“Telling someone you love them is never a mistake.”
Ihesitate likes it’s a test. “You sure about that?”
“Believe me. I’m sure.”
We pullup to the supermarket and pick up what we need. Stella sees adisplay for Kisko Freezie Pops on sale. “You remember when we werekids? We used to eat these things like they were going out ofstyle.” She laughs, picking up a package as the checkout lady scansour things through.”
“Yeah, I do remember.” I reply. “I also remember you stuffingthese things down the back of my shirt when I wasn’tlooking.”
Shelaughs as we pick up our things. I put my arm around her as we walkout of the store. “Y’all weren’t thinking of doing that again, areyou. Because my mama will come after you with a broom.”
“Not my Aunt Emma. She’d never do that to me.” She growlsplayfully.
“You wait and see.”
***
Ellie
I’m onthe edge of my seat as I remain in my car, watching Maverick andthis beautiful young woman. If I don’t do something now I’ll losehim forever. The look on her face matches his as they climb intohis truck. They’re but happy and playfully conversing, making mewonder what it is that they’re talking about.
Whatprovokes me to do what I do next I’ll never know. I follow them.All the way back to the ranch. Being careful to stay back adistance so I’m undetected, and ignoring the melting frozen beanssitting next to me on the passenger seat. What will I do when Ireach the ranch? Am I going to make a complete fool of myself anddo something I’ll regret? And just as I’m about to drive right upto him, my goddamn phone rings.
Part ofme thinks that it might be Maverick, catching on to my littleescapade here, but when I look at the display and see that it’sWill, my lips purse in frustration. I consider ignoring it, but inthe back of my mind, I can’t help but think that maybe this isGod’s way of keeping me out of trouble, or at least, going for thelesser of two evils, plus, based on the last time that I heard fromWill, I figure I should answer this call.
“Will, this isn’t really a good time.” I say, speaking low, asif Maverick and his friend can hear me.
“Ellie, I’m so sorry to bug you, but I need to bouncesomething off you.”
I exhaleheavily. “This is hardly the time for financial advice, Will.” Iwhine, frustrated. During our marriage, I was constantly diggingWill in and out of financial peril. It was exhausting attimes.
“Babe, I’m desperate. I lost fucking everything inVegas.”
Mystomach is on the floor. “You what? What…what were you thinking?What do you mean, you lost everything? You have plenty of moneyfrom our settlement.” It’s true. Will walked away with fiftypercent of the proceeds from the sale of our house, which wasmortgage-free and worth millions.
“I don’t…I don’t know what I was thinking, Ellie. I lost myhead.”
“Sounds to me like you lost a lot more than your head,Will.”
Heignores my comment. “Ellie, you know that I’d never ask you to loanme money unless I was desperate.”
I pullmy phone away from my face and stare at the screen for a moment, inshock. “Are you kidding me?”
“Ellie, please.” He begs pathetically.
“Just out of curiosity…do you happen to still be inVegas?”
“Yeah…but I’m staying here for free.”
“Oh, we’ll, that’s great, Will. I hope that you’re littletramp friend can bail you out, because I sure as hell am not goingto give you a dime, especially if you’re still in Vegas. What doyou think, I’m an idiot?”
“Please, Ellie. I’m desperate. Rosie’s husband scares the shitout of me and he’s here. He won’t let me leave.”
“Well, you’re staying in his room, probably fucking his wife,too, and you’ve probably funded another one of his yachts byhanding over all your cash to the casino, you moron. Of course hewants to keep you there.”
“Ellie, you don’t understand. I think this guy is in the mobor something. He wants me to work for him. He says that he’ll helpme get back all my money if I do some simple jobs forhim.”
“Will, you have legs. Get the hell out of there then.” Myex-husband hasn’t always been the sharpest knife in the drawer. Heonce wanted to invest in some alpaca farm because one of hismotorcycle buddies told him it was the latest and greatest thing todo. Thank God I stopped him before he signed himself up for thatshit show.
