by Tara Rose
She took another long sip. “Well, better that than having to go back in for more surgery.”
He gave her such a forlorn look that she wasn’t sure what to say. “Are you sure you have to work tonight? Both of you?”
She and Davis exchanged a glance. “Well, I haven’t taken a sick day in over a year.”
“I never take sick days,” he said. “If I did, they’d be at my house with chicken soup and cornbread.”
She laughed. “That’s true. Bo, you know it is.”
He sighed out loud and rested his chin in his hands. “I know.”
Miranda didn’t want to laugh at him, but he looked like a kid right now. “Okay. Screw it. I’m calling them right now and telling them I’m coming down with something.” Then she coughed twice in a fake way. “See? I’m already sick.”
Davis fished his phone out of his pocket. “And you know what? Fuck it. I’m sick, too. It’s not like there aren’t others they can call in to help.”
Bo’s face brightened up. “Really? You won’t get in trouble, will you?”
“This isn’t grade school. Of course we won’t.” Davis scooted off the bed and left the room to make his call. Miranda put a finger to her lips while she waited for her manager to answer, and then told a lie to the woman for the first time in her career.
When her call was finished, Davis returned and said everything was fine. They had more than enough help in the hospital tonight. “We’re all yours, Bo. And, before we forget, check your text messages, Miranda. It looks like we all got the same ones last evening.”
She frowned and placed her coffee cup on the nightstand. “Did something happen?”’
“Yeah,” said Bo. “A three-ring circus in court. Go on. Read.”
Miranda scrolled to the first messages, sent yesterday afternoon from Savannah to her and several others, including Jackie Jones, Savannah’s nurse manager.
Jimmie took the stand again for cross exam and all I can say without getting in too much trouble is that Bobby’s attorney is a dickhead. He verbally berated Jimmie about his past addiction until the judge told him to knock it off. Jimmie held his head high and showed no sign of distress on his face or in his voice. I am so proud of him!
When Dickhead couldn’t poke any holes in Jimmie’s story, Noah was next. He told the same story that Jimmie had told us, and then on cross Dickhead tried to get him to say that Mark had been a friend of theirs in school, but Noah said he barely remembered him, and had never seen him at the James’s house.
Ethan could only offer the same story that Jimmie had told us, and on cross told the Dickhead that he might want to consider the possibility Mark had lied to him. The spectators in the court plus a few jurors laughed. I almost pumped my fist in the air.
Then I took the stand and told the same story Jimmie had relayed to us. On cross I told Dickhead the same thing that Noah had told him. I’d known Jimmie my entire life and didn’t remember Mark ever hanging out with him, or with any of our close friends.
The ADA called Vivian and Luke to the stand, and they basically said the same things. They’d known Jimmie and Mark in school, but did not remember him and Jimmie being friends. Preston wasn’t called and Dickhead wanted him to take the stand, but the ADA reminded Dickhead that Preston had only lived in Sin for a few months and so wouldn’t have anything useful to add to the testimony. Dickhead objected to the point that the judge allowed Preston to take the stand, but of course he knew nothing about Jimmie’s past so again the court was full of snickers and sideways glances.
Then Dickhead said he had members of the congregation he would call and they would all refute this testimony. He stopped just shy of accusing each of us of perjury and collusion, and the judge had a fit. He stopped the trial and called both Dickhead and the ADA back to his chambers. They were in there over an hour and when they returned, the judge said that no one else from the town would be called as witnesses for either the defense or the prosecution with respect to Jimmie’s or Mark’s school friends. Several people in the courtroom clapped until the judge threatened to toss out spectators for the remainder of the trial.
Miranda stared at Bo and Davis. “Holy shit. Do you all have these same messages?”
“Yes,” said Davis. “And dozens just like them from various people who were there. Preston and Ethan both said it was obvious that everyone, including the jury, could see what the defense attorney was trying to do.”
“I love that,” said Bo, scrolling through his own messages. “Dickhead. He’ll be known by that name forever now.”
