Bram
All the way home Ree is angry. I wait until we shuffle the kids to their rooms to get ready for bed before I corner my wife in our bedroom.
Ree flicks off her shoes wildly, and I’m alarmed on every level. For as long as I’ve known my sweet wife, she has been just that, sweet. And, believe me, it held great appeal to me, especially after the war I had fought with Simone. Ree was the proverbial drink of water that this thirsty man had longed for in so many ways.
She darts for the closet, and I grab her by the elbow, spinning her into me as if we were doing some exotic heated dance. Her elbows butt up against my chest, holding a firm distance between us.
“What’s going on?” I temper my voice, pull it down a few notches, soft and soothing, hoping she’ll come along for the ride. I’ve never been one to read women well. My understanding of the opposite sex has always been limited to the here and now, the black and the white. I am colorblind when we drift into the gray zone, and if I’ve learned anything in this life, it’s that women mostly live in the gray zone. “Did someone say something to upset you? Was it those women again?”
She lets out a vitriolic huff as if I should know better, as if to say how dare I suggest it, and I can feel my neck growing hot because I can’t stand the suspense. Ree doesn’t get mad. So if she’s pissed, this must be big.
“It was my sister.” She yanks free from my hold and takes a full step back. “My mother contacted her. She’ll be in town next weekend.”
“Your mother?” I mouth the words. I have never dared bring her up first. The only conversations we’ve had about that certifiable nutcase have been initiated by Ree herself, and I can count those on one hand and have a healthy amount of fingers left over.
“Yes. The beast who bore me. And get this.” She hikes an arm in the air, flailing to the ceiling, and I catch the glint of tears in her eyes. “She’s staying with Lena!FuckingLena!” Her voice screeches to new heights, and I wrap my arm around her again and whisk us into the bathroom to dampen her fury from the children’s prying ears.
“Shit,” it’s all I can say. The only thing that comes to mind when I think of that woman and what she’s done to Ree—to Lena, too, and that’s what makes this entire scenario somewhat unbelievable.
“Yes, shit,” she barks it out with rage. Ree averts her eyes a moment before deflating. “It turns out, Lena has been in communication with her for the last few months. Nothing serious. Just a tap here. Ahow do you dothere. And all this time, I thought Lena was on my side—ourside. Hell, I didn’t know I was on a damned island.” Her voice grows threadbare as if she were about to cry.
“Come here.” I pull her in, and her body bucks against mine a moment. “It’s going to be all right.” Except it isn’t, considering the fact Lena has set up camp across the street. Damned hippie. If she really cared about Ree—about herself, she would never have let it get this far.
“It’s not going to be all right, Bram. You don’t know my mother. You have no idea the evil that woman is capable of.” Her watery eyes look to mine, a clear ocean of amber. Twin pools unwilling to give up their tears. Ree has always held a princess appeal, and tonight she looks like exactly that.
Lilly howls for us, and we take a simultaneous breath.
“Let’s get the kids to bed.” I tuck a kiss under her jawline. “And then we can get to the task of making a new kid.” I give a playful shrug. “Or practice. I think we’re getting a little rusty.”
Her cheeks brighten a warm shade of red. Ree has always managed to look smitten to be with me, grateful to be with me, and it feels awkward to admit that. Ree is gorgeous in her own right, and all that monster who’s about to barrel into town has ever done has made Ree think otherwise.
“I love you,” I whisper. “And if I didn’t say it earlier, you looked stunning tonight.”
“You can cool it with the come-ons.” She gives the lip of my jeans a quick tug. “You’re getting laid, Dr. Woodley.”
I flinch internally when she says my proper moniker. We haven’t spoken it out loud since our last move. And strangely, it feels as if she’s just unleashed a curse into the room, slithering between us like a snake.
We share a dark, delicious kiss before putting the kids to bed.
Ree and I hit the sheets and set them on fire, set each other on fire. Yes, another child would be nice, would be a blessing. But I can’t help feeling a little bit cursed these days—hell, I’ve never felt otherwise.
All night I toss and turn. Somewhere between four and five in the morning Ree gets up, no lights, tiptoes to the restroom, but she doesn’t come back to bed. Instead, she heads into her closet and closes the door, leaving a seam of light slicing through the murky darkness. She doesn’t come out for a good long while, and it makes me wonder.
* * *
On Monday,somewhere between setting a crown and a routine dental exam, my phone buzzes in my pocket. I’m not one to pick up when I’m with a patient, but I’m mid-stream, walking between one room and the next. Here at Smile Wide, the philosophy is juggle two clients at once. The billing is phenomenal, only I wouldn’t know it because I happened to sign on as salary.
I glare down at my phone a moment. It’s a number I don’t recognize, so I let it go to voicemail, but something in me says wait it out. Sure enough, there’s a message.
“Hello, this is Detective Rivera from the Hennessy Police Department calling about a recent homicide you might have information about. Please call me back at your earliest convenience. I’d love to ask you a few questions.”
Ice courses through my veins. My feet have screwed themselves into the floor. Can’t move. The convention. Loretta. Shit. Shit. Shit.
It takes all my willpower to get through the rest of the day before I meet my brother for drinks down at the Thirsty Fox, a dive bar on the edge of town that splits the distance between our homes.
The Thirsty Fox is on the last decent street before you segue into a homeless encampment. It’s dark inside, save for the dim lighting emitting from a yellow neon sign that sits behind the bar itself like a homing beacon for all the drunks that infiltrate this place. It holds the scent of hard liquor and peanuts, and somehow the lively atmosphere makes up for the fact it’s located in the ass-crack of town.
No sign of Mace, so I belly up to the bar, take a seat on the end, and a beer magically appears before me.
