Shallow Creek

The sportscaster started the roundup of the day’s Big 12 action, which featured insane offensive displays from WVU, Baylor, and TCU.  Brendan’s dad appeared indifferent to the highlight reels until the show’s host added a side note about Texas A&M getting crushed by LSU earlier in the afternoon.  This got a hearty laugh out of the old man, who turned and remarked, “Serves those Aggies right for jumping ship.”

Brendan nodded in agreement as he took another drink out of his beer.  His phone vibrated in his pocket.  Not many people had that number.  He faltered for a moment, wondering if Scott Fisher was contacting him for some reason.  Slowly he pulled the phone out of his pocket.  A sigh of relief deflated the paranoia; it was just Michelle.  He still thought she’d acted like a bitch the night before, but the fact that she was even calling him was a good sign, right?

“I’ve got to take this.”  He wandered back towards the kitchen.  He overcame his slight annoyance with her for last night’s behavior and answered the phone on the fifth ring.

“Hi, Tenny.”  Brendan could hear small tears in her voice.  “I know last night didn’t end well, but can you come over?  I can’t get over everything that happened.  I’m scared to be in the house alone and—”

“Don’t worry about it.” His heart melted as she rambled on through tears.  “I’ll be right over.”

His dad glared at him for a moment at the news he was leaving to check on Michelle.  His parents didn’t know the whole story, but he’d given enough details that his absence shouldn’t have been a problem.  Of course, just when Brendan had worked his way back into his dad’s good books, here he was ruining Saturday night football.  Back to square one.

On the ride over to Michelle’s place, he forced himself to separate out all the nasty feelings he’d contended with last night while he walked back this way from her house.  Between kicking those guys’ asses, and then having Michelle yell at him, he’d been pretty wired.  The walk had flown by, and before he knew it, his parents’ house had appeared in front of him.  By comparison, the drive over took way longer as he thought about Michelle crying in fear.

She opened the door before he’d even finished knocking.  He stepped inside and closed the door moments before she hugged him as if her life depended on it.  After letting her crush his ribs for a while, Brendan felt a bit uncomfortable and gingerly peeled her off.  Her makeup was running all down her cheeks, so he grabbed a tissue out of the box sitting on a short cabinet next to the front door.  She took it from him and dabbed under her eyes with little effect.

“How about a beer?” she asked, heading towards the open kitchen.

“Sure.”  He followed slowly, taking in the expansive mobile home.  “Just one, though.  I’ve got to drive home.”

Really he just wanted to keep his wits about him in case trouble did show up, and homicidal meth dealers weren’t his only concern.  Things could easily get out of hand when two attractive adults got drunk together.

She met him in living room with his beer as he picked up one in a series of framed photos sitting on a long end table next to one of the couches.  He took the bottle from her and thanked her.  Michelle smiled and clinked her very full wine glass against his beer.  When she took a sip, he noticed she wasn’t wearing her wedding rings.  She probably took them off to clean the toilet, or something like that.

“Where was this picture taken?” he asked, indicating the one in his hand.  Michelle and Grant were on a beach somewhere nice.

“Bora Bora.”

“Very nice,” he said, surprised.  “What about these?”

She pointed at each picture in turn and rattled off the exotic locales.  “Paris, Hawaii, the Seychelles, and Gibraltar.”

“Wow, not bad at all.”

“We like to travel a lot.  You only live once, right?”

Michelle sat on one of the couches, so Brendan purposefully took a seat on the other couch, keeping the end table between them.  Her eyes showed some understanding, but she didn’t comment on his choice.

They sat and chatted about the kids and vacations.  Brendan hadn’t really had what most people would consider a vacation, but he’d been to a number of the places that Grant and Michelle had visited.  None of the timelines matched up, so they wouldn’t have run into each other by accident.

“Can I get you another beer?”

Brendan’s head already felt a little foggy, but he figured it would be rude to refuse, even if he’d told her earlier he only wanted one.

“Sure.”

She returned with a beer and another full glass of wine.  The whole bottle had probably gone into those two glasses.  That wasn’t really Brendan’s concern, though.  She was already home, and the kids were presumably asleep in their rooms.  So what if Mom had a few drinks?