Page 47 of Trig

With the tips of her fingers, she dabs at the corners of her eyes. Her hands trembling in the process.

“I never blamed you. I never hated you. Yeah, I was angry, but I understood. You could have walked back into my life and stayed at any given moment and I would have welcomed you as if you never left. I forgive you, Torrie, for not coming back and staying in my life.”

She turns her body and bows her head, covering her face with her hands. I step forward and despite the distance we have had all these years I’m ready to close the gap. I turn her around, embrace her tightly, and watch as she begins to lose her shit. She’s full-on sobbing into my chest. There it is. All the remorse. All the pain. All the fucking tragedy released right here on my wedding day.

“Is everything alright,” I hear a man say.

Fucking Todd!

Torrie begins to pull away so I unlock my hold on her. I turn and stare at him.

“My little brother getting married made me a little emotional, that's all. Todd, this is my brother…Mike.” She struggles with my new name. “Mike, this is my husband, Todd,” she says, wiping her eyes.

Todd has bushy red hair and thick-rimmed glasses and came wearing a cardigan sweater with slacks way too damn short. He’s a no socks with slacks type of guy which makes me want to throw the entire man away. He looks like he watches birds out of a window with a telescope for fun. Ain’t no way! Torrie would never.

“Congratulations on your big day. It’s so nice to finally meet you,” he says as he adjusts his glasses. “I’ve been wanting to meet some of her family. I was starting to believe none of you existed. She’s so tight-lipped about her past.”

He extends his hand out to shake mine. My intrusive thoughts of breaking it surface. Instead, I smile and grab his hand.

“That’s our Torrie. So private.” I fake smile at him and then to her.

Her face tightens up. She looks like she could kick me.

“May I ask what you do for a living, Mike? You look strong, like you work out. Are you a personal trainer? No, wait. Let me guess again. Athletic coach. It’s got to be one of those.”

“Torrie, tell him what I do,” I say, fucking with her.

“Mike,” she warns.

Todd's eyes shoot back and forth at us in confusion.

“So secretive. What are you, a hitman?” he jokes.

I fake laugh as I stare at Torrie. She definitely fake laughs as she stares back. The laughs all stop short and then silence quickly fills the air.

“Honey! Why don’t you get the kids some cake and I’ll be over in a second.” She smiles.

“It was great to meet you, buddy. I look forward to talking later.” Todd smacks me on the shoulder and strides off.

I look at Torri with disdain. I’m embarrassed for her.

“What the actual fuck, Torrie?”

“Stop! He’s a nice guy. He makes good money and he treats me well.”

“Nice guy? You have dark secrets in your closet. I can taste it. Care to share?”

“I can assure you that you have darker ones. Do you care to share?” she shoots back.

“No!” we say in unison.

We both glare at each other for an extended amount of time before I break.

“Perhaps a beer?” I suggest.

“Perhaps a couple,” she fires back.

I motion for the bartender to bring us four beers as we sit down.

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