Forgiving Patience

by Jennifer Simpkins

  Chapter Ten

  “What do you think the women are doin’ right now?” Tommy asked as he threw a line in the water.

  “Probably watching Father of the Bride or singing I’m Every Woman into their hair brushes.”

  “How is it you know more about my future wife than I do, Brad?”

  “You’ll have to ask her about that. I don’t kiss and tell.” Tommy hit Bradley on the arm, knowing the kid was just shitting him. Jake took three beers out of the cooler, popped the tops, and handed one to each guy, setting his between his legs. He had already drunk two and knew he needed to slow down. After three beers, he never drove, and he wasn’t about to ask these two jackasses to take him home. After this little bachelor party, all he wanted to do was go home and sleep for days. He hadn’t gotten much sleep the past few nights and he could feel it in his body. He was too old for this stuff.

  “Thanks.” They both spoke at the same time, not moving their eyes off their floaters bobbing in the water.

  “No prob.”

  He usually liked fishing, especially on a humid night when the beer tasted good and he was in good company. Tonight was about Tommy, but Jake couldn’t get his mind off of Anna. He hoped he hadn’t run her off after his greediness. What a jackass move. She wasn’t ready for that. Anna was a woman who thought things out, planned, thought some more…and then followed through with her plans. He needed to respect that. What the hell—she honestly didn’t want him. The only reason she was going on these dates with him was because she wanted him out of her life…not because she wanted him in it. Maybe he should just give in and let her have the house, move back home with Bradley, and continue with his love ‘em and leave ‘em lifestyle. Women flocked to him down at Ollie’s, women who were willing to make him forget all about his troubles. The only problem with that logic was that when the sun came up, he would still be in the same predicament—wanting Anna.

  “Hey, bro. Are you here?” Bradley was waving his straw cowboy hat in front of Jake’s face, trying to bring him out of his trance.

  “What?” He wasn’t ready to leave his thoughts just yet.

  “Just wanted to know if you’re going to do some fishing or just sit here looking lost.”

  Jake realized he hadn’t even thrown his line in. For some reason he was ticked that Bradley called him out on it. “You just stay over on your side of the boat and not worry about me fishing. I’ll do what I damn well please, and if I want to sit here drinking a beer or two and listen to you jackasses talk only about women, I will.”

  “So-rry. What’s your deal? This is a bachelor party, not a self-pity Jake party. Get over screwing up with Anna and start fishing.”

  Bradley was way off his game. How dare he tell Jake to do anything about Anna.

  “You’d better watch yourself. I’m in no mood for your insight on my love life.”

  “Well, maybe you should listen to someone, because all you’ve done is mope around since her little ass got back into town. I mean, at the softball game, you bit my head off every chance you could.”

  Jake stood, careful not to spill his beer or rock the boat. He and Bradley hadn’t been in a throw down, kick-your-ass type of fight since…well, the last time, but he was about to make his little brother relive his last ass-kicking. Which, now that Jake thought about it, wasn’t that long ago.

  “What are you going to do, kick my ass because I’m telling the truth? Go ahead. I’m not a kid anymore, and if you remember from the last time, my punches hurt just as much as yours, so just be prepared. I won’t be holding back.” Bradley turned away from Jake and continued staring at the water.

  “Whoa, guys, there’s no need for anyone to kick anyone’s ass. If anything, I should kick both your asses for throwing me a worthless bachelor party.”

  With his fists clenched at his sides and knuckles turning white, Jake sat down and took a hard pull on his beer. He leaned back and propped his boots up on the cooler. This was stupid. Was he really going to have another drag-out fight with his brother? He pulled his ball cap down over his eyes. And he tried blocking everything out. He was terrible to Anna, a bad friend, and now he was a bad brother. He totally sucked.

  The ringing of a cell phone interrupted the quiet. Probably Em or a woman who kept Bradley’s number on speed dial. He knew it wasn’t his. He didn’t have a woman keeping tabs on him, and he was fine with that. He answered to nobody.

  “Hey, Em, what’s up?”

