by Cole Savage
Embarrassed, a blush staking claim on her face, Nicki said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Harlow, I didn’t imagine anyone was looking.”
“No need to apologize, darlin’. You just made my day. At my age you don’t see too many perty girls no more, especially one as fine as yourself.”
“Thank you, Mr. Harlow. If you’ll excuse me, I have a date.” She walked next door, to McCoy’s, blushing. She opened the door, adjusted her hair and walked in with a strut, toward the tender, her pumps clacking across the hardwood floor, hoping Kyle would see her. She raised her head to show Kyle a smile and quickly realized he wasn’t there. That son of a bitch. She looked at Tim, the bartender, who had a baseball cap on backward, sporting a rough goatee and mustache combination, wearing a red and white, long sleeve plaid shirt rolled to the elbows. Tim couldn’t have been older than thirty. He was the son of Burle Crawford, the owner of McCoy’s. Leaning on the counter, Tim was drying beer mugs and Nicki looked over at him.
“Tim has anybody been by here in the last thirty minutes?”
“Well, Nicki— Catfish was here a while ago. Tom stills was here, but I’m guessin’ the way you’re dollied up, you ain’t looking for them.”
“No, Tim. Somebody you didn’t recognize?” Nicki showed her displeasure at Tim.
“I’m sorry, Tim. I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I think my date blew me off.”
“Oh, you must be talking about that good-looking fellow stepped in the bathroom.”
“He’s in the bathroom?” said Nicki.
“Sure is”.
Nicki started to walk to the door again, to replay her entrance, and half way to the door she decided against it, so she turned back and walked to the bar where Tim was still drying beer mugs. “It’s okay by me, Nicki, if you replay that entrance. You had my full attention. That dress looks beautiful on you, by the way.” Standing across from Tim, her hip thrusted, her back facing the bathroom, Nicki and Tim discussed meaningless dribble, when Kyle stepped out of the bathroom. He looked to the front door, then back to the bar and said, “Nicki.”
She turned her head toward Kyle’s voice, but kept her posture.
“Kyle. Hey, how are you?”
Kyle found it difficult to say anything. Frozen, he gulped, one hand in his pocket, his eyes swimming. He caught the shifting of her hips under the short dress as she walked over and he could feel blood rushing to his head. Fuck me, he thought. Buried deep in the fertile corners of his mind, her exquisiteness caught him off-guard, and his eyes danced the Cha-Cha, like he had just discovered a hundred new colors in the Universe. His eyes revealed things he couldn’t say. That body, that face, those eyes, are enough to drive me mad…There’s gold in them there hills, Kyle, so go forward and be her Knight in shinning armor.
Nicki was wearing her yellow, strapless, off the shoulder dress with white flowers outlined in baby blue, cut high above the knee, showing just enough skin to leave any man longing for more. Her dark hair was in an up-do, her long bangs hanging in front of her cheeks. The yellow dress hugged her figure like it was sprayed on, exposing vivacious legs that seemed to drift upwards, unjustly stopping at the cuff of the dress, mere inches from the dark spot between her legs. The cork pumps, at this point, were overkill. Kyle’s eyes stopped at her face that looked like God beheld the vision and said, ‘this is woman’. Kyle blinked, roaming every square inch of his former wife and focused on her supple lips, covered with something alien. His body racked with goosebumps. Both hands in his pocket now, the vibrant red color on her lips sucked him in like a black hole in the void of space. Looking at her, rearranging her pieces in his mind from fragments of memories, was a vision that suddenly eased for him, what otherwise was driving him mad. Tim was smiling, noticing their time slipping, thunder-clap-worthy first moment of eye contact after a decade of separation. Nicki realized that the lipstick Karen had bought her was a nice touch, delivering the effect she had hoped for.
She walked over to Kyle. He registered the tick-tock oscillation of her hips, the amplitude of the curves divulged by the cut of her dress, and the sound of her pumps on the floor. With the coming of daylight through the ample windows in the front, he could see the marks of care on her face, the shadows under her eyes, a tautness around her mouth, as if she had bitten in to something sweet and sour. She was so much more beautiful than even he remembered.
