Page 18 of Taking Turns

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Bric asks.

Smith looks at me now. “Because Quin likes her a lot.” He switches to Bric. “And you like her well enough. So why rock the boat?”

“But what was she doing every weekend?” Bric pushes. “Did you ever ask her?”

“I told you,” he says. “I hadn’t seen her for months. I have no idea what she was doing.”

“Well, that’s irresponsible,” Bric says, anger coming through in his tone. “We trusted you to take care of her on the weekends.”

“Yeah, so you two could go downstairs and have your fun. If you gave a fuck what she was doing, then why didn’t you ask her?”

“Because we thought you were with her, Smith,” Bric says. “She could be in trouble. She could’ve gotten herself in trouble.”

“Don’t start with me,” Smith says. “She’s had a lot of time to herself this past year. And you know what? Maybe the two of you should’ve asked her what was up when she asked for those two-week sabbaticals last summer. One week with us, then two weeks without? What the fuck kind of arrangement is that? That was never part of the game before.”

“She wanted space,” Bric says.

“Yeah,” Smith answers. “Space. Like stay-the-fuck-away-from-me space.”

“No,” I say. “No, she didn’t want me to stay away. We had a lot of fun last summer.”

“You can tell yourself that all you want, Quin. But the fact is, she left you.”

“Smith,” Bric warns. “She didn’t leave him. She left us.”

But Smith is undeterred. He stands up, gets his wallet out, throws some money down on the table and looks me dead in the eyes. “She left you, brother. I left her a long time ago. And Bric was just using her as a convenient date to corporate functions. She left you. And the sooner you come to terms with that, the easier it will be to move on.”

And then he flicks something at Bric. A business card he must’ve gotten out of his wallet with the money. “That’s her. I wouldn’t let him go over there,” he says, nodding his head at me. “But you can do whatever you want. I got shit to do today. I’ve done my part. I’ll be around this weekend if you guys want to start looking for someone new. If not, whatever. I’m cool with that too.”

Both Bric and I stare at Smith’s back as he walks out. And then I take a deep breath and reach for the card.

Bric snatches it up from the table before I can get a hold of it. “Not a good idea, Quin. I’m just telling you, we need to let Rochelle go and leave it at that. She walked out, fine. We’re fine with it.”

I’m not fine with it. Not one bit.

“Go upstairs if you want,” Bric continues. “Take what’s yours. Keep what you want to keep. And then let it go. I’ve already got my assistant calling around for packers. I’m gonna clear the whole place out and we’ll start again.” He stops. Stares at me for a few seconds. “Do you want to start again?”

I let out a long sigh.

“Because I think Smith just said he did.”

“And you do too?” I ask.

“Yeah,” Bric says. “I’m still in. We’ve been at this longer than Rochelle has been around. I’m not ready to settle down yet. Are you?”

I shrug. “I don’t know what the fuck is happening.”

Bric reaches for my shoulder, squeezes it like a brother to a brother. Someone who understands. “Rochelle was just that kind of girl, you know? These girls… they’re not all there, Quin. No girl with her shit together says yes to this kind of offer. You know this. We’ve had plenty of games end. But we still have many more to play. Just take this week to do what you gotta do and then be here on Friday night. OK?”

I don’t say anything. I can still see Smith through the window. He’s standing out front talking on his phone. “What do you think he’s doing? He’s got shit to do? He never has shit to do. He doesn’t do anything except spend money and brood like an asshole.”

“Never mind Smith,” Bric says. “Did you hear what I just said?”

“I heard.”

“So you’re gonna come this weekend?”

“I can’t even think about this weekend. It’s Monday. I’m supposed to be with Rochelle tonight.”