She got that glint in her eye that meant trouble.
“Say, do you have any pictures of your dad’s dogs?”
I had a magazine that showed me with two of them. Both the Grand Champions in their class, naming me as handler and my dad as owner/trainer, and the dates. Dad had sent it to me that day. Most of my friends wouldn’t recognize me. I had on Carhartts, a cap sporting his kennel logo, and a two day growth of beard. I told her about it. It was still in my car.
“Keys” she said, holding out her hand.
“Sarah, you’re not gonna do anything embarrassing, are you?”
“Not to you, but I’m gonna make sure Jenny sees it, just so she knows.”
I tried to talk her out of it, but let her do it at the end, just so I could hear what Jenny said.
She took her time waiting for just the right moment. Jenny, Sarah, and a few more of the wives and girlfriends were clustered, talking about the wedding, their own weddings, their husbands, boyfriends, etc. Girl talk.
At just the right moment, Sarah dropped the bomb.
“Jenny, are you still seeing Sammy?”
She said her face went tight for a second.
“No, that’s over. I thought things were going well, when he went out of town to see another woman. My ex can attest that I’m not much on sharing.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you guys were serious. But you’re right, I remember that weekend. It wasn’t one female, it was two, and he was out all night with them twice. I even have pictures.”
She whipped out the magazine. She had the page memorized, and showed the girls. Afterwards, she said she wished she’d had a camera, not just for Jenny, but the whole group. Most had never seen me out a suit or casual dress, I rarely wore jeans unless I was at home.
The magazine went around the room, and then the jokes began.
One of the bridesmaids asked if it was true I really knew how to handle bitches.
“Sure, keep them on a tight leash and whip the shit out of them occasionally, and they generally do what you tell them. Need lessons?”
She ran away, screaming in laughter.
Thew guys were even raunchier. Everyone had something to say but Jenny. She wouldn’t even look me in the eye.
As luck, or scheming women would have it, I was matched to Jenny at the wedding. I kept the conversation light and pleasant during the reception. I looked around the room. Except for maybe Sarah, Jenny was the prettiest woman in the room. Tall at five nine, she was slender where she needed to be, and curvy everywhere else. Her long red hair had blond highlights that I knew were natural, Pouty lips, almost perfect. A fine looking woman. Sarah, in contrast, was a classic blond with breasts that would have been average on anyone else, but looked huge on her tiny frame. Liquid blue eyes and a really nice butt. I had a stray thought of all of us rolling around in my bed, and grinned.
We were in the middle of a nice, slow dance, when she pulled back enough to look me in the eye.
“Say it.”
“Sat what, Jen?”
“That I’m a psychotic bitch with poor communication skills and very little brains.”
I stopped in the middle of the floor.
“Now why would I say a hurtful thing like that to you? To be honest, I’m afraid to say anything to you. I don’t know how you’d react. Now, I kind of like feeling you snuggled up to me, can we finish the dance without talking?”
She scooted up to me so hard I thought she was trying to pass through me.
“Yes, but we’re gonna talk, tomorrow. I’ll call.”
……………………
She didn’t call, she showed up at my house the next afternoon.
“Got any wine?” she asked, as she breezed by me when I opened the door. I watched as she settled into my couch. She looked around. “Why does a bachelor need with a three bedroom house, anyway?”
I got a bottle of my favorite out and looked through my silverware for the corkscrew.
“I don’t plan on being a bachelor forever. I figure I’ll need those bedrooms, somewhere down the line.”
She smiled as she accepted the glass.
“I forgot, you’re like the Communists, always got a five year plan.”
I shrugged.
“Probably the best idea they ever had.”
I didn’t say anymore. This was her show.
“Hear me out, please. I had a hard time getting over the divorce. I even had to take pills, one to calm me down, and one to get me going. If I mixed them, my emotions were everywhere.”
“I really like you, Sam, I always have. It was great to date you when I first came back. I had always harbored feelings for you. In my mind, you were perfect for me. I had already made up my mind I was going to screw your brains out that weekend. When you said you had to go out of town, and females were involved, I lost it. It was like my ex all over again. I should have let you finish when I called you. I should have called you back and apologized. But I didn’t.”
“I’m truly sorry, more than you know. I still want to be your friend, and just so you know, I’m off the pills, come to find out[surprise, surprise]they weren’t considered a good mix. End of groveling, waiting for forgiveness.”
I looked at her.
“wow, spaced out on pills! I always thought you were the most level headed person I knew. Never can tell, I guess. Give me a hug, you stoner.”
She didn’t know whether to be insulted or take it as a joke, but in the end she smiled and hugged me. Then, we were off as always, arguing the merits and drawbacks of living in a society that had a pill for every condition known to man, and a few for anything else they could come up with. It felt good.
She didn’t ask about getting together again, and I didn’t mention it. Two weeks went by when she called me.
“Pill head here. Freeman Feelbad Jr. and Sweet Thang are at the blues club this weekend. Wanna go?”
I loved the blues, and had read great things about the duo, so of course I went.
After that we fell into a pattern. I would call her or she would call me, and we spent most of our weekends together. On the weekend I was gone, she went out and did girl stuff, I guess.
I had lunch with Sarah and she was gushing.
“You can thank me now.”
“Thank you for what?”
“Getting you and Jen back together. I got a question, though. When are you gonna break down and bang her? We had a girls night out last weekend, went and saw male strippers. She’s about to explode, waiting on you. She told me she had killed two sets of batteries since you started dating again.”
“Huh?”
Sarah rolled her eyes.
“Bang her, you idiot. Shes so ready if you rubbed her legs I’m sure they would fly open. She wants YOU, dumbass. Get with the program unless you don’t want her. If that’s the case, let her down easy. What do you coon hunters say? Oh yeah, ‘the bullshit stops when the tailgate drops’. Let your dogs loose, boy!”
I reflected after the lunch. We hadn’t been intimate since we started seeing each other again.