The Business Trip

by Jessie Garcia

She could care for complete strangers with tenderness, but not show an ounce of TLC for her own daughter.

she had signed it “Your Mother” and not “Love, Mom.”

Since we were a pair of self-professed musical connoisseurs, Robert suggested “Broadway and Bubbly” nights, and we took turns at each other’s townhouse, eating from charcuterie boards, drinking champagne, and singing along.

If someone looked at my life from the outside, they might be impressed. I had money and a career and a healthy adult son. I had never had a major disease, and while my body could stand to tighten up a bit—the little bat wings under my arms especially bothered me—I was still in decent shape.

“skeeching” (holding on to the back bumper of someone’s car in the winter and getting a ride along the snowy streets).

My Reiki coach told me gut feelings are what guide us.

you know your neighbors, but how well really?

Sigma Tau. We weeded out dudes like him every year.

you can size someone up in seven seconds,

Just because crime happens and is the low-hanging fruit doesn’t mean it automatically gets anointed to the top spot.”

I hadn’t even read what I had signed. It was ten pages long, and I had just clicked “Acknowledge” and added my electronic signature.