Southern Comfort

by ANDREA SMITH

  “Sounds like he has a plan,” I commented. “That’s a good thing.”

  “And even better,” she continued, “he has a younger brother named Vince that goes to Millersburg High. He’s a senior like us. And single.”

  Robin and I exchanged looks, wondering which one of us Gina felt the need to hook-up this time.

  “He would be perfect for you, Sunny,” she continued, and I noticed Robin released a sigh of relief.

  “Me?” I asked. “What about Robin?”

  “Nah—I don’t see it. He’s more your type. Got some bad boy going on and all.”

  “And how would you know this?” I asked, just as Robin piped up with a, “What am I, a fucking nun?”

  “Chill. Both of you, please? Robin—I’m not inferring that you are nun-like by any means, but I know how damn picky you are and he’s got long hair and an earring.”

  “How long?” she asked, blinking. “It comes past his collar. And it’s about the same color and style as DLR.”

  “Who?”

  “David Lee Roth, Sunny. You know, the one you’re all gaga over?”

  “Whoa, wait,” I interrupted. “And you know this how?”

  “He met us after the movie for cocktails,” she replied.

  “Cocktails?” we all asked in unison.

  “Yeah, we went over to Archie Cunningham’s to shoot some pool and hang out.”

  Everyone in the area knew that Archie Cunningham ran one of the biggest bootlegging outfits in the county. He made whiskey, wine, and his own brand of ale.

  He didn’t out and out sell containers of it. That would’ve gotten him arrested since our county was dry. No, he had a pool hall, complete with pool tables, pinball machines, and air hockey games that served as prime entertainment for those seventeen and above, by membership only. On weekends, he hired bands and there was dancing. By making it a private club, Archie could screen those people that might blow his cover for serving alcohol.

  I knew that Mama had frequented his club as a member before Avery had come into her life. I was pretty sure Gina’s mother and Eddie, and even the twins’ folks belonged to Archie’s club, though none of them would openly admit it in this Bible Belt town.

  For an annual membership fee, you could frequent his club, and buy his various alcoholic beverages for a hefty price. But it sure as hell beat driving sixty miles to Montgomery for a night of cocktails and dancing.

  “So,” Gina continued, “are you interested in meeting Vince next weekend?”

  “Oh hell, why not?” I replied with a giggle. “I need a distraction in my life right now, and this might be just the thing to do it.”

  “Yay,” Rene said, clapping her hands together, “now we just need to find someone for Robin.”

  “Don’t do me any favors,” Robin replied, sticking her tongue out at her twin sister.

  We all managed to pass out on the floor or the couches in Gina’s family room. I wasn’t sure how late it was when we heard Eddie and Gloria come in from Bingo, but I was sure that Bingo had not lasted that long.

  I raised my head from the couch pillow and looked over at the clock over the mantle. It was after two a.m.

  I heard the sound of Gloria giggling from the entry hall.

  “Shhh,” Eddie said, whispering loudly. “Don’t wake the girls, Glo.”

  They were loaded. I knew the signs.

  “Are we sleeping together tonight?” he asked, his voice a bit louder now than a whisper.

  “You bet, sugar,” she said, giggling again. “If you can help me get my drunken ass upstairs that is.”

  “I’ll carry your drunken ass if I have to,” he replied, giving her a low growl. “I can’t wait to sink myself into that sweet pussy.”

  “Shhh,” Gloria hissed, and then giggled again, “you’re gonna wake the girls with that trash talk, Eddie.”

  “Let’s go baby,” he said. Their voices faded as they retreated upstairs and I was glad I could finally go back to sleep.

  That however, wasn’t going to happen. Apparently the master bedroom was right over the family room. Was I the only one that heard the squeaking of their bed, the headboard banging against a wall, and the sounds of their pleasured moans and groans? Apparently so, as I finally lifted myself up and looked around the room. The twins were sleeping; Gina was in the bean bag chair softly snoring. I was the only one kept awake by the sounds of Eddie and Gloria fucking their brains out upstairs.

