Chapters - Episode 8 (The One Where Albie Apologizes)

The next day, Meg busied herself with errands and a little shopkeeping.  She wanted to rearrange a few shelves in an effort to make room for some new releases and needed to tidy the used paperback section.  It didn't take long for the mass market paperbacks to get out of order and incorrectly re-shelved by customers.

Dressed in her most comfortable jeans and old navy blue cardigan, she'd thrown her hair in a pony tail and worked diligently on the tasks at hand.  She was completely unprepared for the surprise visit she received from Mrs. Keagan, wife to her creepy neighbor, Dan.

She looked up to see a slight blonde woman tapping on the glass of her shop door.  She climbed down my ladder and smoothed her hair and sweater before answering.

"Hello, there," she said, quietly.  "We haven't met yet but I'm Darlene Keagan.  My husband and I operate the catering business next door."

Meg held out a hand and shook Darlene's limp fingers.  "Nice to meet you."

"I know you're not open right now but I didn't want to bother you during store hours.  I know how busy we all get," she said.  "Here, I wanted to give you these."

Meg nearly laughed out loud when she handed over another basket of muffins.  What the hell was it with these people and their baked goods?

"Wow," Meg said with a mock smile.  "More muffins.  Thank you so much."

Darlene's smile faded slightly.  "More?"

Meg nodded.  "Yes, your husband has been kind enough to stop over with some a couple times already.  These won't be wasted though, I assure you.  They are delicious."

Mentally, she envisioned tossing them into the garbage one-by-one.

"You've spoken with Dan?" she asked, appearing quite confused.

"Yes," Meg said, "he's been here twice, I believe.  Very thoughtful gestures of you both."

"Hmm," was all she said.

"Is there something wrong?" Meg asked.

Darlene Keagan smiled broadly and shook her head.  "No, no, of course not.  I thought Dan had said he'd tried to meet you but you've been too busy during business hours.  I must have heard him wrong, that's all."

She smiled again, more confidently this time.

"Nope," Meg replied, "I'm certain we've met.  Twice actually.  Both times he arrived bearing muffins.  You guys are great bakers.  Would you like to come in?  I can make some tea if you'd like..."

"No, thank you, but I can't.  I really need to get back.  We're working on food for an anniversary dinner and I can't be gone too long.  It really was nice to meet you though, Megan."

"Oh, you can call me Meg.  It was nice to meet you, too, Darlene."

But by then, Darlene Keagan had already turned to leave.

Meg tossed the muffin basket onto the counter and took a seat.  Feeling hungry, she was tempted to eat one of them but just knowing they came from Dan Keagan's kitchen was enough to dissuade her.

And what was with him telling his wife they'd never met?  They were a strange couple and Meg wanted nothing to do with either of them.

Later that day, Albie tapped on the door just as Meg was wrapping things up at Chapters.  It had been a long, productive day and she was looking forward to a warm soak in the tub and catching up on her DVR'd shows.

"Hey," she said, opening the door.  "I didn't know you were going to stop.  You almost missed me."

"I know," he replied, setting down two plastic bags smelling of Chinese food onto the counter.  "I was going to call but then I thought you'd tell me not to come."

He's right, Meg thought.

"What's all this?" she said, peeking into the bags.

Albie reached into the bags and began unpacking Chinese takeout boxes.  "Vegetable Lo Mein, Chicken and Broccoli, egg rolls...your favorites."

Meg smiled.  "Did you remember to get extra fortune cookies?"

Albie pulled a heaping pile of the individually wrapped cookies from the bag, letting them drop onto the counter.  "That enough?"

"There's never enough fortune-telling to go around.  You know that," she said.

They each passed on the plastic forks, unwrapping sets of wooden chopsticks instead.  Meg sat down on one side of the checkout counter and Albie pulled another stool out to sit across from her.

"Should I see if I have any paper plates in the back?" she asked.

"No," Albie replied, "let's just share."

Meg made an awkward attempt at the lo mein, long strands of noodles hanging from her lips as she did.  There was just no graceful way to eat lo mein with chopsticks.

"Dan Keagan's wife stopped by earlier," Meg informed him.

"Why am I not surprised?" Albie responded.

"She seemed nice enough, I guess.  But get this - Dan never told her he'd met or spoken with me.  Isn't that weird?"

Albie shrugged.  "Not if he's trying to keep his plans to kick you out from her.  Who knows though - it's hard to say.  Maybe he's just an asshole, plain and simple.  I wouldn't read into it too much."

Meg nodded.  The last thing she needed was to try and understand the psychology of the Keagan's.

Albie set down the box of chicken and broccoli and wiped his mouth with a stiff paper napkin.  "Listen, about last night..."

Meg held up her chopsticks in an effort to stop him.  "I don't want to talk about it," she said, mouth full.  "Forget about it."



Meg shook her head.  "You're not doing anything wrong, Albie.  You're dating - that's it.  Nothing wrong with that.  The problem is when you constantly bring someone new around and expect everyone to befriend them, and it doesn't work that way.  No one wants to invest time or effort into getting to know someone only to realize that they won't be able to stay in contact with them when your relationship ends."

Albie said nothing.

Meg tapped his arm with her chopsticks.  "Because you know one of these days we're going to choose the girlfriend over you, right?" she joked.

Albie smiled.  "You couldn't live without me."

And he was right.  Meg couldn't live without Albie.  No matter how often he frustrated her or made her mad or got on her nerves, she couldn't imagine life without him.

"So what about Denise?" Meg asked.  "Is she still talking to you after last night?"

Albie nodded.  "Surprisingly, yes.  Somehow I don't think she fully realized what was going on.  She seemed to take the whole thing as a compliment or something.  It was like she felt as if she'd won against Alice."

"That's pathetic," Meg said.  "Not just because she got any satisfaction out of the whole situation but because she doesn't realize just how disrespectful you'd been to everyone."

"Oh, thanks a lot," Albie said.

"Well," Meg said honestly, "I didn't mean it as a compliment.  It's the truth.  If I were her I would have shaken your hand and said thanks for an interesting evening.  And that would have been it.  You would have never heard from me again."

"If I would have known it was that easy to get rid of you I would have taken you out on a date a long time ago," Albie joked.

Meg found herself laughing at Albie's backward sense of humor.  Even when he was being completely impossible or a total jerk, she could understand his appeal to women.

"Thanks for dinner but I've got to get home," Meg said, placing the used takeout containers back into their bags.  "Did you park around back?"

"Yeah," Albie said, replacing his stool and taking the bags from Meg.

Meg checked the lock on the front door and did a quick glance around the store to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything.

"Ready?" she said, leading them out the back door.

She pulled the door closed tightly behind them and reached inside her purse for her keys.  When she looked across the alley, she saw Dan Keagan standing outside smoking a cigarette, staring at them.

Albie tossed the trash into the dumpster while Dan eyed them both but never nodded or even waved.

"That guy is a total psycho," Albie said as Meg got into her car.

"I know, what a weirdo.  Just ignore him."

"I want you to ignore him - from now on.  Don't talk to him or let him back in the store," Albie instructed.  "I don't trust that guy."

As Albie got into his BMW, he looked purposely at Keagan and gave him a sarcastic smile and wave. 

Meg wouldn't look at the guy as she drove away.  She couldn't put her finger on it but Dan Keagan gave her a bad feeling.