  He was right. It was Em calling Tommy. She was probably making sure they were really fishing and not at a strip club putting hard-earned dollars down some woman named Candy’s panties. He should’ve done something like that. At least then he would stay distracted, but Em would kick his butt, and he already had one woman mad…or was it happy, now?…he couldn’t keep up, but he couldn’t handle another angry woman. Corny as it might sound, Em was a firecracker waiting to explode on the Fourth of July, and he didn’t want any part of that.

  He could tell something was wrong when Tommy reeled in his line. The only two things that made the man stop fishing were being out of beer and Em. “We’ll be right there. Love you too.” Tommy hung up the phone and said, “Reel ‘em in, boys, the women have a little situation.”

  “We leave those women alone for one night, and what do they do? Get in a heap of trouble that they need a man to get them out of.” Bradley still had his line in the water, clearly not wanting to leave just yet. He probably didn’t have a woman lined up for the night.

  “What’s going on?” Jake was already sitting upright, ready to take charge.

  “Not completely sure. All I know is it’s about Anna and Cara.”

  Shit. This was not going be good.

  * * * *

  “Anna, I think you need to slow down on the down-home punch. You’re not used to drinking.” Anna could sense Em wasn’t worried yet, but she would be there soon if Anna didn’t get it together.

  “I’m f-fine. I’m just havin’ a hard time walkin’ at the moment. Funny how when she was drunk her southern accent became more clear. “Just give me a minute.” Anna was holding a pink cup in one hand and gripping the side of a chair with the other. It was the only thing helping her sit up at the moment.

  “Here, why don’t you eat this, get something in your stomach? It might help soak up some of the alcohol.” Em held out a cracker, but Anna protested.

  “I’m already fat, why are you tryin’ to make me fatter?”

  “You’re not fat, Anna.” Em grabbed the cup out of Anna’s hands. “Now eat this damn cracker and stop being difficult. You see Alice over there? She grew up with five brothers. She can take you down to the floor and force this damn cracker down your throat. Which way do you want to play it?” Anna took the cracker willingly. She’d met Alice earlier and immediately knew she was not someone to mess with.

  “Okay, I ate the cracker. Can I get up now? I want to dance.” As soon as her feet hit the floor and she rose out of the chair, the room immediately started turning. She held herself still for a minute before testing out her wobbly legs. When she only wobbled slightly, she considered herself able to walk. She’d seen Jesse earlier. Anna knew Jesse was the type of woman who could hold her liquor and have a good time. Tonight she was dressed in holey jeans, a plain white tee, and her ponytail was pulled through a trucker ball cap. Jesse was over by a large toy bin-looking bucket full of some concoction Anna had never seen before. Any other time, she would’ve passed on the fruity looking drink, but tonight she wasn’t Do-Good Anna—she was a let-go, throw-caution-to-the-wind kind of woman.

  “Heyyyyy, Jessie,” Anna slurred.

  “How’s drunk feel, girl? You want some of my homemade punch?”

  “That’s why I’m over here.”

  “All right, then.”

  Jesse filled a cup to the rim. “Here you go. Now the thing is, you have to drink all of it…understand?”

  “Completely. Want to dance? I’ve never actually danced before with a woman…I mean I dan
ced with Jake the other night, but he isn’t a woman, if you know what I mean.” Anna giggled.

  “You know I’m straight, don’t you? Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you, are they?”

  “No. I mean, yes, I know you’re not in love with me. I just thought you could teach me how to dance.”

  “Well, if you want to dance, we are going have to change this damn music. Em is completely impossible when it comes to the radio.

  “Em, can we please listen to something besides R.E.S.P.E.C.T,” Jesse yelled over the Aretha Franklin classic. “How about some Miranda Lambert? Gunpowder and Lead is a good women take control kind of song.”

  Em was pointing a stern finger in Jesse’s direction. “Hey, this is a classic. You’re just too young to appreciate a good woman song.”

  “Em, you’re only two years older than me. You need to update your music collection. Aretha is fine and all, but you need some Gretchen Wilson or Miranda Lambert. Hey, what about Beyoncé’s All the Single Ladies? That’s a good one, anything but this…please. My ears are bleeding.”