Kyle came out of the coma when Nicki put her arms around him— praying this was his moment of serendipity. He towered over her. He could smell the sun’s warmth on her skin and hear her labored breathing from the top of her head. Nicki nudged him off, leaned back and said, “It’s great to see you, Kyle. You look great.” And Kyle did. Nicki felt her cheeks grow warm, and suddenly the air got heavy. Kyle was sporting denim with a blue button up, exposing thick brown hair on his chest, capped off with a brown sports jacket and tasseled loafers. Not at all the hillbilly Nicki remembered. His hair was long and slicked back, held in place with Brylcream or hair gel. Nicki had to control her breathing, she didn’t want to let on just how good he looked. Now I remembered why all the girls envied me, and why I fell head over heels for Kyle, but she had to remind herself that this was all superficial. The guy standing in front of her was shallow, narcissistic, and had ruined her life.
After a few awkward moments of staring at each other, Kyle pulled a chair back for Nicki at one of the tables next to the jukebox, that would afford them privacy, and they sat opposite each other on a small two-top. Immediately, Nicki felt the glow of his presence. Tim came over with a smile, drying his hands with a rag, and from pockets in his apron, he placed two coasters in front of them. He looked at Nicki and said, “Will this be a six, a twelve, or a kegger?” Then he laughed with Nicki. “This will be a single, Tim.” She laughed, and Tim shifted his gaze to Kyle.
“What will it be, sport?”
“We’ll take two whiskeys.” Kyle knew from early in their marriage that Whiskey was Nicki’s kryptonite. Tim gave the table a quick wipe and retreated to the bar. Kyle looked at Nicki.
“What was that all about?” Nicki couldn’t stop laughing, but she could tell Kyle was getting irritated, so she got straight-faced and told Kyle that it was a joke amongst friends.
“Elaborate, please?”
“Well, Kyle. As you know, there is a shortage of responsible, good looking men in this Cowtown, so when I come here on Saturday with some strapping fellow, Tim knows I drink my beer according to how ugly or smelly that fellow happens to be. If he’s okay, Tim brings me a six pack. If he’s ugly, he brings me a twelve pack. If he’s ugly and smelly like Catfish Crowder— it’s a keg.”
“Come on, Nicki. Tell me you’re kidding?”
“No, I’m afraid I’m not. I mean, I don’t actually drink a keg or a twelve pack. I drink just enough to forget who I’m with,” she said laughing.
“I’m sorry, Nicki.”
“Don’t be. Going out with these clowns is a way to blow off steam at the end of the week. But really, I’m good.”
“You look great, Nicki.”
“Wow, that almost sounded like a compliment?”
“No, I mean it. You haven’t changed. If anything you look better, if that’s possible.” Nicki broke eye contact, looked away for a moment and sighed. Tim returned with a bottle of Jack Daniels, placed the glasses in front of them, poured the first drink and set the bottle on the table. He gave Nicki a wink and retreated to the bar. Trying to ease the coarse awkwardness, Kyle said, “I’m dying to see the boys.”
“I wish I could say the same thing about the boys wanting to see you.”
“A few weeks with me will change their mind…How’s Karen?”
“Like global warming on Earth.”
“So she hasn’t changed much?”
“No, she’s changed. She’s older now, and angrier.”
“Is that possible?”
“You’d know if you’d been around.”
“Shit, I stepped right on top of that mine.” Nicki took a sip of Whis
key from her beaker, crossed her legs and looked Kyle in the eyes, looking for her next words, but Kyle spoke first. “You know, since we made this date I can’t stop reliving events of our past… The good ones.”
“Yeah, I know. I have too,” she said, wiping her neck with a napkin. “Though we may differ on the red-letter days that were far and few in between.”
Kyle, still chipping away at the glazier between them, said, “Do you remember the day we went out to Mabel Lake with your twenty-two and we barnstormed the Shelby’s barn, a week after his house burned to the ground and you spent the afternoon staggering through the hay loft taking pot-shots at New York Sewer Rats the size of Honey Badgers, but you couldn’t hit the side of the barn because you were tipsy on the shine? That day, you laughed so hard you wet your tiny shorts?”
