Torn (33 page)

“I feel like
Laverne
and Shirley,”
Bret
made the off-the-wall comment
, causing Darius to glance up at
her wit
h
a half-smile.

They sat on Colin’s living room floor, stacks upon stacks of books surrounding them.

She continued, “You know the one episode where they won the shopping spree?”

“No,”
Darius
said.

“Y
eah, and they tried so hard the
only thing they ended up getting for free was a box of
Moon P
ies
, or
something
like that.
Remember
?”

“No, not at all.”

“Really? Wow.”

“Actually, I never saw Laverne and Shirley.”

“Oh, my God, not even in reruns? Didn’t you have a television?”

“Oh, sure.”
Darius
examined a book. “I just wasn’t a TV watcher. Where are
you putting the useful fiction?
”

“What
genre
?”

“Science.”

“H
ere.” Bret took the book and set it aside to a stack. “I started a new stack for sex books.”

Darius
laughed. “Really.”

“
Oh,
sure, we may need them.
Especially
this one.” She held up a title.

Darius
looked. “
Sex in the Senior Y
ears
.”

She
nodded. “It’s good to know I may finally get to
enjoy sex when I’m older.”

“As opposed to now.”

“I
s that a dig about my ex
-husband cheating?
”

“No.” he shook
hi
s
head. “I was just gonna say, you seem to enjoy it now.”

Bret laughed.

“What is so funny?
”

“
You
.” She shook her head. “You know you almost had me with that ‘we slept
together
’ tale you told me.”

“We did, Bret. We committed to each other.”

She giggled. “Sure. Chuck said that next thing you’ll tell me is I peed in the woods.”

“You did.”

Again, she laughed.

Darius
tossed up his hands. “Why is it so hard to believe?
”

“Because
. . .
I don’t
remember
it and
. . .
it’s you.”

“Okay
.”
Darius
brought
his knees up.

“You’re hot. Why would you want me?”

After a
nod
of his head Darius leaned to Bret. “You know, I think you’re a fantastic woman,” he whispered. “And even more so over this past mont
h as
I got to know you and like even more who you are. Plus
. . .
”
H
e bit his bottom lip, leaning closer. “I can’t wait until you break down, give back in
to me. Cause I think you’re pretty hot.”

Another
giggle. “Stop,”

“Nope.” He leaned in for a kiss.

The clearing of the throat caused them to jolt apart in surprise.

Darius looked up to Colin. “This close, Colin. I was this close to finally getting her to kiss me again.”

“
J
ust like you, Dare-Dare.” Colin said. “She is barely well and you are taking advantage of her vulnerable state. Like last time.”

“Thanks, you’re not helping,” Darius said.

Colin laughed.

So did Bert. “You guys are funny.”

“So is this,” Colin handed her an
envelope
. “The attorney dropped
these
off. Signed,
s
ealed
,
and filed.
Divorce
papers.”

“Sweet.” Bret
smiled
. “Hey, Dare-Dare, thanks for paying for these. You didn’t have to.”

“I want you divorced,”
Darius
said. “We’re committed.” He dropped his voice to a mumble. “
Whether
you
remember
or not.”

Colin said, “I don’t see the point. He’ll probably die anyhow when
the
world ends.”

“Just in case,” Darius shrugged.

“I heard from Virginia,” Colin said. “All set
tled in the shelter. Kids are lo
ving it. They started the seedlings and her husband installed the fake light for sunlight.”

Darius gave a
‘
thumbs up
’
.
“Ironically….
” He
showed
a book. “
Gett
ing the
Most
out of the
S
un
.”

Colin scoffed. “The sun is our
enemy
right now;
it started the war.
Bret, good
to see
you moving about.  How’s the head?”

Bret nodded. “Good. I feel good. We were at the
warehouse
this
mor
ning
doing inventory for the trucks that are moving out to the shelter tomorrow.
I feel so guilty that you guys were busy and I was sick.
”

“I
was
worried,” Colin pointed out, “a
fter
the head
injury and
then
last week you had that stomach flu.”

“
That was weird. One minute I’m sick, the next I’m fine. I ha
ven’t thrown up like that since
. . .
since
. . . .
”
Bret
paused
.

“Another
memory
lapse?” Darius asked.