  When the first country song blasted through the speakers, Anna was already on the coffee table throwing her head around and splashing half her drink on Em’s new zebra print rug. Her hair had escaped from its tight ponytail and was hanging loosely in her face. She thought it was a Miranda song, but whatever the song, she was ready to get down to it.

  Em was loudly talking to Jesse. “Why did you give her another cup? It took all I had to pry the other one out of her death grip.”

  “She looked like she needed it. Look at her.” Jesse took a break from drinking her own punch long enough to point at Anna. Anna gave her thumbs up, added to what felt like a goofy smile. “She’s having a good time.”

  “I can see that, but you see my rug. It took weeks to talk your brother into that, and now it’s stained with your punch. Hope you don’t have plans tomorrow.”

  “Well, no. Why?”

  “’Cause you will be here scrubbing it up.”

  “Why me? Your friend there is the one who spilled her drink on it.”

  “Who gave her the drink?” Anna watched Em pat Jesse on the butt and hurry off. “I need reinforcements.”

  Anna should feel guilty for ruining the bachelorette party. But to her credit, Em did tell her to have a non-Anna time, and that’s exactly what she was doing at the moment.

  “I got it,” Anna said to the ringing doorbell. After jumping off the table and stumbling her way to the front door, she swung the door open and barely missed her face. The woman on the threshold held out a six-pack of beer. “Sorry I’m la—you’re not Em.”

  “Hey, everybody, look. Cara is sorry she’s late,” Anna hollered over her shoulder. The music went silent, and Anna could hear her own heart beating.

  “Cara, come on in. You should try some of Jesse’s lunch.”

  “You mean punch, honey…she should try some of my punch.”

  “Shut up, Jesse,” Anna heard another girl mumble.

  Anna turned her head around and bowed to Jesse. “Sorry…I mean punch.”

  “What’s going on in here?” Em came in the room with a cell phone to her ear. “Shit.”

  “No, it’s okay, Em.” Anna put her arm around Cara and dragged her in the house. “I’ll take one of those, if you don’t mind? You don’t mind sharing do ya? Oh—what am I’m sayin’? You love sharing, don’t ya, Car?”

  “Sure, go ahead,” Cara replied. Anna pulled out one of the beers, popped the top, and turned it up.

  “I’ve not drank beer in, oh….I guess since Jake and I…oh crap, was I supposed to say that? Cara, you know Jake, don’t ya? That’s right, you and Jake know each other real well.”

  Cara looked scared and mortified at the same time. She didn’t move away from the front door. “Cara, why look so scared? You didn’t look so scared eleven years ago when you were banging my boyfriend.” Anna was up in Cara’s face, pulling the rest of her hair down from its loosened ponytail. Her shoes were off…now what…oh, her earrings. She was supposed to pull her earrings out. At least that’s what she saw in the movies.

  “It wasn’t like that, Anna.”

  “I’m sorry. I know I’ve had a little too much drink, but did I just hear that come out of your mouth?”

  “I can explain.”

  “I don’t want explanations, you little red-headed bitch. You couldn’t keep your own boyfriend so you just thought mine would do just fine, huh?” Anna turned up the beer before she hauled back and spit a mouthful of beer in Cara’s face. “That’s what I think about your explanations.”

  Em hung up the phone and ran to the door, tripping on several pairs of shoes in the process. “Okay, Anna, you’ve had a lot to drink. Let’s go sit down in the kitchen, and I will put some coffee on. Sound good?”

  Anna was pulling out of her grip, lunging toward Cara at the same time. “Can I have some help please? Alice, put the cup down and make yourself useful over here.”

  She didn’t stand a chance with the man-chick in the corner, so she let Em walk her to the kitchen. “Em, you should let me go. I deserve this. After all these years, I should get to shove her down on her ass. Please, let me have her.”

  “Anna, you’re drunk. I’m not going to let you get in a fight.”

