“Cuntasaurus! Oh, no Skankasaurus is even better! Why can’t I think of names like that when I need them? Wait, what are we talking about?” Jane takes another sip of her drink before anyone answers her. “Well, shit, I think my cup has a hole in it.”
“What do ya mean it has a hole in it. There’s nothing under your seat.” Kierstie bends and looks under Jane’s seat.
“No, it keeps getting emptied into my mouth, but then makes me sad ’cause it’s all gone.” Jane pouts.
Trying not to laugh at her pouting and looking into her empty cup, I see Ma, Anna, and Mads all looking in their cups.
“I knew you were a smart one, ’cause my cup has the same damn problem,” Ma declares. I don’t think I’ve seen Ma this drunk in years. Seems they’ve all accepted and embraced Jane as one of theirs.
Jane attempts to stand up.
“Mads, let’s go get another batch.” Shit, they’re gonna end up on their asses at this rate.
“Sweetheart, relax. We’ve got plenty of young men around here who will bring it to us. Prospect!” Anna yells out.
Her own son, Mayson, comes over and gets their drink orders.
Looking over the back area of the clubhouse, I again realize just how amazing it is to be out of prison and just how much livin’ I missed out on.
I hear someone grab the chair next to me.
“You got that look on ya, son, the one where it’s hit ya again that you’re out.” Wyatt looks at me as he sits down. “Know that look myself.”
“Wait, you did time? How did I not know that?”
“It was before I met Anna. I was about your age when I got out. The reason I went in was for some poor choices on my part, but I can tell you have the same look as I did and that you’ll do just about anything to stay out.”
“Fuck, yes.”
“I saw you watching our gaggle of women over there. The one your head over heels for? Let her be there for you. Let your brothers be there for you. You need to talk to someone who gets what you're feeling? Come talk to me or Grant. We’ve both been there. Whatever you do, don’t keep shit in. Especially in your relationship.”
Looking him in the eye, I nod.
“Son, this bit goes more toward your relationship and not about your doing time. That woman over there, from everything I’ve learned from your parents and observed in the couple of times I’ve met her, is something special.”
“She is.”
“Being with one man is hard enough, being with two or three is a challenge not many women are up for. She needs to know you three are all in, all the time. She’s going to come up against prejudice and judgment that you’ll never hear about or encounter. She’ll take that all and then some because she chose to sign up for this. She’s gonna do it without complaint. In turn, you boys need to make sure she gets all of you. You can’t bottle any shit up, can’t put her in between arguments you have. She’s gonna need time alone.”
He holds his hand up before I can get a word out.
“I’m not talking days or even hours. Anna takes five, maybe ten minutes every morning just to sit in her favorite chair and stair out at nothing. Sometimes, she sits in her car for five minutes after she gets home.Let her.We men wanna fix everything, whereas sometimes a woman needs nothing more than a moment to herself.”
I feel a hand on my shoulder. Pa adds his two cents to the conversation. “Son, that last bit goes for any woman. We, as men, feel the need to come in and immediately fix things. Sometimes, they just need a few minutes to cry things out and are fine. Never underestimate a woman’s need to just emote for a few minutes.”
Jane
Leaning back in the chair I’ve been sitting in for a good while and looking over toward the firepit area, I ask, “What do ya think they’re talking about over there so serious like?”
Ma answers my question.
“Well, if I can read Pa’s expression, he and his buddies are sharing some wisdom with our boys, probably about not being idiots.”
Anna adds, “I know my men were going to share with your men, Jane, some things they had to learn the hard way. Hell, they’re still learning nearly thirty years later. Now, Miss Linnea, care to come with me to make some coffee to put our next round in?”
Ma gets up. “I reckon that’s a fine idea, Miss Anna. God knows if we let a prospect make it, we’ll be drinking colored water.”
Waiting till they’re out of earshot, I ask Mads the question I’ve been dying to ask for the last hour.
