Dishonor Thy Wife (29 page)

RONNI

Riley nudges me with her elbow at Traci's soccer game. “Look
who's here, your ex.”

“Dr. Tremblay is not my
ex-anything,” I snort. It is bad enough he shows up every other Saturday like
clockwork to pick up Traci, but now he is at the soccer field. Austin has become
too small for the two of us.

He walks by and our eyes meet for a brief second. His blue
shirt has the first couple of buttons open and his chest hair sticks out. I
have taken in all of Jayden with one roll of my eyes.

There is so much I do not know about the man even though I
have been more intimate with him than with any other human being. The things I
let him do to me and the sex acts I did to him make me blush, yet he is like a
stranger. Well, I courted his indifference and have not been any friendlier
since the first Saturday he picked up Traci.

Traci has asked me, “Why don't you like my Uncle Jayden,
Mommy?”

Of course, I cannot tell her
about how Mommy ended up sleeping with Daddy's brother. Traci was able to tell
Brad and Jayden apart all along. Last Saturday she yelled at her uncle to wait
and then ran up the stairs and came back down carrying that accursed suit she
said belonged to her daddy. Traci then handed the suit to Jayden and ran back
to get her suitcase.

He turned to me with a sheepish expression on his face and
said, “I, uh, guess last time I slept in your house, I forgot my suit.”

What
Jayden should have said was, “I, uh, guess last time I fucked you, pretending
to be your husband, I forgot my suit.”

The sound of his tennis shoes climbing the stairs of the
bleachers takes my breath away. There is still a sick chemistry between us and though
he is five rows behind me, my heart skips two beats and drums a warm, oozing
feeling all the way down from my throat, settling between my legs. A rush of
desire weakens my knees. I resist the sudden urge to cross my legs because it
might be obvious to him if he is watching. I long to ask Riley to turn around
and see if Jayden is looking at me, but am petrified she will laugh.

Riley
can sense my tension and rubs my shoulder. “You sure about Dr. Tremblay not
being your ex? After all, you had an affair with him.”

“Not an affair. Remember, I
thought he was Brad when we slept together.”

“How about in Canada, huh?”

“Canada was only one time so I
wouldn't call it an affair,” I emphasize in a flat voice.

“More like a one-night stand then?”

“He forced me in Canada.”

“Uh-huh. Raped you did he?”

“Not exactly rape, but he took
advantage of me.”

“Yeah.” Riley leans back against the bleachers. “Guys take
advantage of me like that all the time 'cause they know I'm horny. Well, honey,
if you don't want your brother-in-law, I guess you don't mind me taking a crack
at the stud then?”

“What?”My hand shakes in the
popcorn bag.

“Legally he is not your ex so it's not like I'd be sleeping
with your husband. How about you set me and him up? Unless Jayden has been
getting his rocks off on that blonde he’s talking to. Who is she, another
single mom? I bet the Canadian is horny as hell and if I don’t hump his bones
then another woman will.”
She smiles at the look of
dismay on my face.

“You are tacky, Riley; I did have a relationship with Jayden.”

“Ah, so now it was a relationship.”

“Yes, but it’s complicated. How
can you even ask me to set you up with him? You and I are best friends. You
dating Jayden would be like incest.”

“Incest? Kind of like you
sleeping with your brother-in-law?”

“Sleeping with Jayden was not
incest. He is no blood relation of mine.”

“According to the Bible, in-laws having sex is incest. I
looked it up, sugar.”

“Don’t sugar me! How can you even think of chasing after Jayden
when you know how I feel about him?”

“And that would be?” She pops a
bubble of gum, offering me a stick.

“You know I hate him.”
I shove her gum back at her.

“Uh-huh.”

“I can't have my best friend
sleeping with a man I hate. We couldn't be friends any more if you slept with Jayden.”

“Oh, I'd never let a man come
between us, Ronni. Besides, Jayden has his hands full with your neighbor.”

Over at the concession stand, Jayden
is talking to Millie Smith, a neighbor across the street from me whose little
girl is friends with Traci. Millie should have been named Maxie. She is a five-foot
ten inch Amazon, mostly legs, wearing cowgirl boots, which stretch her to six
feet tall. Red hair sweeps her buttocks and orange western pants are so tight
on her to appear as if she painted the denim on.

“Wasn't Millie recently divorced?”
Riley says.

“Uh-huh. Six months ago.”

“Well, she sure looks hungry for
a man, and I should know. It's the first year that is the hardest when a woman
struggles to see if she can ever attract men again.”