“It sounds like it fits him,” said Miranda. “This is ridiculous. Where in the hell did Bobby find this guy?”
“Dickheads Are Us,” said Davis.
She laughed and was grateful she hadn’t just sipped her coffee.
“Supposedly he’s a top defense attorney in Nashville,” said Bo.
“Well, he sounds like an idiot. Either that or he thinks we’re all a bunch of stupid hicks with no memory of our own childhood or teenage years.”
Bo shook his head. “All he has to do is plant doubt.”
“I’d say from these messages,” said Davis, “he’s failed to do that. Or rather, he’s succeeded in planting doubt, but not about Jimmie. About himself as a skilled attorney.”
“Maybe Bobby will be convicted then?” asked Bo. “There’s really no chance that he didn’t do this, is there?”
“Not unless Jimmie is lying,” said Davis. “And I can’t see him doing that, can you?”
Bo shook his head. “No. Not at all. He took so much crap from his father, but still it nearly killed him to go to the DA with this.”
Davis frowned. “It would nice if Cletus did the right thing and returned to town. Then at least Bobby wouldn’t be the bad guy in this alone. And there would be no doubt then in anyone’s mind.”
Miranda shook her head. “I can’t even imagine what this must be like for all of them. Jimmie having lived all those years with the truth, but not being able to face it until recently. Those jurors don’t know him like we do. We know he’d never make up a story like this. And as for Mark, everyone in this town knows the truth about him, too.”
“The guilt that both Cletus and Bobby must feel over all this has got to be tremendous,” said Davis.
“I agree,” said Bo. “But they shouldn’t have lied that night. Plain and simple. They should have let Jeremy take the fall since he is the one who pushed Loretta. It’s not like Jeremy hadn’t done horrible things before that night. He should have been in jail. Why everyone protected him is a mystery to me.”
“Bobby James is a complicated man,” said Miranda. “Full of righteous indignation for the folks he calls sinners, but he turns a blind eye to hypocrisy in others. I guess I really don’t understand him. I never did.”
“None of us did, apparently,” said Bo, his voice full of bitterness and regret. He glanced at his phone again. “Did you read the message from Travis? He went up there yesterday and sent the same text to all of us last evening.”
She scrolled again, her fingers trembling. Something about the tone in Bo’s voice sent her pulse racing. When she found the message, she read it three times, and then sighed out loud. She didn’t need this right now. None of them did.
Wanted to let you know that Mark and Rhea approached me after the trial and bent my ear for close to forty-five minutes about what they had seen in town all week. They meant you, Davis, and Miranda. They said they told Denny Mann all about it, and they intend to go to the town council about all the sinful relationships in this town. Their words, not mine. They said they also intend to speak with the elders at Lost Bridge Road Church of Christ about doing business with Sawyer Plumbing and Electrical. I quoted Luke 6:42 and told them to get the beam out of their own eyes first.
Chapter Sixteen
Davis snorted. “Travis quoting Bible verses to Mark and Rhea. I love him, man. And how ridiculous are those threats they made? Travis’s daddy and your daddy are elders
of that church. Don’t those idiots know that?”
Bo nodded. “I know. It’s the hypocrisy in this that is making me sick right now. They committed adultery and Bobby turned a blind eye. Now they’re lying in court, and want to go to the town council and the rival church, all because Miranda and I moved on. And after they cheated on each of us for five years. What the fuck!”
Bo wasn’t sure how much more he could take. He was bored out of his mind and desperate to return to work. He’d finally had sex again with his dick inside a vagina for the first time in years, and now this morning it had all turned to shit because of his ex-wife. Why the fuck had she and Mark come back to town? For ten years he and Miranda hadn’t had to deal with this shit. And now, after they’d finally gotten together, the hammer of blame and shame had fallen on them both.
“They can’t hurt your business,” she said, quietly. “You know that. No one will listen to them.”
