Purely Relative (The P.U.R.E.)

by Claire Gillian

  ***

  Ian didn’t show up until nearly noon on Saturday. He wasn’t the least bit hung over but he was quiet and subdued. Uh-oh, maybe Jenny kicked him to the curb instead of Scott.

  “I’m sorry. I came here to see you and showed up almost a day late,” he said, a hot cup of coffee nestled between his palms. “I did get your voicemail, what there was of it, not that it mattered.”

  “Yeah, what’s that all about? I mean, how could you do something like that?”

  He turned to face me, brow furrowed. “Like what? What did I do that was so horrible other than blow you off for a day, which I am sorry about?”

  “Ian....” I rolled my eyes. “Did you sleep with her?”

  He smiled, a cunning curl to the edges of his lips, the satisfied grin of an unrepentant Lothario.

  “You did!” I gave his arm a slap.

  “A gentleman does not kiss and tell.” He took a sip of his coffee, but the mug wasn’t big enough to hide the smile that dug in even deeper.

  “You’re no gentleman. You’re a scoundrel!”

  When he lowered his mug, his smile was gone, a sober regard in its stead. “I’m really not,” he whispered. “She’s the one for me, the one I think I’ve been waiting for my whole life. I know it.” His eyes searched mine. For sympathy? Understanding? Forgiveness?

  “This is so unlike you. If you two aren’t a one-night stand, what are your plans?”

  “I’m going back over to her house later tonight. She’s breaking it off with her fiancé,” he checked his watch, “right about now. I rented a car so you won’t have to drive me around.”

  A slap in the face couldn’t have stung more. He had flown here to spend time with me, not bust up a five-year-long engagement. But he’d chosen the latter and maybe I’d get whatever scraps of his time he had left over after he finished boinking his cheating girlfriend! Here I was worried about what Jenny thought of me when she was the one who disappointed.

  “Wow.” All I could do was shake my head. “Just wow. You barely know her, Ian.”

  “Not true. I’ve known her casually for about two years. I’ve been flying the same routes a couple of times a month for that long. She’s often been on the same flights as me. We’ve had drinks and dinner at the airport a few times before heading off in our separate directions. But nothing ever happened before ... though not for lack of trying on my part, believe me.” He raised his hands. “I know. I’m terrible. It was all in fun at first, but somewhere along the line, I realized I was no longer joking around. I wanted her, and it was more than just sexual attraction, which, by the way, we never, ever acted on before.”

  Jenny had perked up when she heard my brother’s name mentioned at Thanksgiving dinner. At the time, I’d attributed it to the amazement of the coincidence. Maybe there was more to it even then.

  I narrowed my eyes, crossed my arms and gave a long exhale. “Fine. But you haven’t even met Jon yet. Can we try dinner again tonight?”

  Ian smiled and leaned forward to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Actually, I have a better idea, but I gotta piss like a racehorse right now, so I’ll tell you when I come back.” He rose and pointed down the short hall off the living room. “Bathroom this way?”

  I nodded and away he dashed. What else was he planning on springing on me?

  My phone rang with Jon’s familiar ringtone. I answered before the second ring. “Hey!”

  “Hey ... um, I just talked to Jenny and—”

  “I know.” I growled. “I’m still in shock.”

  “Listen, she wants us all to have dinner tonight at my parents’ house. Jason will be leaving on Monday, and I’ve not seen him that much. Then there’s Jenny’s, uh ... news.”

  My hand flew to my chest. “Dear God, no. She can’t possibly want to tell them this way, just hours after telling Scott?”

  Ian walked in at that point.

  “Yeah, well, the Cripps sort of have their own style of sharing news,” he said with a slight cough at the end. Not good. I knew that little cough thing he did. It was never good. “So, I’ll come pick you and Ian up at five-thirty if that’s okay?”

  “Ian, too?” I caught Ian’s eye. He stared back, face expressionless.

  “Yes. Ian, too.”

  “Oh my God, that’s going to be so awkward. Seriously?”

  “Yes.” He offered no more, no explanation, no similar shock at the impropriety of making such a sudden move public.

  “Alright. Five-thirty then. What should I expect?”