“No, no.” She quickly correctly. “Since I had food poisoning.
Which was another episode of Laverne and
Shirley
.”

“I loved that show,” Colin said. “How about the one where they won the shopping spree?”

Bret
peeped a
shriek
. “Yes! I was just talking about that. Darius didn’t know.”

“
Darius
didn’t
watch television.”

Darius
winked. “See, I told you.”

Bret’s hand paused as she grabbed another book. She lifted it and slowly gazed at the title.

“You all right?” Colin asked.

“U
m, yeah. Yeah.” Bret nodded, cradling the book to her chest. “Just thinking.”

“Well, can I steal that thinking phase and put both of you on pause from sorting books?” Colin asked. “I want to go over the
invitee
list, tweak it so it
’
s ready to send out when the news breaks.”

“Are we sure it’s gonna happen?” Bret asked. “I mean, nothing has happened in some time.”

Darius nodded. “Calm before the storm.”

“The big storm,” Colin added. “Kitchen? Ready?” he pointed.

Darius stood up. “Yep.” He held his hand down to Bret. “Coming?”

“In
. . .
in a second. I want to do
something
first.”

“Ok
ay
.” Darius ran his hand over her head as he followed Colin.

Bret watched
over her
shoulder
until
they were
out of
sight. Slowly she
pulled
the book from her chest. She glanced at the title once more, exhaled slowly
through
her
parted
lips, and closed her
eyes
. “O
h, boy.”

On both sides of Coli
n’s front door were two windows, b
oth
narrow
and floor length. A white
curtain graced both windows for
privacy.

When Andi heard the ‘
clunk
’ from outside, she
peered
out her window and raced out.
First she knocked on the bathroom door stating to her mother, ‘we have trouble’, then she ran down the steps, pulled one curtain to the side and peeked out the window.

“We have trouble,” she said and ran to the kitchen. “We have
trouble
.”

Darius was seated at the counter with Colin. He turned around.
“Is that why you're running?”

“We have
trouble
.” She pointed backwards.

Colin nodded to
Darius
. “We have
trouble
.”

The door bell rang.

“Is that the
trouble
?
” Darius asked.

Andi
nodded and her eyes widened when there was a pounding at the door.

Darius stood up and walked by her. “Who is it?”

“Jesse.”

Darius
picked
up speed.

“Where is she?” Jesse demanded.

What he didn’t see was B
ret sneaking back up the stairs, nor
Colin sneaking in to watch the events.

It
took Darius a moment to respond;
his eyes shifted to the Japanese
girl
who stood ten paces behind
the man
.

“Where?” Jesse asked again.

“She’s busy,”
Darius
said. “I’ll tell her
you stopped by.” He started to close the door.

Jesse held out his hand, stopping it. “You know I’ve been patient. I’ve been put in jail, waited until she
got
back, waited until her head healed and this flu. But if she’s well enough t
o serve me with fucking divorce
. . .
”

“
H
ey!” Darius
blasted
. “Watch your mouth
! And Bret didn’t get thos
e together, I did. She only sign
ed them. So if you’ll excuse us.”

“Why are you getting her
divorce
papers
?
”

“None of your goddamn
business
.
”
Darius
said. “Now, I told you I’d let her know you stopped by.”

“I want in the house. No one’s ever there. The locks are changed.”

“No one lives there, Jess. They moved in here.
The house is for sale
,
or did you miss the big sign on the front lawn?”

Jesse
growled. “I want my tools and I want in that house.”

“We
ll, go to the house. But there’re
no tools there.”

“What?” Jesse asked, head tilte
d.

“There’re
no tools there. I emptied that house last week.”

“Where are my tools?”

Darius shrugged. “Gone. Sold,
I think. Yeah. She sold them. Fifty bucks.” He
widened
his eyes. “Sorry.”

Darius saw it, t
he red in Jesse’s neck,
the
heaving of his shoulders
and the heavy breath that prece
ded the second growl. He stepped back when he saw Jesse
charge
forward.

There were two sounds that
emanated
immediately
upon
Jesse’s
storming entrance into Colin’s house.

Thud and p
op.

The first occurred when
Darius
hooked his own leg into Jesse’s,
stumbling
the big man and careening him face forw
ard to the floor. That was the t
hud.