He woke up the next day and thought, “Oh, no… what have I done?” So, he packed a bag, jumped in his enormous truck, and left.
“I’m such a schmuck, Henry.” A gullible, stupid schmuck.
Grabbing a new bottle of wine, I push open my sliding door and head out to my patio. “Come on, Henry. Let’s relax out here. We can figure out where we went wrong with our lives.” Wow. How depressing is that?
Flopping down onto my lounger, I lift the bottle and take a swig. Who needs a wineglass? I watch as Henry prances down the steps to stand beneath the tree. It’s not dark yet, so I’m able to see him place his two paws on the base of the tree and stretch, all nonchalant, like he’s not looking for something to kill. I can only imagine what he’s thinking. “I’m just going to pretend I’m out on a nightly stroll. Oh look, there’s a tree. A perfect thing to use for a good stretch. What’s that?” he might say, with a surprised tone to his voice. “Is that a bird? I wonder what a tasty morsel like that is doing out at this time of night?” Then, he’d place first one paw then the other on the grass. He’d hunker down, then he’d slither closer to the bird…
“Yo!” I yell at the bird. “Fly away.” I clap my hands to scare off the stupid thing. I watch it fly off and look down at Henry. He’s glaring at me.
“Sorry, dude. I can’t have you killing our woodland creatures.” I like them all too much.
Staring at Henry, I know what he’d like to say to me. “Fuck you, lady.” Because he wouldn’t bother saying my name. I shrug. “I mean, why would he?”
“Why would he what?”
I startle so much, the wine bottle I had stuck between my thighs comes loose, causing the contents to spill all over my legs.
“Quit doing that.” I glare at Sam.
I guess I’m angry with him.
“Sorry, honey.”
“Don’t call me that.”
He takes a step up, then two, then three. He’s on my deck now with a smirk on his face and a beautiful bouquet of flowers in his hand. “You cranky, dollface?”
There’s a new one.
“No.” Yes, I was. Wiping off the excess fluid from my legs, I take a moment to stare at the beautiful bouquet of flowers of every variety. Roses, daisies, lilies, tulips, you name it. “Are those for me?” Yes. That’s a ridiculous question, but it just popped out of my mouth.
“Of course.”
Reaching out, I take them in hand and do what every woman has ever done when she got a bouquet like that. I sniff it. “It’s lovely.”
“Not as lovely as you.”
I snort because he’s full of shit. I look terrible right now. Now, yesterday… He should have seen me yesterday. I woke up and got myself all dolled up, thinking he was going to stop by like he said he would. I did my hair, put on some makeup … you get the idea. But today? Nope. I said “screw it” today. So, I’m wearing a pair of cut-off sweatpants and a tank top I bought at the local discount store. A tank top that I’m pretty sure has mayonnaise on it, but it’s dark blue, so who cares?
Slipping off the lounger, I make my way into my house. “Gonna put these in some water.” It’s a ruse, because I need to get away from him for a minute to gather my wits about me. I’m angry at him, and I need to decide if I’m going to stay mad or forget about it. With him that close, I can’t think straight.
I guess he’s decided to follow me inside. So much for my plan to distance myself. “I’m sorry about yesterday.”
“Oh?” I act like I have no idea what he’s talking about. Looking back at him, I add, “What do you mean?”
He’s blinking. A lot. “I, uh, told you I’d see you yesterday.”
“You did?”
“Yes.” His voice has turned a little rough. “I did.”
“What happened?” I’m still trying to act cool, but it’s hard to keep the guise going. I’m a terrible liar, and I couldn’t act my way out of a paper bag.
“We had an accident on one of our job sites.”
I turn quickly to face him. “Oh? Are you okay?” I look him up and down. He doesn’t look injured.
“One of my guys…”
