I know Bennett is right behind me. I want to turn around and give him another piece of my fist, but I try to calm myself first, taking deep breaths, reminding myself I'm better than he is because moneydoes notdefine us. "You've been screwing around, haven't you?" Bennett seethes.
A wild laugh breaks from my throat. "No, I haven't been. I don't retaliate like that, Bennett."
"Retaliate?" he says, clearly confused.
"You think I don't know that you slept with Maryanne last summer? Those overnight shifts you suddenly had after having none for a year, that just happened to coincide with the nights Maryanne's husband was away on business. You know," I say, slapping my fists against my legs. "There's one thing that everyone has very wrong about me. I'm not stupid. I'm pretty intelligent. I could hold a real-person job and rent a real-person apartment and buy a car, food, and...believe it or not, take care of myself. I don't need your wallet, and I don't need my dad's. What I do need...is a little honesty in my life because I’ve been surrounded by lies since I was a child, teaching me that dishonesty is the only way to survive. Maybe I learned faster than the rest of you that lies only destroy all good things.
"Whoa, I can explain that," he says.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Raine with a smug grin stretching across his face. He's eating up every moment of this, and who could blame him? His reaction encourages me to continue; my adrenaline is still raging.
"I don't care about your explanation, Bennett. The thing is, I don't even care that you cheated on me with my…we'll call her my best friend for argument's sake, because the truth is, I never felt what I should have felt for you. I was more pissed off at Maryanne for doing something that sleazy than I was at you for totally disregarding the feelings you thought I had for you. You are just like the rest of them. And no, I didn't decide to reject your proposal because of what you did. I turned you down because I can't imagine living the rest of my life with you. There were days when I couldn't figure out how I'd wake up next to you again. We never should have been together. I'm not like you, and I never will be. And that's a good thing, in case you're wondering."
Visible heat in the form of redness fills Bennett's cheeks, but it's the truth, and he deserves every bit of this. "What exactlyareyou like, Haven? That?" He points to Raine, who is smiling so widely he's practically laughing.
"Actually, yeah. Neither of us are who we appear to be, and for that reason, I have found a comfort in Raine that I will never see in you or anyone else."
"Whatever," Bennett says, throwing his arms up in the air. "I'll go buy another one of you."
I cup my hands around my mouth and shout, "Welcome to Cascade, Louisiana, everyone—a place where you can buy just about anything…even a wife."
"Nice, Haven, real nice," he says.
"Yeah, well…" I flip him the bird. "Fuck you, and enjoy the life you buy for yourself. Oh, and feel free to pass the message along to Maryanne. She should know."
Bennett's nostrils are flaring, and it's the look I only see when he's enraged, which is exactly what I wanted to cause him. "You're going to be sorry," he says.
I'll let him have the last word this time. He's not worth it, and right now I just want him to get the hell out of my sight.
Bennett turns away from me and heads back in the direction he came, but not without his parting words to Raine first. "It's only a matter of time before you’re behind bars again, douchebag."
Raine doesn't say a word. He just smiles sweetly and waves at Bennett as if he were a little girl passing by.
It takes a few minutes before my rage settles down, but as it does, I return to the bench, where Raine places his arm around my shoulders. "You're right about not being stupid, but I stand behind the fact that you do kind of make…decisions that aren’t always thought out," he says, jokingly. "Oh, and that pitching arm of yours is pretty much the second hottest thing I've ever seen."
Confused, I ask, "What's the first?"
"Red lipstick…you know, like you were wearing the other night as if you were expecting to run into me…"
"My red lipstick has always been about you, and no, I truly didn't expect to run into you. I was just thinking about you, is all."
