Page 23 of Buddy System

He turns a grumpy face to me and says, “We were seventeen, Brooke.”

“All the more reason you should be over it by now!” she pouts at him in that same cringy tone and stamps her foot.

Skyler fumes at her, “Once a cheater, always a cheater.”

“Well, what wereyoudoing at the Sock Hop without me then, huh?”

“We’ve been over and over this before, Cherry. Like I told you several years ago, I was picking up take-out for my family! We’d had a long day, and my mom didn’t feel like cooking.”

“Oh, yeah.” She looks down at her feet. Cute sandals. I wonder if she got them here in town. “Well, you should be over that by now, Skyler,” she repeats, only this time it’s in a grumpy voice.

“So, what’syour current boyfrienddoing today?” he asks her.

“Oh, he’s…uh…working…” she trails off as Skyler advances on her. He walks past her and opens the door.

Skyler’s voice softens as he says, “Then take this picnic of yours to his workplace and surprisehim. Be a decent human being to at least one man in your life. He seemed like a good guy.”

“You don’t want me?”

“Sorry, no. Not for years.”

She points her nose in the air. “Well, okay then. If you change your mind, I can leave you my number.”

“No thanks.”

Cherry gives him one last sad-puppy-dog-eyes look and licks her lips. She juts out her tits that aren’t nearly as impressive as her booty and switches her attention over to Levi. “What about you, handsome?”

Levi flinches and tells her, “Not now, not ever. I’m here with my wife, for one thing, and Skyler is my best friend for another. Catch a fucking clue, lady. It’s time for you to go. And it’s rude to walk into other people’s houses.”

“Well, at least my boyfriend isn’t scared of a bunch of stupid balloons! You big sissy!” With a nasty laugh, she turns and flounces out of the house. Skyler follows her out and stands at the open door, watching to see if Little Miss Hotpants is really driving away.

I turn my attention to Levi who’s gone a livid shade of red, and he’s shaking. This isn’t good. I wrap my arms around him and hold on tight.

There is the sound of tires spinning on the gravel drive, and Skyler finally comes back inside and locks the door. He looks furious.

I guess the mood has been ruined for now.

Skyler assures us, “Don’t believe Cherry went to a lot of trouble to fix a picnic. She can’t cook worth a damn. She’s theonly person I knew who failed home ec. three times. My strong guess is she went through the frozen food section of the Piggly Wiggly and got the chicken and the pie. Their deli does make a good potato salad, at least.” He shrugs and shakes his head.

After some rather uninspired peanut butter sandwiches, apples, and potato chips for lunch, I get an idea that I hope will elevate the general atmosphere. “Hey, guys, I’ve never been fishing. Do you think you two could show me how it’s done?”

They readily smile and agree. We spend the next few hours out at the creek. It’s serene out there, so by the time we have enough fish for dinner, we’re all relaxed again and cheered up. Thank you, Mother Nature.

When we get back to the house, Skyler sets us up to show me how to clean the fish (gross), and Levi heads in to call Skyler’s therapist’s office for an appointment. He joins us a few minutes later to finish the cleaning and says, “Somehow, just knowing I have an online chat set up with him in a couple days makes me feel better. Thanks, Sky.”

The fish are delicious. I feel unusually accomplished by eating a dinner that I helped catch and clean. It’s so different from shopping at the Piggly Wiggly.

After dinner, I ask Levi if he’d like to join me in the shower, and his eyes light up. “Can Skyler come too?” he whispers to me.

A shiver goes through me as I look deep into my husband’s eyes. He’s so expectant and cheerful; I turn to Skyler, who’s bent over as he loads the dishwasher, and I try for a nonchalant tone. “Hey, Skyler, Levi and I are going to take a shower, but Levi wants to know if you’ll join us. What do you think?”

His head snaps up, and he stares at me a moment. Then he looks at Levi as he straightens his back.

Chapter

Twenty

Levi

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