  She pouted her way over to the barstool. This was just great. All week she’d been putting Jake off when he tried talking about what went wrong between them. And now, when she thought she was strong enough to face the problem head-on, no one would let her do anything about it. These people sucked. What was the point of having fun when you couldn’t do things you normally wouldn’t do? Her night wasn’t over, and she wasn’t going to let this go just yet.

  * * * *

  “Shit,” Jake muttered out loud. Putting Anna and Cara in the same room together wasn’t going to go over real well. Everybody knew that. He doubted they had seen each other in the past eleven years, and if Em called Tommy for help, it only meant the little reunion wasn’t a happy one.

  “Maybe it’s not that bad,” Bradley proclaimed from the backseat. He’d had a few too many beers and wasn’t thinking all too clearly at the moment. That was probably why he couldn’t remember the reason those two women in the same room was a very bad idea.

  Tommy whipped the truck carelessly in the drive, almost taking out his mailbox and a few parked cars parked along the side of the road. Jake jumped out of the truck before Tommy put it in park. He needed to get in there—now.

  “Good grief, Jake, you’d think something bad was going on.” Bradley had somehow made it out of the truck without stumbling and was on Jake’s heels.

  “Bradley, why don’t you just shut the fuck up?”

  “Fine.”

  Jake flung the door open. The only way one would notice it was a bachelorette party was by the amount of penis decorations. Except for the whispers, there were no other sounds in the room. All heads looked up as he entered, followed by Bradley and Tommy.

  “Now, this is a party. I should’ve just hung out with the ladies. Why didn’t we do something like this?” Bradley apparently was amused with the penises.

  The absence of loud music and men-bashing let him know everything he needed to know. Anna had done something. He knew Cara was regretful for what she and he had done so long ago, so his only guess was that Anna was drunk and confronted Cara. This was his fault. Things were out of hand because of the mistakes he’d made. The Cara thing was a way overdue conversation. And eventually Anna was going to have to listen to him.

  “Where is she?” he asked the first woman he encountered. She didn’t say a word, just pointed him toward the kitchen.

  He could hear someone crying and another woman trying to soothe her. Stopping himself suddenly, he saw her. She looked a mess. Her head was lying on Em’s shoulder, and her hair looked like bees had made a permanent home in it. He didn’t know what to do. Should he run to her? The only thing he knew he couldn’t do was leave her. That was not an option.

/>   Anna raised her head, as if sensing someone else had entered the room. He couldn’t tell from her blank stare if she was relieved to see him. It didn’t matter to him. Whether she liked it or not, he was going to be there for her.

  * * * *

  “Jake, thank God you’re here.” Em looked relieved. She might have called Tommy, but Jake knew she had really wanted him. He could hear the concern in her voice, and he knew the situation was worse than he might have originally thought.

  “Is she okay?” His voice dropped a few octaves and gave away the worry he was trying to hide.

  “Will you two stop talking about me like I’m not in the room? Oh, and Jake, I can see the worry all over your face. You can take it and shove it. You don’t get to worry about me. Leave and take that red-headed bitch with you.”

  “She’s been like this for twenty minutes. One minute she’s crying, saying she’s fat and sucks, and the next she is using language I’ve never heard coming from her mouth. It’s like she doesn’t know what kind of drunk to be. Please help. Nobody out there knows her well enough to know what to do, and Jesse is just disappointed there wasn’t a slap-fest. I hated to interrupt the fishing trip, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “It’s fine, Em. I’m glad you called. Can you give us a minute?”

  “Sure, let me know if you need me. I’ve been trying to make her eat crackers, but I’m not promising there won’t be hurling.” Em left them alone.

  The music was being turned back up. Em was obviously trying to give them some privacy. She was a good friend. Tommy was getting a good woman.

  Anna had her head on the counter, staring at the floor. She was either trying to avoid him, or it hurt too bad to pick her head up. She wasn’t going to make this easy for him, he knew that. He just hoped he got her out of there without too much of a scene.

  “Sweetness, will you look at me, please?”

  Her hair hung around her face, making it impossible for him to see what she was feeling. He wanted to be prepared in case she decided to be a mean drunk and haul off and slap him in the face. He’d let her do it, because he’d deserved it, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to know it was coming.