  As much as I hated hearing the same shit I’d heard at home, I had to give Avery his just desserts. Apparently his counseling was in fact helping the Sanders, and if that made Gina happy, then as her best friend it made me happy as well.

  Chapter 21

  It was Wednesday afternoon and Avery Dawson was home, waiting for his stepdaughter to get home from school. He’d had a light schedule today, and had been home since noon catching up on his counseling notes. He didn’t have to be back at the church until around four-thirty to wait for Gloria to show, and then of course, his session with Stella Martin. He had instructed Bonnie to leave when he had, telling her to take the rest of the day off and enjoy the Lord’s blessing of another beautiful, sunny fall day.

  “There won’t be that many more warm days like this before winter,” he reminded her.

  “Thanks, Reverend. I will do just that,” she had replied.

  He had taken the mail in upon his return home, and noted that there was a letter for Sunshine with a return address of “Gardner” with a Chicago address.

  Why was her father contacting her now he wondered? From what Donna had told him, Michael Gardner had left, never looked back prior to their divorce and had shut his daughter out of his life with no second thoughts.

  Was he now trying to become a part of her life again? Did he regret the divorce? Was he using Sunshine to get to Donna? All of these questions swirled around in his mind and caused him much discomfort on a day that he desperately needed to be on his game. He had a session scheduled. He needed to be at one hundred percent, and he knew that.

  He heard the front door slam when Sunshine came in, quickly making her way to the staircase. She knew he was home because his car was in the drive. She always did her best to avoid him. But not today. He was not going to allow it today.

  “Sunshine,” he called after her from the bottom of the stairs, “come down here, please. You have some mail.”

  He heard her bedroom door open, followed by the sound of her steps on the stairs. “Mail? Where is it?” she asked, looking around.

  Avery pulled the envelope from the breast pocket of his suit jacket and handed it over to her. He watched her reaction to see whether she was as surprised as he had been when he saw the return address.

  She wasn’t surprised. She seemed…eager to read the contents.

  “Thanks,” she said, turning from him to head back upstairs.

  “Sunny,” he called after her.

  She turned to look at him, just as the house phone started ringing.

  “I need to get that,” she said dismissively, going to the phone in the kitchen.

  Avery stood there at a loss for words. He should’ve called her out on the disrespect and dismissive tone she’d used with him. That was certainly unacceptable.

  Still, he knew the only way to get the information about that letter was to back off and not exercise his power over her.

  “Hey, Gina,” she said, “yeah, I asked Mama and I’m allowed to double date this weekend. She gave me the A-okay. This Vince better not be a loser, you hear?”

  There was a pause in the conversation, and then Avery heard Sunshine giggle mischievously, “I know. I kind of got that impression the other night.”

  “I can’t believe you and the twins slept through that racket.”

  There was a slight pause.

  “Oh my God, yes they were loud! I don’t know where they’d been, but they definitely were getting it on hard and heavy. I couldn’t get back to sleep.”

  There was another pause.


  This time, Sunshine lowered her voice so that Avery couldn’t hear what she was saying, “You know, I’m really glad your mother and Eddie are working it out. Well, I mean it sure as heck sounded like they were working it out Sunday morning.”

  Another pause.

  “Eww, gross! Hey listen, I gotta split. I got that letter I’ve been waiting for. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow when you pick me up.”

  Avery moved from the living room. There was a change in his strategy. Apparently Sunshine had been in touch with her father. He wondered if Donna knew about this.

  Secondly, it appeared that Gloria had taken it upon herself to stray from his guidance in their counseling. That part did not please him at all.

  It was Wednesday. A perfect opportunity to show Gloria the error of her ways.

