"Hi babe. How are you doing?" asked a familiar masculine voice.
"Mark, hi. I'm fine thanks. How are things in Sydney?"
Mark was her boyfriend. Well, not exactly her boyfriend anymore. It was complicated. He had moved to Sydney for a job six months ago. A successful corporate lawyer, he asked her to go with him but Julia loved Wellington and didn't want to leave. At first she had missed him terribly and flew across the Tasman almost every weekend to be with him. But he kept making excuses for not visiting Wellington in return. As months passed they met less frequently and sometimes weeks passed even between phone calls. With a start, Julia realized she hadn't even thought about him since the last call.
Mark rambled on about his current project arranging a merger between two companies and Julia had to stifle a yawn. He was thirty years old, handsome and successful and everything she thought she wanted in a man, but she just wasn't willing to rearrange her life for him. Too independent for her own good, as her mother would say.
She interrupted him as diplomatically as possible. "That's great, Mark. How about we talk about it more when you visit this weekend?"
There was an awkward silence on the phone and Julia had a sudden sense of déjà vu. "I don't think I'll be able to fly over this weekend after all," he said apologetically. "I need to meet with some clients on Saturday afternoon. I hope you understand…" "Don't worry about it," Julia said politely. "I guess I'll see you when I see you."
"You could come to Sydney instead. There's a great new restaurant on the waterfront I'd like to show you." "Maybe next month," she replied. "I'll check my calendar and get back to you."
"I look forward to it. Take care, babe." As Julia put down the phone she realized she didn't even feel disappointed or angry with him anymore. There was just nothing left. It must be time to move on. She never asked him if he was seeing other women in Sydney because she didn't want to know. But it was highly likely that he was. Julia made a resolution to get out and meet someone new. Just as soon as she had some spare time.
Julia changed into shorts and a dri-tech top exercise top and pulled her long hair into a pony-tail. She needed to go out for a run while it was still light outside. She had a lot of stress to burn off and some thinking to do.