Placing her glass on the table, Nicki swallowed and said, smiling, “How could I forget. That’s the first time I threw up after drinking, and I did it in front of you.”
“I didn’t pay attention to that. Those days I could never see past your butt in those short dresses, and mini-shorts you always wore, something that made you the target of every guy with a swinging dick, or a pulse.” She laughed.
“I didn’t know, Kyle. I was clueless. I was just a dumb-witted girl looking for attention, but I promise, not by wearing short dresses and shorts. I thought the attention I was getting from the boys was because of my charming personality,” Nicki said, lifting the back of her hair with both hands and smiling.
“Are you kidding me?”
“Okay, I was a little gullible.”
“Gullible? Hah.” Kyle put his elbows on the table and leaned toward Nicki. “I hope you are aware that your articles of clothing, or lack of, back then, were a serious deterrent to a harmonious relationship.” Nicki covered her face and laughed.
“Kyle do you know how hard it is to find shorts that fit my small waist, and, my butt at the same time?”
“Nicki none of your shorts covered your ass, so what are you saying?”
Nicki crossed her arms on the table and planted her head in them. “Your Halleluiah ass was the catalyst for seventy-five percent of my fights at Honky-tonks, and Prom. The other twenty-five percent, I’ll admit, were alcohol induced, but still.”
Looking at her, Kyle placed his elbows on the table and locked his hands, waiting for Nicki to lift her head. A few moments passed, and Nicki finally picked her head up, laughing. She covered her mouth, she turned stone-faced, crossed her legs, took a swig of Whiskey and said, “Kyle, when did you first like me?”
“Not so fast, Housse… You’re not changing the station that fast… but while I’m thinking about it, I do have a confession to make.”
“Just one?”
“Yeah, just one. I’m gonna need more time, and a serious bouquets of flowers for the other ones.” Kyle looked around and watched a couple come in the front door.
“Are you going to make me wait?” she said.
Looking at her, Kyle laughed and said, “Do you remember the bikini with the Dixie flag on it? I think you wore it in tenth grade.”
Surprised, she said, “how do you know about that bathing suit? I never wore it around boys.”
“You gotta promise you won’t be mad.”
“How can I promise if I don’t know what you’re going to say.”
“It was back in the summer of 98’, and Melissa’s brother, Carmine, went to Billy and told him that you, Mandy, Vanessa, and Olivia were going to Haden’s Pond to skinny-dip.” Surprised, Nicki said,” where are you going with this?”
“I hope we can laugh about this now, but the next day, when the four of you went down there to swim, we were already there, hiding in a couple of tree stands that I put up there for the hunt”
“Kyle, are you”—
“Let me finish, Nicki, then you can say what you want… Your friends took their clothes off, but you didn’t. You were wearing a tight, white t-shirt, tied at the stomach and rolled around the shirt, between your Cardiac tits, like a bra” Kyle laughed, but Nicki seemed disturbed.
“How dare you, Kyle. How dare you… And Cardiac tits— really?”
“Yell at me later, but let me finish… Cardiac tits was a nickname Wayne Spelling gave you in ninth grade, because of the size of your twins.”
“I don’t get it?”
“Your tits caused heart attacks for any guy that got close enough to see them bounce, because you never wore bras, and I can see that hasn’t changed,” he said looking at the launch buttons on her breast. “And you always wore paper thin blouses.”
“Men are disgusting, Kyle, and you’re their sick ring leader... You weren’t supposed to be there, you ass.” Nicki looked angry, but in a theatrical way.
“Anyway, you also wore that incredible bikini bottom with Old Dixie printed on it. It wasn’t a thong, but it might as well have been because your ass crack kept swallowing the back of it, and the front barely covered your hairline, if you had one.” Nicki turned away from Kyle and a short peal of laughter escaped her lips.
“Olivia and Vanessa left you and Mandy there, swinging off the rope, while they went down to the falls… Did you know Olivia and Vanessa were bisexual?”
“Are you off your rocker? What gave you that idea?”
