Page 26 of Maid in America

Barrett lowered his voice. “He still on the rocks with Linda?”

She set the weights back down on the rack. “She left him. Went down to—”

“El Paso. Yeah, he was saying that last week when I ran into him at the bar. Thought he might have worked things out by now.”

“Pfft.” She shook her head, tugging sweaty strands of red hair from her neck. “Nope. My brother’s a stubborn dick. He doesn’t do anything unless it’shisidea.”

She leaned against the weight rack and shook her head. “He’s gonna lose her. He spent the whole week chasing slutty little bimbos around. Frankly, I don’t blame Linda for leaving him. Hell, I’d have kicked his skinny ass to the curb a decade ago if I were her, but she stuck it out this far. Strong woman.”

Barrett watched Anthony wipe a tear from his face with the long sleeve of his hoodie, red nose shining like Rudolph’s beneath the gym lights.

“You should go say ‘hi’ to him. He could use a friend.”

“Yeah, I will.” Barrett nodded solemnly, lowered his weights, and wrapped his arms around his chest, staring at the sad little mess his friend had become in just a few days, shriveled to a shell of his former self.

“Hey,” he looked back at Charlotte. “You want some breakfast? There’s a great place down the block. If you guys are hungry, the food’s on me.”

10

The Persephone Dinerwas a small breakfast spot within walking distance fromSwole. Early birds and groups of elderly patrons chattered, filling the small building with a low hum of conversation, only to be interrupted by the odd belly laugh and the clatter of cups being refilled. A waitress, a middle-aged woman with tired eyes, poured the last of her carafe into Barrett’s cup. After an appreciative and flirtatious nod from him, she blushed and hurried away.

Anthony and his sister sat in a red leather booth across from him, waiting for someone to break the awkward silence.

“What’s going on with you, man?” Barrett asked, staring at his friend.

After a pause, Charlotte nudged her brother. “You gonna tell him, or do you want me to?”

Anthony’s gaze remained stuck on his own coffee cup. It was as if his weary eyes silently begged the black liquid to make footholds, allowing him a way out of the hole he had dug for himself.

“Fine,” Charlotte said. “He’s been pretending he’s an eligible bachelor and trying to live a sort of Playboy lifestyle. Except, he has no charm, no game, and the seduction style of Helen Keller.”

Barrett snorted, bringing his coffee cup to his face to hide his smile. “I take it you didn’t take my advice and go crawling back?”

A tear ran down Anthony’s cheek, and he quickly wiped it away with the sleeve of his tattered hoodie. “No. And I’m glad my crumbling marriage is so amusing to the both of you.”

“Did you tell him what you did?” Charlotte asked Anthony, setting her cup back down on the table. Beneath her zip-up athletic wear, the peek of her full sports bra drew Barrett’s eye, even though he knew he had as much of a chance with her as a fish would at successfully riding a bicycle. She snapped her fingers in front of Barrett’s face and jerked up the zipper on her skin-tight jacket. “You’re here to help, not stare at my tits.”

“Oh, come on,” Barrett teased, “You, of all people, have to appreciate the lure of the female form.”

“True.” She nodded, turning her face back to her brother. “Go on. Tell him.”

Anthony finally lifted his head, his eyes making contact with Barrett’s momentarily before flicking away again. “She served me with divorce papers, man. It’s over.”

Wide-eyed, Barrett stared at him. “What? What the hell happened?”

With a pressing glare from his sister, Anthony continued, “I… kissed someone. It was stupid.”

Barrett laughed. “We talkin’abovethe belt orbelowthe belt?”

“Would you knock it the fuck off?” Charlotte snapped, drawing the other quiet patron’s attention.

“You’re right. Sorry. This is serious. Okay, so you kissed someone… presumably other than your wife?”

Anthony nodded solemnly. “She was an old friend. It just sort of… happened. It wasn’t that big of a deal. At least, I didn’t think it was. It was a mistake. I was hammered. I never said anything to Linda because I knew it would just piss her off. It’s not like I fucked the girl.”

“Yeah, but you see why it’s still shitty, right?” Charlotte asked.

“Of course.” He grimaced. “Couple weeks later, word finally got back to Linda. And she freaked out because the people that told her said we did more, and I looked guiltier than I was because I’d hid it from her. It was just a kiss, she’s blowing this shit way out of proportion.”

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