Page 69 of Married to My Master

“Thanks again,” he said, groaning.

“You say your peace, then? To the lady?”

Dane shook his head, smiling sadly. “How do you know it was even a lady?”

“I get to see all sorts of looks driving this cab,” she said, laughing, “and men don't look like that for much else other than a lady.”

He gave her the address for his brother's apartment, his final destination.

“Want me to stick around when we get there, too?” she asked, not prodding, but just wanting to know how her schedule looked.

“It's my brother's place, where I'll be staying,” he said. “So definitely won't need a ride from there. Thanks anyways, though.”

“No problem, sugar.”

They rode the rest of the way in silence. When they pulled up in front of Benton's apartment, Dane stuffed a fifty in her hand and refused to take it back. “I can't,” she said. “I really can't.”

“You can and will,” he said, shaking his head. “Tell your husband thanks for the call,” he said, closing the passenger door behind him.

He headed up to the door and searched the names listed at the entrance. He found the one labeledK. Bishopand buzzed it.

“Hello?” his brother answered after a long minute.

“Guess who, bro.”

“Holy shit!” Benton said, his voice electronic and filled with static. He got off the intercom and buzzed him in. Dane made his way inside and trudged up to the stairs to his brother's apartment.

Benton was waiting for him, the front door open, with him leaning against back the frame with his arms crossed, a broad smile on his mirror-image face. “Why didn't you say when you were gonna get out?” he called, when Dane's head popped into view over the stairs.

“Had to make a stop before I saw you,” Dane replied, as he dragged himself down the hall. “And I didn't want to have you talk me out of it.”

“Emily, huh?”

Dane nodded. “Yeah. Emily.”

Benton sighed and shook his head. “Tough, man. Real tough. Come here.” He wrapped Dane into a warm embrace, clapping him on the back. It was the first time they'd hugged in years, and something about it felt right. Like Dane was having an arm returned to him.

“Thanks,” Dane said as they broke apart.

“Well, come on in and have a beer while we get you settled. It ain'tBishop's Brews, but it still ain't bad.”

The two brothers went into the small apartment. It was a spartan one bedroom place, with no pictures on the walls, and no television even. There were just books and half-empty boxes and cheap furniture. On one table, next to the couch, sat the pictures of Benton's deceased wife and their children together. They were memories from a happier time, memories of the life Dane's brother used to have.

“Still unpacking?” Dane asked, as he followed his brother into the kitchen.

“Yeah,” Benton said, as he opened the fridge and poked his head inside to grab a beer. He pushed one into his brother's hand and gave him the bottle opener. “Little here, a little there. Just getting everything put up still while I try to figure out everything. Still weird being out and working on being healthy, you know?”

Dane popped the lid on his beer and took a long, grateful drink. He hadn't tasted a good beer in he didn't know how long. Since before prison, that was for sure. It was cool and effervescent, with a good bite of bitter hops.

They stood there in the kitchen, a mutually agreed silence falling over them as they sucked on their beers.

“Sucks, doesn't it?” Benton asked, smirking.

Dane shook his head. “It's like I don't have a heart anymore, but I'm still fucking living for some reason. I don't know how I'm going to do it.”

His one-minute-older brother nodded and took a long drink. “I hear ya, man. The whole time I was in there, I was thinking about how I didn't want out. I didn't deserve to be out. You know that?”

Benton had never told him this before. He shook his head.

---