He wasn’t so sure about that. Those two seemed to have the golden touch.
“And as for going to the town council,” said Davis. “I know this isn’t a liberal place, but the town council can’t tell people who to see and who not to see. They can’t tell us who we can and can’t have sex with. Even they wouldn’t dare go that far.”
“I know all that.” Bo could barely breathe. “I need some fresh air.”
Miranda scooted off the bed. “I’m about to fix breakfast. Don’t go too far.”
“Fine.”
He could feel the hurt and confusion coming off her in waves as he left the room, but he kept going. He’d put his clothes and personal items in one of the spare bedrooms, and that was where he went now to toss on a T-shirt and shorts. Taking the coffee cup downstairs to refill it, he then went out the back door and descended the deck stairs. The grass was damp from last night’s rain, but the morning air was already warm and muggy.
Bo breathed in the scent of trees and flowers. Miranda’s backyard was a paradise. She had wrought iron and wooden benches placed at intervals, and two lattice work arches sported flowering vines, marking the entrances to a curving flagstone path that wound among rose bushes and crepe myrtle. She’d put so much work into this landscaping, and as he walked among it and admired the colors, he realized how lonely her life must have been these past ten years.
He wasn’t the only one that Mark and Rhea had hurt. Miranda worked long hours for the same reason he did. It was the same reason he hated being in an office, alone with his thoughts. It was scary in those dark places where confusion and hurt lived and ruled. When he was outdoors like this, those dark places were filled with light and the memories faded away.
Bo realized for the first time since all this had started between him, Davis, and Miranda that she’d been doing the same thing. Chasing away the demons and banishing them to the deep places in her mind where she no longer allowed herself to go. She’d done this by working so hard, and by all this. Planting trees and bushes that sprang forth with life and brilliant color each spring and summer.
She’d laid stones outside, and had redecorated every corner of the house she lived in, making it her own and covering over the bad memories. He knew she and Mark had shared this home. The room in which he’d made love to her many times now had been hers and Mark’s bedroom. But he also knew it had been completely redone because his company had performed the electrical and plumbing work for her eight years ago.
He wasn’t the only one suffering. And he wasn’t the only one who could potentially be hurt by Mark and Rhea now. Oh, he knew they had no real power. But he was also well aware what effect toxic gossip like this had on people. He’d lived with it all his life. Some of the same people who had laughed in court yesterday at the antics of Dickhead were among those who had condemned Jimmie when he became addicted to pain killers and had gone to rehab.
People in this town were fickle, and they changed allegiances as often as they changed underwear. Vivian, Luke, and Preston had weathered the shit storm hurled at them by Kay-Jean and her bullshit lies by sticking together and presenting a unified front. And by backing each other up. The love both those men had for Vivian, and the love she felt for them came off the triad in waves.
And as for Ethan, Noah, Jimmie, and Savannah, they had publicly declared their allegiance and their love to each other in a court record. They weren’t afraid of the town council, the elders of the Lost Bridge Road Church of Christ, or the congregation at First Baptist Church. And they certainly weren’t afraid of former pastor Bobby James.
It was time for him to man up and show Miranda how committed he was to this. It was time to back Davis up as well. He’d suffered ten years ago, but so had Miranda. She’d found Rhea and Mark in bed together, in that very room where last night he and Davis had made love to her.
If Miranda could toss all that out the window and give herself over to them both in such ways, what the fuck was he doing hiding outside in the garden like a ten year old boy who had been told he had to finish his homework before being allowed to play a game? No more excuses. Miranda needed both he and Davis to be men, not boys. And Bo wasn’t acting like a man in love right now. He was acting like a selfish prick.
He went back inside to find Davis in the kitchen, sitting at the table while Miranda cooked bacon and eggs. She turned to face him, and it was obvious she’d been crying. Bo’s heart sank. He crossed the room and pulled her into his arms. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. I love you so damn much.”