“Her husband left her for another
woman,” I add.

“Worse. Poor woman has to prove
she can get a man into bed. The first year of freedom, a woman is on the
rebound and liable to marry the first eligible man who comes her way, no matter
if he is a pig. You think your brother-in-law is a pig, right?”

Millie
and Jayden stroll towards the bleachers. Jayden holds a coke in his hand and he
and Millie sit on the bottom row.

“Yep!” Riley smacks her knee. “Millie
has got her hooks in Jayden. Look at her offering him popcorn so their hands
can bump in the bag filled with dirty butter and raunchy salt. Mm, by the end
of the game, she'll invite him over to her house for a quickie or two, or
three, or four, or five, or six, or seven, or eight, or nine, or...”

“I get your point!”

“Hey, don’t snap at me for being good at math. You do not
have to count to infinity to prove Millie's libido is out of control because she
just got divorced. You can bet your boobs that because Millie has a tight ass,
he will take Millie up on her offer. Maybe Jayden is at Traci's game to pick up
single horny moms, except for you, of course. Jayden doesn't have a chance with
you, does he Ronni?”

“No,” I mumble. Riley is
something of an expert on men. She has slept with hundreds of them, compared to
my measly score of two men, my husband, and his brother. Same face. Same body.
One zygote. Technically, maybe I had sex with just one man. The sordid mess is
still confusing. My voice fills with panic but only because Millie lives across
the street from me, “You think Jayden will go home with Millie?”

“Probably. She sure has his
attention.”

Traci's
team wins the game and I suffer in silence while she runs past me to her uncle,
hugging and kissing him.

Jayden ruffles Traci's hair and
then walks away with Millie.

Only then do I climb down the
steps of the bleachers to congratulate Traci.

At the parking lot, Jayden leans
against Millie's car, his keys dangling from his hand.

Traci jumps up and down, yelling,
“See you later, Uncle Jayden.”

He waves at Traci but ignores me as
if I do not exist.

I sit
in the driver's seat of my car, my face pale.
He is going over to Millie's,
across the street from my house.

Without even thinking, I jump out
of the car and elbow my way between Jayden and Millie. “Would you mind picking
Traci up thirty minutes early next week for your visit with her?” My voice
booms in my ears. “I have an appointment.”

“Uh, sure.” He looks his nose
down at me as if I am a fly crapping on his shoulder. “Whatever you want.”

“Fine. Fine then.”

“Fine.”

“Well, then. Fine,” I repeat. “Fine.”
I walk back to the car with burning ears from eavesdropping on Millie’s invitation.
“Maybe you can stop by some time, Jayden, after you drop Traci off,” she had purred
and rubbed her backside against his car.

I rev up the engine of the SUV.
All I need is to have Jayden parked at Millie's house day in and day out. When
will I ever be rid of that confounded man?

I drop Riley by her house and
then drive home.

I hover in the spare bedroom
upstairs, spying across the street to see if Jayden will go over to Millie’s
house.

I feel such a rush of relief when
Millie swings into her driveway with no Jayden following behind her.

You are only concerned because he may get it into his
head to come over here afterward
.

A voice whispers back,
why
would he come over to see you after having sex with Millie? Why would Jayden want
you when he has the Millies of Texas more than willing to satisfy his needs?

I stand at the window for half an
hour just to make sure.

I am craving ice cream, but strawberry ice cream is just an
excuse. I open the freezer and pull out the red rose frozen from the bouquet Jayden
sent from Canada, a rose so like my heart—frigid and cold.

I also kept the note delivered
with the flowers.

Please accept my apologies,
Mrs. O’Boyle, but your beauty swept me away.

Always.

Dr. Jayden Tremblay.

I stroke the words of the note, attempting
to gauge a deeper meaning.
Is Jayden really sorry or
is the note and flowers an apology for kicking me out of his car after seducing
me? Or did the note mean he was sorry for everything else?

I shall never know because I
certainly will not ask him now that he has Millie Smith on his mind.

I stuff the red rose back in the
freezer and slam the door shut.

All evening I make excuses to stare
out the window at Millie's driveway.
At this rate, I
shall go crazy.

Perhaps I should call Jayden and
beg him to stay on his own side of the fence, stop invading my territory, and
leave me in peace. Jayden might wonder why I am so upset but even I cannot
understand my feelings.

I pick up the phone and dial his
number.
I am about to hang up the phone when all of
a sudden I hear, “Hello.”

I do not say a thing; I just
breathe.

“Yes?” He sounds impatient.

“Dr. Tremblay,” I say
nonchalantly.