“I didn’t think so, Nicki. Anyway, Billy and Skeeter followed Olivia and Vanessa because Billy liked Vanessa and I told Skeet to go, but I stayed to watch you. Skeeter and Billy told me later that Vanessa and Olivia did the dirty deed by Granger Falls, far from prying eyes, so they thought.”
Nicki’s eyes lit up. She covered her open mouth and said, “Shut the front door, Kyle. Tell me that didn’t happen.”
“No, no, Nicki, it happened. I got a very graphic description from Billy and Skeet. Something about Olivia being a seasoned muff diver.”
“What does diving have to do with Olivia, Kyle?”
“You see, Nicki, gullible…You’ll have to figure that one out on your own.
Nicki recomposed herself and peevishly said, “Kyle I have a confession to make.”
“Just one.”
“Screw you. I wasn’t like you.”
“Point taken.”
“I didn’t know that about Ollie, or Vanessa, but we did pay Carmine five dollars, and promised to babysit Lil’ Lulu two times if Carmine told you we were going to the pond.” Nicki laughed, but Kyle’s expression changed from a smile to disbelief. “What did you just say?”
“We told Carmine to tell you we were going skinny dipping.” Surprised by the statement, Kyle paused for a moment, his hand on his chin, then he said, “That’s why. That’s why you were flopping around theatrically with Mandy after the other girls left.”
“What in the world are you talking about, Kyle?” Nicki covered her face and laughed.
“That’s why you and Mandy were twitching and striking poses like a Vogue model, because you knew me and Wayne were watching.
“Wayne? Wayne was there?” said Nicki, caught off guard.
Of course Wayne was there. You must have seen Skeeter and Billy coming off the tree, bird-dogging Vanessa and Olivia, so you must have seen me and Wayne. That’s why you pulled that Broadway act with Mandy.”
“Kyle, are you lying. Was Wayne really there?”
“No, but you should see your face right now.”
“You, son of a bitch.”
“But he could have been, Nicki.”
“No, I know you, Kyle. We knew Billy would be there because Cameron told Billy, and Billy likes Vanessa. We knew Skeeter would be there because you two are tied at the hip, and he’s your cousin. But we also knew that you wouldn’t take Wayne because he likes me. And if Kyle says someone is not going, well, golly gee, they’re not going because you are the feudal lord over those goobers and they follow you around like you walk on water.”
“Wait a minute, Nicki… It all makes sense now. That’s why you didn’t go nude… Because you knew we would be there, much to my chagrin, but what about t
he other three. If they knew boys were going to be there why did they go full nude?”
“Duh, Kyle. They didn’t care who saw them. That wasn’t Olivia’s, or Vanessa’s first rodeo. And Mandy, now that I think about it, that was her first time. I’m surprised she went full nude.”
“I’m not. Did you see how much she enjoyed rubbing her boobs on your backside?”
“Shut up, Kyle. Just shut up.”
“I’m just saying, her face didn’t reflect a look of going through the motions, you know what I’m saying”
“Ew, Kyle. That’s gross, blah, blah, blah, I’m not listening...Let’s move past this, I’m getting nauseous.” Nicki paused, she looked at Kyle and said, “By the way, what were you doing up there, on the tree stand while me and Mandy were role playing.”
“I thought you didn’t want to talk about it anymore?”
“Shut up and tell me what you were doing up there, by yourself.”
“I’ll never tell.”
“Were you romancing the stone?”
Kyle laughed. “You mean romancing the bone, Nicki?”
“Whatever, you shit,” she said slapping his arm.
She took on a serious expression and said, “Why did you wait so long to tell me this, Kyle? We were married for almost two years and you never told me that you were there, in the tree.”
“Nicki our marriage was a whirlwind. We were both busy putting fires out that I started and the last thing I wanted to do was pour gasoline on an already out of control fire.”
“After all the shit you did to me, do you really think, you, playing the role of a peeping Tom was going to send me over the edge?”
“Yeah, actually I did.”
Eager to change the station, Kyle looked Nicki in the eyes and said, “Nicki if I could have one picture from out past, just one, to hang on my wall, it would be of you that day.” Kyle put his hand on her arm. “Your body was a vignette, everything around you was blurred.”