  On the other end of the line, Jon exhaled. “I have absolutely no idea. At least Jason’s life is drama-free at the moment. He’s only nineteen, though. Give him a few more years, then watch out!”

  I had to laugh. “I’ll make sure to sit next to Jason, then.”

  Jon chuckled softly. “Not if I beat you to it.”

  Chapter 7

  Ian didn’t stay and wait for Jon. When he hadn’t heard from Jenny post-break-up, he couldn’t stand it any longer and booked it back over to her house.

  I sat in stunned ignorance on my sofa, wondering how the whole sordid situation would go down. Nothing had ever happened in my family like this. Maybe because we weren’t fiery Italians? Early in our friendship, I wouldn’t have labeled Jon as fiery. I had since learned that when the heat was held to the nearly flame-resistant fuse for too long, he could explode. I had seen it with my own eyes the night he beat up our supervisor when he caught the slimeball sexually harassing me. He lost his job at Anderson-Blakely over that incident.

  Jon’s arrival brought only more questions.

  “Any word from Jenny?” I asked as soon as I opened the door to admit him.

  He shook his head, his expression grim, and walked inside. “Where’s Ian?”

  “He left. He went to your sister’s house because he hadn’t heard from her. Do you think maybe she changed her mind?”

  Jon pulled me into his arms saying, “First things first,” before laying a big smooch on my lips. “I don’t know what to think. I don’t think Scott is the type to go ballistic.”

  I pulled out of his embrace and grabbed my purse and my jacket. Like a true Southern gentleman, Jon helped me put it on.

  Christine made excellent time through the drizzly Dallas streets and highways. Traffic was light, with most exhausted from their weekend shopping warfare or indolent from Thanksgiving leftovers in front of the tube watching football. The pavement shone under the streetlights as we made the final turn onto his parents’ street.

  Jon punched in the code to the front gate, and we drove up the driveway. Finding it nearly full, we were forced to park far from the front door.

  “Wow, a lot of cars here tonight,” I said, pulling up my hood and gathering the fronts of my coat together against the icy rain.

  All Jon said was, “Hmm.” As we scurried up the driveway, he rattled off the names of the cars’ owners. “Mom, Dad, Alex and Sophia, Thalia—”

  I clutched his arm. “Thalia is here? Are you kidding me? Why?”

  “I’m sorry, Gayle. Honestly, I had no idea Jenny was calling a dual family meeting. There’s Jenny’s car, thank goodness. I don’t know that one,” he pointed to a silver Prius, “and that one’s Tully’s. No idea who owns the Mazda.”

  “Not Scott, I hope. And Tully’s here?”

  “No, not Scott, and Tully’s almost family,” Jon said as he opened the door.

  “I suppose one could be Ian’s rental. I didn’t get to see it before he took off.”

  “You didn’t ask him what he rented?” Jon shot me an incredulous glance.

  “No. Should I have?”

  His head dropped before slowly lifting it back up again. “Gayle, Gayle, Gayle.”

  “What?”

  Voices in the dining room drew us in that direction, Jenny’s rising above them all. All eyes turned to us as we stepped into the doorway. Jenny pointed at Jon and said, “No one said anything when Jon cheated on Thalia! Everybody welcomed Gayle with open arms
barely a few weeks later! But I’m the bad one for finally saying enough’s enough and dumping a man who’s put me down and made me doubt myself for years? Un-fucking believable!”

  “Watch your language! No one’s putting you down, Jenny,” Jon’s father bellowed, tossing his napkin on his empty plate setting.

  My eyes widened. Jon snorted out his nose and lurched forward. Thalia stood up and yelled at Jon, “You cheated on me? With,” she waved a finger at me, “this one and with how many others, huh?” Angles and curves arranged with wet-dream-inducing perfection made up the woman who had been Jon's significant other since high school. Even eyes flashing above the taut line of her lips couldn't sully the flawless beauty of her face. And, of course, she was tall. Damn her!

  “No, I didn’t!” Jon yelled as loud if not louder than Thalia. “Don’t fall for Jenny’s deflection attempt. You and I already settled matters, Thalia.” He stabbed a finger in Jenny’s direction. “Don’t let her drag us into this.”

