Summer of Natalie XIIII

I woke around 4am to Karen snoring straight into my face, I was quite hungover and thought for a split second about putting a pillow over her face.  I laid there for what felt like an eternity before I was able to get out of bed, grab the Advil and head to the washroom for water.  I thought about throwing up but didn't have the strength and remembered I just swallowed my pills so I went back to crawl into bed.  My phone was lit up like a christmas tree and it made my brain hurt to even look at the light but I wanted to read the messages in case it was from Dan or my son.

There was a few texts about work, family and the standard 'have fun on your trip', and two from John.   "Hey Irish how's New york?" and "I think we have cell coverage here".  Ok, so how I wanted to feel was a little different than how I actually felt and I wanted to turn off my phone and pretend I never seen it instead of texting back "that's great, how is training?".  What is wrong with me?  Even I was annoyed that I couldn't just get control of myself when it came to the cop.  He made me feel excited and I was happy he had coverage, to be honest I felt a little upset when I thought we wouldn't have contact for a few days.  I knew I needed distance from him to sort through my emotions but that was not going to happen today and probably not tomorrow either.  Karen rolled over and looked annoyed at me for texting and because the light on my phone was too bright.  I really didn't care and if my phone had a brighter setting I would have used it to piss her off, the only reason I was even up is because of her.  I vaguely remember smoking cigars in Times Square and practicing our best  New York accents, I'm fairly certain it was highly offensive.

I could hardly wait to get a coffee and stroll through Central Park.  Karen and Joann were trying to figure out what they wanted to see today...there was no way I was site seeing again.  I've seen the Statue of Liberty more times than any other tourist and had no desire to keep that streak going.  When we finally sat down to eat breakfast I took the opportunity and told them to spend the day site seeing and shopping and taking in the city.  I'm an awful person, I wanted them gone for the day so I could spend my time talking with John in may favourite city...but I wasn't going to tell them that.  If I told myself enough times that it was all harmless would I finally start to believe it?