Page 43 of Liquids

I wince. The alcohol has loosened her filter. But she’s not wrong. I knew that was his reputation the first night I slid into his booth. Too late to start caring now.

“She said they’d been a couple for five years and thinks they still are. He said he’d been in a relationship a long time ago that lasted a couple of years, but that it was over.”

“So … which one is true?”

“I have no idea. But get this: She said they have an apartment together, and not to trust anything he told me.”

“An apartment!” she shrieks.

“Shh.”

“Why don’t we know about her? Who is she?”

“Someone named Sadie. Marge mentioned her, but said their relationship was on and off. Apparently, she lives in Carbondale. That must be where their place is.”

“Is the apartment thing true?”

“You can check, but it costs money.”

“Just fucking ask the asshole. Jesus Christ! Men.” She takes another swig of wine. “Why are they always such a disappointment? If he’s been leading you on, I’ll fucking kill him.”

She’s loyal like that, Marn. My chest warms. “I talked to him earlier about those two guys who showed up today, but I didn’t tell him about her visiting.”

“Why the hell not?”

“I want to see his face, read his body language, when I tell him. I want to know if he’s been lying to me all this time.” That’s what I’m telling myself, anyway. All this time. I want to snort at myself. It’s been like, what? Six days in total? And no, I’m not putting it off because I’m burying my head in the sand.

“I don’t know how you do that, hold something like that in. I’d have had to call him immediately and scream at him.”

“Revenge is a dish that’s best served cold,” I say, as I curl my nails into my palms.

I’ve got a nice little buzz going on by the time I head to the bathroom an hour later. I do my business and shimmy my panties up in the stall and turn to flush the toilet when I hear the main door open.

“Rumor has it he shacked up with that slut who was with Dave. You know those two who always hang around together and sleep with anything that moves. The blonde one was at the bar earlier.”

“Oh God, the loud-mouthed one … Mandy or something?”

“Marni.”

“That’s the one. She’s the worst. All over guys like a rash. Like they’d want to put their dick into something that’s been everywhere.”

“Her friend’s an alcoholic. Dave’s mad as hell. Vodka all over the apartment, he said. And he said it was a pigsty, too. He started seeing her thinking he’d straighten her out.”

My hand rests on the flush handle, not moving. I don’t remember Dave being annoyed about my drinking. He fucking drank more than me, the asshole. He was only too happy to get hammered and pass out in bed afterward.

“Why would Rig shack up with her?”

“I think it was all a rumor she put about to make it appear like she wasn’t as frumpy and old as she is. Like she could pull someone like him.”

What’s that saying about eavesdroppers never hearing anything pleasant? And I’m thirty-five, not a hundred and three! Fucking busybodies. What business is it of theirs? I flush the toilet, straighten up, and step out of the stall.

“Ladies,” I say.

I stand next to one of them by the sink as I wash my hands. She shifts on her feet as her friend digs around in her bag, eyes down. I grab a towel, taking a long time to dry my hands. The girl who was rooting in her bag starts doing her makeup in the mirror.

Rig wasn’t wrong about how we’re viewed in this town. You can kid yourself that no one knows, but in a place this small everyone’s sticking their nose in your business. Whatever’s going down with all the women Rig’s got trotting around after him, and Sadie in particular, nothing good is going to come out of it for me, that’s for sure. Marni got beaten up, I whacked a dangerous guy, and now we’re on the radar of the town’s worst assholes. Who knows what could happen next – are they going to torch my apartment like they torched Rig’s trailer?

And when I head toward the door of the bathroom, I can’t even come up with a decent parting shot.