  I slipped wordlessly into one of the two empty chairs, shaking out the cloth napkin onto my lap. Otherwise, I kept my head down, but took inventory from beneath my lashes. Jon's parents headed opposite ends of the long rectangular table. The Milanos, including Thalia, flanked Jon's father. Jenny and my brother sat across from me, Ian's reddened face betraying strong emotion, at least to me. At the other end sat Jason and two girls about his age. I guessed one girl was Tully and perhaps the other one was Jason’s girlfriend, Kat? It was a big damn table to seat twelve of us comfortably despite the horribly uncomfortable tension crackling in the air.

  “Why does it have to be a drama?” Jenny shrieked. “Why can’t you all just be happy for me?”

  Sophia muttered, “None of this would have happened if they’d listened to us.” She tutted and gave a quick shake of her head, hands clasped and her elbows on the table.

  “I’d be happy for you if you didn’t drag my name through the mud,” Jon said in a much calmer voice.

  Alex Milano pointed at Ian and then at me. “You two are brother and sister?”

  “Yes,” Ian and I said in unison.

  Alex coughed, then laughed into his napkin. Jack shot him a glance to quell his mirth.

  Thalia clasped her hands on the table and skewered Jon. “Perhaps I was a little on the naïve side when we ended our engagement. Are you saying you never so much as kissed Gayle before you broke it off with me?”

  “I…” Jon paused and glanced at me. “No. I can’t say that.”

  Wrong! He was lying. Jon was lying.

  Thalia leaned forward to give me a gimlet eye. “I didn’t think so. You’re just as bad as Jenny,” she said to Jon before throwing her body back into her chair, arms crossed at her chest. Miss High and Mighty.

  I couldn’t, wouldn’t allow her to sully Jon. He didn’t deserve that, certainly not in front of his parents and her parents or me and my brother. I couldn’t stand the injustice of it. “Now wait a minute, Thalia! I don’t know why Jon feels guilty or has confessed to something that isn’t true. He never once kissed me.” I looked at Jon who had opened his mouth as if to protest. “You didn’t. I kissed you. You didn’t kiss me, but in my defense I was drunk and it was just so not my night, what with Mrs. Turner being all snarky and Doug being Doug and then there was Nicky and … well, never mind. I was under a lot of stress, and I had too much to drink, and I laid one on him. So what! He was a perfect gentleman. That wasn’t Jon’s crime. It was mine.” I addressed everyone at the table one by one and as I did it occurred to me that each had sort of squirmed in their chairs, refusing to make eye contact. “Okay. Shutting up now.”

  Jason leaned over to me and murmured, “You wouldn’t happen to have a younger sister, would you?”

  “What? No!”

  One of his friends narrowed her eyes at me. “God! This is way too melodramatic. Can we go out to eat, Jason?”

  “No, we can’t,” Jason said with a sigh.

  “You’re more than welcome to leave, Kat, if not being the center of attention offends you,” the other woman said.

  “And I’ll bet you’d love that wouldn’t you, Tallulah?” Kat said.

  Tully huffed. “For the hundredth time, it’s not Tallulah! It’s Tully! Jason obviously doesn’t date you for your sweeping intellect, does he?”

  “Sandbox friends only go so far, honey. When boys grow into men, they want a real woman to play with,” she paused and pointedly looked Tully up and down, “not a third-wheel buddy.” She gave a disdainful puff of air through perfectly lacquered lips to punctuate her jab.

  “My experience has been skanks get no thanks, but good friends transcend to the end.” Tully cast her eyes to Jason, who sagged a little in his chair. “You see how she talks to me? And you never say a damn word. I thought we were friends.”

  “I was about to ask the same thing,” Kat said. “Sugar, please get me out of here.” She pushed a pouty lip out like a little girl, and in a melodious voice added, “I’ll make you glad you did.”

  Tully huffed and crossed her arms. “Disgusting.”

  “Bitch! What is your problem?” Kat said, her voice rising above Jason’s, who was trying to pacify Tully.

  “Nice language,” Tully drawled. “You do realize you’re a guest in your boyfriend’s parents’ home don’t you? One would think you’d be on your best behavior.”

