They both thought that today was going to be 'just another day at the office'. Jamie sat behind the wheel as usual, his partner Eddie sitting beside him. Except there was something off about today. None of them said a word to each other. He took one look at her, her face clearly showing discomfort. He found the silence unbearable and he could tell that she did too. He wanted to talk , but only silence escaped as he opened his mouth. It was as if his mouth was completely disconnected from his brain.
She took one look at him as he turned his attention back to the road. His face turned beet red, as if the frustration was about to explode like a bomb inside him. She opened her mouth to speak, but had no words to say. It was as if her brain was completely switched off. His right hand lay on the edge of his seat while his left stayed firmly on the steering wheel. Oh how she longed to hold his free hand in her own, but her arms went limp at the thought of it. She felt as if she was a vegetable.
Jamie tried to focus on the license plate on the car in front of them, but he kept going back to the incident. Finally he broke the unbearable silence.
'Are we ever going to talk about it?' He asked. 'Cause I would really like to talk about it.'
'Yeah me too.' She replied.
'You keep saying that but we've never talked about it. It's been a month. Why haven't you answered any of my calls or texts? What's going on?'
'Nothing I've just been really busy that's all.'
'Busy with what?'
Eddie's eyes filled with tears was she thought of ways to avoid telling him the truth. But she wasn't crying cause she was scared of telling him, she was crying because she was scared of not telling him. Half of her wanted to tell him the truth, but the other half of her didn't and she couldn't decide whether she should tell him the truth or not. She was confused and angry all at the same time.
He couldn't understand why his partner was crying and it frustrated him.
'Come on Eddie. Let's just talk about it.'
'Fine. I've been avoiding you because I've been busy getting help from my sister.'
Jamie sat quietly. Eddie mustered up all her energy and told him what was going on.
'Oh.' He said. His face had gone from beet red to pale white in a heartbeat. He looked as if he hadn't been out in the sun for a while.
'You and my sister are the only ones who know so far.'
'Oh gees.' Jamie was still recovering from the shock of his life. Eddie couldn't tell what he was feeling. It was as if she were staring at a robot and not her partner.
'So. What do we do now?'