Page 51 of Jack

“The path behind the building goes straight to the guest house. I can find it.”

I point to the road at the edge of the lot. “So does the driveway.” I motion to the passenger seat. “I know you’re mad. We’ll sort it out when we get to the house.”

“Fine.” She steps on the running board and drops down onto the seat.

I get in and start the engine. My day’s gone from bad to worse and beyond. My oldest enemy has reverted to childish pranks. We pulled enough of that crap when we were kids. I have a club bunny we need to cut loose. Thanks to the bunny, I have to figure out how to talk to the woman beside me without upsetting her even more. I don’t know, though. I love this fiery attitude. Sweet and gentle won’t handle things today.

If Lily hadn’t come to us as an angel, I’d handle things like my parents do. Those two love each other like crazy and aren’t ashamed to show it, and they don’t care who’s watching. Watching your dad kiss your mom senseless is beyond uncomfortable. If you get on to him about it, he’ll just do it again for good measure.

My parents will also go toe-to-toe with each other quite often. I can’t be like that, though. The counselors have given us a long list of guidelines on how to handle abused women. With as crazy as things are right now, it’s getting hard to remember them all. Every rule means delicate. I’m trying. I really am.

When we pull up at the guest house, Lily hops out without waiting for me. I’ll honor her little demand for independence for a bit. She marches up the steps and waits by the door for me to unlock it. Naturally, I let her enter first. I leave her to herself and head to the kitchen. Coffee is a magical substance for the womenin my family. Lily seems to enjoy a good cup. Maybe it’ll defuse things between us tonight. Then again, maybe not. She didn’t follow me to the kitchen.

With two cups of coffee in hand, I find her curled into one corner of the couch. I set a cup on the end table beside her and settle into the other corner. She asked me to sit with her on the couch a few weeks ago. I’m not giving that right up just because she’s mad.

“You wanna talk about it?” Asking is risky, but the silence has become deafening.

“Not really.”

“It won’t solve anything if we don’t.” I’m trying to show patience, but I don’t like putting things off.

“I know.” She stares into her mug.

“What happened?” I have a pretty good idea. I’d like to hear it from her, though.

She’s quiet for so long that I fear she’s shut down for the night.

“She’s your mistress,” she finally replies softly.

“Absolutely not. I don’t have a mistress,” I inform her.

“You slept with her.”

“Yeah, once. I think,” I admit.

She snaps her head in my direction. “You don’t know how many times you’ve slept with her?”

“It’s not like that. I don’t know if anything actually happened with her. If it did, it was only once.” I didn’t explain that well at all.

“How’s that possible?”

“The night before Rodeo and I left, there was a party. I woke up the next morning with Jenny next to me.” I’m not painting myself in a good light here.

“A man should never be that drunk.”

No, they shouldn’t. I don’t like the look on her face. I may have just knocked myself back ten feet with her.

“It’s the only time it’s ever happened.” I glance at her from the corner of my eye. She doesn’t believe me.

“I thought her name was Bunny.”

I press my lips together and struggle not to laugh.

“Bunnies is what we call club girls,” I explain.

Lily shudders. “Why do they have to be real?”

That’s a loaded question and one I’m not answering. No explanation I could come up with wouldn’t sound right to a good woman. I glance at her again. Lily Harmon is, without a doubt, a good woman. A good woman that bad things happened to.

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