  Across from me, Ian declared his firm belief to Jon’s parents that Jenny was the one for him, and he’d fight for her if he had to. He explained how they weren’t strangers, but had had a friendly acquaintance for some time that extended to online social media. News to me. I didn’t think Ian cared for that sort of thing. He’d never bothered to friend me, and frankly that ticked me off!

  The cacophony of voices grew louder until it hurt my ears. Jon’s mother, who had remained silent for the duration of the filibusters happening at both ends of the table, caught my eye. After sending a world-weary nod my way, her lips rigid, she stood up and yelled, “SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!”

  Everyone quieted, but before Jon’s mother could say anything more, Scott burst into the room.

  “Jenny! We weren’t finished talking! And what the hell is he doing here?” Scott stabbed an accusatory finger in Ian’s direction.

  Jenny exhaled and rolled her head back. “Scott. Please just ... Go. Away. Just go.”

  Waves of anger rolled off Scott as he swayed, his hands curling into fists. “You don’t mean this. You’re premenstrual or something. The Jenny I know would never behave this way. The Jenny I know doesn’t spit on a five-year relationship because some beach bum with a high IQ whispers a few pretty words in her ear. The Jenny I know—”

  Jenny stood so abruptly, she knocked over her chair. “The Jenny you know doesn’t exist! She never existed, and no matter how hard you tried to warp me into that woman, it was never going to happen. Please, Scott. It’s over. This time, it’s really over.”

  Scott shook his head. “No. It’s not. You do this every few months. It’ll pass. It always does. You’ll see. Now I need you to send this ... person,” he waved his hand in Ian’s direction, “away, and we’ll forget any of this ever happened.”

  Ian rose slowly from his chair, his face that all-too-familiar rosy shade with twin slashes of plum on his cheekbones. Uh-oh. His visible anger could still trigger a flight instinct in me. He walked gracefully but quickly to block Scott’s view of Jenny. All heads swiveled in their direction. “Hey, man, she asked you to leave. No point in causing a scene in front of her family. Let it go. Go home. Reflect a little.”

  From where I sat, I could see both men. Scott’s fists tightened. “Are you threatening me, rocket boy?”

  Ian kept a straight face that belied the rage I knew he held barely in check. The two men were about the same size—large and dangerous looking—and though I’d give a slight height advantage to Scott, Ian probably had him by about twenty pounds. My brother was a good fighter, although I didn’t really think it would come to that, at least I hoped i
t didn’t.

  “Not threatening you. Merely suggesting this isn’t a fight you’re going to win, and certainly not while she’s surrounded by her family.” In a frosty tone he added, “Or while I have a breath in my body.”

  “I’m not intimidated by you,” Scott bit out, taking a step closer to Ian.

  “Stop it, you two!” Jenny yelled.

  Ian cast an apologetic glance Jenny’s way before turning back to Scott. “Listen, I’d be more than happy to take this outside, off the Cripps’ grounds preferably, because I’ll not be goaded into anything in their home. It’s very bad manners. You can leave alone or we can go together. I don’t really care which, but leave you will.”

  Jenny walked to where Scott stood. “Ian, stop! Scott. This is not helping at all. Please, please go.”

  “Jenny,” he warned.

  “No to you. No to everything,” she said, arms dangling at her sides, her posture fully upright and confident. “No, I’m not sending him away, and I’m not leaving with you. Ever. I don’t love you, and I’m 99 percent sure you don’t love me.”

  “I forgive you. I’ll forget this ever happened. Don’t be a fool!”

  Jenny raised a hand and tapped her chest. “I don’t ever want to forget this happened. Something amazing happened to me. My eyes were finally opened to how unhappy I was. You can’t have been happy either, Scott. Now, please, please, just go. Please.”

  “Sex isn’t enough to sustain a relationship. You’ll see. You’ll come running back to me before the week is over. You’ll—”

  “Scott! This has nothing to do with sex!”

  The muscle in Scott’s jaw tensed and released. He surveyed each face in the room. No one spoke. I think we were all so stunned at being witnesses to something so emotionally charged that had taken an even more intimate turn. I was, anyway.

  “Fuck you, Jenny! And fuck your friend, too.” He gave a disdainful snort. “Never mind. You’ve already done that.” He spun on his heel and stalked out of the house, slamming the door on his way.

  A funereal pall fell upon the room.