“There’s nothing to forgive. I’m not upset with you.” She pulled out of his embrace to gaze at him, and his heart nearly burst at the love in her beautiful emerald eyes. “I’m just so frustrated by this. It’s taken me so long to push it away, you know?”
“I know. I realized that outside. Your yard is a testament to what you’ve done for the past ten years. So is this house. You’ve covered every wall, and removed every stick of furniture that reminded you of him. I can see that now.”
“That was our bedroom. Where you and I, and where Davis and I made love last night. I found them there. But the bed is gone, of course. I would have burned it if I could have.”
He stroked her hair, and Davis was next to her now, too, caressing her skin. “I know you did,” said Bo. “I’m so sorry. If it had been me who’d found them instead, I would probably still be in jail because I’d have killed them both on the spot.”
“Oh, I wanted to. You should have seen Rhea’s smirk. She wasn’t upset or embarrassed at all. It was like she didn’t even care that they’d been caught. She went on and on about how this was for the best because now they didn’t have to lie anymore. As if what they’d done was our fault somehow, and now they were free. Like we’d been keeping them chained up and apart.”
“I know. I heard the same shit from her that night. I’ve never struck a woman in anger and I was raised not to do that. I never would. But I guess it’s all right to tell you both now that I almost did that night. I came so close. I couldn’t even think. All I wanted to do was lash out at her.”
“Well you’re a bigger man than me,” said Davis. “I’d have knocked her into the next county for saying shit like that. You both worked so hard on your marriages.”
She almost smiled. “Thank you for saying so. We did. We really did.”
“Yeah, thank you,” said Bo. “It’s good to know that it showed. I was raised to believe you get married once, and you make it work, you know? You don’t lie to your spouse and you don’t cheat on them.”
“We all were raised that way,” said Davis. “This wasn’t your fault and it wasn’t Miranda’s. The blame for this rests squarely on the shoulders of Rhea and Mark.”
“So what do we do now?” asked Miranda.
Bo’s heart melted at the look on her face and the tone of her voice. She was so lost. As he started to say something, the smoke alarm went off, and the three rushed over to the stove top to pull the frying pans off the burner.
Davis opened the patio doors and turned on the ceiling fan. “It’s all
right. We can go out for breakfast.”
“Not in town,” she said. “We’ll be outed for calling in sick.”
“I’ll run out and buy us breakfast,” said Bo. “You both wait here, okay? I’ll take care of this.”
“I’m so sorry. I wanted to fix a big breakfast for you two.”
They took turns kissing her until her tears were gone and her pretty smile was back. Then Bo got into his car and drove toward Shelbyville. He could have just as easily headed north on US 231 to Murfreesboro, and found plenty of places to buy them breakfast sandwiches. But he knew if he did that, the compulsion to drive all the way into town and march into court would be too great.
By the time he pulled into Miranda’s driveway again, he knew two things. He would never stop loving this woman, and they both needed to confront Rhea and Mark and have their say. Then, and only then, could they put this unpleasantness behind them for the rest of their lives, and move forward in their own relationship.
* * * *
Miranda, Bo, and Davis ate a delicious breakfast out on the deck, and then went inside to clean up the burned mess of eggs and bacon from earlier. Once they finished, Miranda told the guys she was taking a quick shower, and wasn’t at all surprised when they joined her in there.
It didn’t matter this morning that she was just as sore as she’d been last night. She wanted and needed her men. They washed her this time, even taking turns shampooing her hair until shivers ran up and down her spine. Her legs were like jelly under their soft, sexy touch. She would have melted and run down the drain with the water if they hadn’t held her upright.
Once they had washed off the shampoo and shower gel, they took turns licking her breasts and pussy to the point she climaxed twice. Each time, she cried out loudly at the waves of pleasure coursing through her body, and begged them both to fuck her.
When they turned off the water and dried her with towels, her skin was on fire for them and she felt certain she’d pass out from her need to be filled again. Their dicks were red and swollen, and she didn’t know how they could hold out this long.
