She stopped, creating a ripple in the stream of shoppers, disrupting the carefully calibrated flow. A heavy woman balked at the little shoal Marina and Danny were creating, and muttered, loudly, “rude.” That's what life is like, he thought. Interruptions. Obstruction. Being dislodged.
"Seriously, Danny?"
He feels like a stupid adolescent pig. "Yeah?"
"Can you even see how repetitive you're being? How fucking stubborn? She began to tear up and Danny shrunk a little bit. The mall air parched his throat. He badly wanted a Coke. "I mean, I don't come to this fucking mall in suburbia because I like soft pretzels and the Gap." Marina was jabbing her finger at him and her voice was tight like air from a punctured tire. "I come here for you, you asshole, and every time - every time -" she repeated when he started to protest, "you act like I'm the biggest pain in the world."
"Marina...."
"No. No, Danny. Talk to me. You lost Roddy, who you weren't happy with anyway. You quit your job." Here it comes, he thought, "and you've gained- I don't even know how much weight." She actually started laughing when she said that. Through tears. At her audacity, he guessed. "What the hell's going on?"
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