  Chapter 22

  I ran upstairs, thankful that Avery wasn’t still waiting around for me after I’d gotten off of the phone. I had sensed he had some interest in why I might be receiving a letter from my estranged father. That in and of itself made me wonder if Mama had told him the truth about my heritage or not.

  Surely she wouldn’t have confided in him if she didn’t have the guts to be upfront with me about it.

  I closed the door to my room and sat down on my bed. I hesitated for a few moments, before tearing open the envelope and pulling the letter out of it.

  Sunshine,

  I was surprised to hear from you after all of this time. I hope that you are doing well in school. I have to be honest, I was really confused by your question. I was certain your mother had discussed this with you by now. Please forgive me, but you really need to get the truth from her. I’m sorry.

  Good Luck and I hope your future is bright and successful.

  Michael Gardner

  I was totally blown away by his response, although I’m not sure why. I had known from the divorce papers that he wasn’t listed as my father, but still, I hoped that somehow it was a clerical error, or a misunderstanding of some sort. But it seemed as if it was nothing more than a lie contrived by my mother for reasons unknown to me.

  It immediately occurred to me that I lived in a house full of lies and secrets. Why would I suddenly expect my mother to react out of character should I pose the question to her?

  I wadded up his response and tossed it over to my trashcan. It landed inside. Two points for me I thought, my anger rising with every second that passed.

  Well, I would NOT be taking Michael Gardner’s advice and approach Mama. That would be an exercise in futility considering the source.

  Been there, done that.

  Maybe my brother could shed some light. He was three years older than me so that didn’t give me much optimism, but maybe over the years he’d overheard something. It wasn’t like I had any other relatives at my disposal.

  No grandparents—that I knew of anyway. No aunts, uncles, or cousins. Why, at seventeen, did I finally question the lack of family in my life?

  Because it was all that I’d ever known, that’s why. I’d been told my grandparents were dead, Mama had no brothers or sisters, no aunts or uncles, and now as I sat with Michael Gardner’s words in my head, I had to wonder if any of it was true.

  I heard the downstairs door shut. I peeked out of my bedroom window and saw that Avery was getting in his car to leave.

  Perfect timing.

  I went into my mother’s bedroom and quickly went over to her closet, sliding open the double doors. I dug through boxes on the floor in the back, and then reached up to the shelf at the top, finally locating the one marked ‘family albums.’ I pulled it down and took it back to my room in case either one of them came home before I was finished going through it.

  I hadn’t seen any of these things since the divorce. She’d put every reminder of Michael Gardner away at the time.

  I pulled out several photo albums. Jamie’s baby book was in there, along with photos of him growing up, including some of my mother’s first husband and my brother’s father. I opened his baby book. There were the usual stats: date, time and place of birth; weight and length measurements, and on the next page the family tree was filled in.

  Mother’s Name: Donna Jo Wilkins

  Father’s Name: James Wilkins

  That was certainly no help. I released a heavy sigh and tossed everything back into the box. I put the box back up on the shelf in my mother’s closet and then contemplated what my next move should be.

  Chapter 23

  Avery unlocked the door to his office and settled himself behind his desk. It was four-thirty. He rested his chin on his steepled hands and contemplated this new and unexpected piece of news he’d received quite accidently by eavesdropping on his stepdaughter’s phone conversation with Gloria’s daughter.

  Now the question was: how would he handle this information? He wasn’t one to play games; he preferred direct communication. He would see how honest Gloria intended to be with him he decided. That would determine his subsequent course of action.

  He had that opportunity several minutes later when he heard a light tapping on the on his office door.

  “Come in,” he called out.

  Gloria, perfectly coifed and dressed in a print dress came through the door.

  “Where did you park?” he asked immediately.

  “Over at the cemetery. She can’t see my car.”

  “Splendid. You look well,” he commented, taking in her appearance. “There’s something different about you,” he remarked, his eyes narrowing. “How are things at home?”

  She gave him a meek smile. “About the same.”

  “And Eddie? Has he pressed you for relations since we last counseled?”