“Ronni.” His voice sounds tense.

“When you sent the flowers…” The
words are being wrenched from my throat. “…the note—what were you apologizing
for?”

 “For being so rough on you.”

He hangs up the phone without
even saying goodbye. He sent the flowers more than four months ago. What got
into me to ask about the note now?

I do not care!

I slam the receiver on the cradle so hard that a piece of plastic
flies off and slides across the floor.

Odd, the broken piece is heart-shaped.

RONNI

The next Saturday morning Traci waits on the porch, her
suitcase beside her, her head hanging low, and her stringy blonde hair brushing
the sidewalk. It is eleven in the morning.

I just knew Jayden would do this
to Traci.

I sit beside her on the front
porch. “Honey, why don't you come into the house?”

Traci shakes her head and hugs her Tigger tighter.

The phone rings and I run into
the house and answer.

“It's me,” he says. “Sorry I couldn't call sooner. Tell
Traci I will be there around one. I have an emergency at the hospital.”

“I'll tell her.”

“Thanks.” He hangs up the phone.

After lunch, Traci goes outside
to play with Millie's daughter, Joanie.

I clean out the freezer. My
refrigerator and freezer, a side-by-side, is broken and a deliveryman is bringing
a new one late this afternoon. I am cleaning out the mess of defrosted food and
throwing away food from the refrigerator. I was able to save most of the meat by
transferring it to Riley's freezer.

I lose track of time and the doorbell
rings.

I should have showered and dressed
before Jayden caught me looking like something the cat dragged in out of the
rain. Well, I cannot keep him waiting while I pretty myself up. He does not act
attracted to me any more anyway.
I swing the door
open and scowl at him.

“Is
Traci here?” he says in a cool voice.

I walk
around the house and check the backyard but Traci is nowhere around. Then I
remember Traci had been playing with Joanie in the front.

Jayden stands outside, tapping
his shoe against the porch floor.

“Traci
was playing with Joanie at Millie's house.” I drag the other woman's name from my
throat and swallow. “I'll go get her. You stay here.”

Jayden sits on a
porch chair, tapping his fingers
together and staring aimlessly.

I come back from across the
street with Millie.

Jayden smiles at Millie as if
glad to see her, unlike me.

Millie must have timed Jayden's visits. She probably grilled
Traci about her uncle and knew he was going to be late. She appears to have
just come from the beauty parlor. Her skirt is short and tight. Millie wears
high-heels at home on a Saturday afternoon.
“I don't
think the girls could have gone very far,” she says. “They were on their bikes
but Joanie knows she is just supposed to just go up the street and back.”

“Traci wouldn't wander very far
either,” I add.

We walk up and down the street
calling the girls' names.

There is no answer but an older boy;
a fifth grader saw the girls. “A while ago.” He points. “They were headed in
that direction.”

We walk faster, calling out for
the girls.

After about eight minutes, Joanie
rides her bike towards us crying. The little girl is muddy.

Traci is not with her.

RONNI

Millie calms Joanie down and she tells us, “Traci fell into
the creek.”

Jayden grabs the little girl by the shoulders. “Take us to where
Traci is, Joanie.”

Jayden calls the police on his cell
phone while we follow Joanie, running as fast as the little girl's short legs can
pedal her bike.

Traci's bike is abandoned on the
road.

Jayden reaches out and grabs my
hand. I am shaking and crying. “The creek must be full. It's been raining so
much.”

“Hush,” he says. “It may not be
that bad.”

There are woods in the area and
after wandering for about four minutes in the mud, Joanie points to an
embankment that is about 25 feet high.

Traci has not fallen into the
rushing water below but is stuck, knee-deep in mud. She is crying and filthy
but otherwise seems okay.

“It's alright, honey,” Jayden
yells at her. “I'll come get you.”

“Here.” Jayden hands me his
phone. “Call the police again and tell them where we are. Just do it,” he snaps
harshly. It is clear that he is still worried.

He begins the difficult task of
maneuvering down the embankment in the thick mud.

Finally, he reaches Traci and she hugs him around the legs.

Jayden digs Traci out of the mud.
All the while, he is sinking into the mud.

I sigh with relief
at the sound of sirens. There is
no way Jayden is going to be able to climb out of the mud without help.

Two police officers and several
firefighters form a human chain down the embankment, handing Traci from man to man
until she is safely on top of the embankment and no longer in danger.

However, the men cause the mud to
loosen even more and Jayden slides towards the creek.

With a splash, he falls into the
rushing water and hits his head on a rock.