Friday and I’m trying to wrap things up for the weekend. Can it wait until Monday?” “No Charleigh, if it could wait, I wouldn’t have called you.” This woman is driving me nuts, but I’m not leaving over her Charleigh thought. She couldn’t imagine having a job again where she would have to be stuck in a chair all day. She loved being an outside salesperson that gave her the freedom to pick up dry cleaning or a few groceries during the day if she needed to. 

    Being purposely late, Charleigh stepped into the restaurant at 7:30 pm that evening. She saw Dom on his phone. Some things never change. We’ll see what else hasn’t changed she thought as she walked towards the table. “Hey there,” Dom looked up as he smelled Charleigh’s perfume. “Sorry, work has been crazy lately, he said as he slipped his phone into his pocket. Well that’s different. She thought remembering how it always bothered her about how much he was on his phone. He had always said it was work related, but after the laundry incident, she’d wondered if that was true. 

    “Thanks for meeting me.” Dom said. “You’re welcome.” Charleigh replied thinking about the first few weeks after she kicked him out and how much she had cried. Am I crazy for being here? “I know I have to prove myself. I have to earn your trust. I know I don’t deserve it, but I promise you that I told you the entire truth. I’d give anything to get things back to where we were.”

    “I’ll take a California roll, Miso soup and a salad with Ginger dressing.” Charleigh said to the waitress. “Sir, anything for you?” “I’ll have the same.” was Dom’s response to the waitress. After the waitress walked away, Charleigh looked at Dom, almost as if she was looking through him,  “Yeah Dom, you’re right. You will have to prove yourself.” “Here’s to us.” Dom said raising his glass. Charleigh smiled and said, “We’ll see.”

    “Sofia, I told you to get your soccer shoes and get into the car. Your socks are in the dryer. Daddy’s waiting for you!” Charleigh yelled as eight-year-old Sofia ran down the steps into the garage and climbed into the backseat. “Bye, love you guys.” Charleigh said waving to Dom and Sofia as Dom backed the SUV out of the garage. As she watched Dom drive down the tree lined street and turn the corner, she thought about how terribly wrong their lives could have gone. Today, like every other day since they were engaged, she was so thankful that gave him the chance that he had begged for.

    After she closed the garage door, Charleigh turned around and walked into the laundry room. Four piles of dirty clothes. How do three people dirty so many clothes?