  She furrowed a brow, obviously puzzled by his questions. But this is when he would find out if she intended to be honest or whether she would be deceitful with him.

  “Eddie has accepted the fact that we aren’t going to be physical anytime soon. He is being very understanding and patient with me, thankfully. We won’t have relations until you deem me ready to resume those with my husband.”

  “Very good,” Avery replied, his smile masking the anger that was simmering just under the surface. So, Gloria chose to deceive him. Well, he had ways to deal with her deception. And he was fairly sure she wasn’t going to leave his office a happy woman today.

  They both heard the door outside of the office close. “That will be Stella,” he said quietly. “You need to get positioned over there.” He motioned towards the closet on the adjacent wall. It had wooden folding doors, with slats in them. Gloria took her post, pulling the doors closed behind her. The slats allowed her to see—and hear everything. How convenient she thought. “Not a sound,” he warned.

  He left the room so that he could lock the outside door and, several minutes later, she heard the sound of his office door closing. And then they both came into view. Stella was dressed in a red cotton skirt and a white and red print blouse. She was bare legged. How convenient Gloria thought for the second time in less than two minutes.

  “Make yourself comfortable, Stella,” Avery said. “You look well. Tell me how your week went at home.”

  “Well,” she said, relaxing back against the soft pillows of the sofa, “actually it went fairly well. Our last session gave me the courage to approach Kenneth. I made him a nice dinner. We each had a glass of wine to relax and then…” her voice trailed off.

  “Go ahead, Stella. Don’t be embarrassed. Did you have intercourse with Kenneth?”

  “No,” she said quickly, “but he gave me oral sex,” she finished. From where Gloria was positioned, she could see the flush spread across Stella’s cheeks.

  “I see,” he replied, “and was that the first time he’s ever done that for you?”

  She nodded, and blushed again.

  “Did you enjoy it?” he asked.

  “Oh, yes,” she said, now losing some of the embarrassment. “It was the most pleasurable feeling I’ve ever had…with him.”

  “That is v
ery good news, Stella. By allowing him to pleasure you with cunnilingus the way you did, it knocked down one of those barriers you seem to have with your partner. Did you compensate him with some fellatio?”

  “Some what?”

  “Fellatio,” he repeated, and Gloria had to smack her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. “Did you give him a blowjob?”

  “Oh,” she said, laughing at her own ignorance. “I’ve never done that. I’m not sure if I would even know how to properly do that, to be honest.

  “That’s where I come in,” Avery said. “Let’s get started.”

  Chapter 24

  Dinner was unusually quiet tonight. We were eating late because Mama held dinner until Avery got home. He had one of his counseling sessions at five, and he didn’t roll up until nearly seven o’clock. I could tell Mama wasn’t pleased.

  She was back to work and nearly healed from her fall, but something had changed in her with respect to Avery and how she interacted with him. It was as if she wanted to pick arguments with him.

  “Seems like these counseling sessions are starting to keep you later and later,” she said, taking a sip of her sweet tea. “Why can’t they be scheduled earlier in the day so we don’t have to hold supper up?”

  Avery set his fork down on his plate, and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “As I’ve explained previously, Donna, I try to accommodate work schedules of those I counsel. You’re free to eat dinner without waiting for me when I run late.”

  “It just seems to me that you might want to accommodate your family first and foremost,” she replied.

  I waited for the shit to hit the fan.

  “Is that what we are? A family?” Avery asked testily, his eyes raking over the two of us as if seeing us for the first time and not liking what he saw. “Because it doesn’t feel like family any longer. You’re moody and lethargic, you complain incessantly about my responsibilities to my congregation—and this one?”

  My head snapped up as he glared at me, “Is totally alien to any type of family interaction with her petulance and reluctance to show me the proper respect as patriarch here. Why she’s even taken to corresponding with that louse of a father who walked out on her eight years ago, did you know that?”