by M K Dwyer
She cleared her throat and plastered a neutral look on her face. “That’s sweet, Mark.” Gag. “So where do you see us going from here? I know you have a vision for our future. You’re so smart. You’re always twelve steps ahead of everyone else.” Double gag. Stroking his ego was always the best way to keep his focus off her.
“I see us living on the beach close to San Diego, so Joe can be at his dad’s more often. Give us some more alone time.” She smiled a real smile. Mark probably thought it was for him, but she was thinking it would be nice to live closer to Will, so Joe could see him more after she came back from her self-imposed exile. It also confirmed her suspicions that he knew about her nest egg. He was always so stingy with money that he would never have suggested a move to an expensive house near the beach if he didn’t have a plan about how to pay for it. “At least, assuming that deadbeat will take him more often.”
“Hey! He’s not a deadbeat.” The surprised look on Mark’s face would’ve been comical if she was in any laughing mood.
“Of course, he is. He left the service to see his son more, and then the dumbass moves to San Diego instead of Yuma. All of that when he could have just stayed married to you in the first place. Of course, I’m not complaining about that part, but he’s an idiot for letting you go. I would never make that mistake.”
She’d told Mark a little bit about her history back in the beginning when things were still semi-good in their relationship, but she was regretting it. “He looked here, but they didn’t have any immediate openings. San Diego did, and he has more connections there, more friends. I understand why he settled there, and he’s still close by. And I told you, our divorce was mutual. We didn’t get along any more. We never belonged together in the first place.”
“Damn right, you didn’t because you belong with me.”
That time she did roll her eyes, but she did it as she stood up from the swing, so Mark didn’t catch it. “I’m going to start dinner.”
“Sounds good, babe. Cook me something special for my fist night back.” He slapped her ass as she walked away, and it took every ounce of restraint in her body not to smack him. She couldn’t wait until she was rid of him. What she wouldn’t give for a normal relationship with a normal man. She never saw the ability to break up with someone as a luxury, but she’d never make that mistake again.
∞∞∞
It was moving day. That was the nice way of putting it. Really it was leaving day, or “running-away day” as she’d called it on the phone to Blake the day before. She’d used her lunch break again to talk to Blake without prying ears and he’d told her about all the plans he’d made for their departure as well as how he planned to make sure Mark couldn’t follow them.
Her hands shook as she made breakfast for her and Mark. For once, she was glad Mark was glued to the television in the other room and couldn’t see what a nervous wreck she was. He would surely figure out that something was going on with her.
She plated the eggs and bacon on two plates, set one on the dining table and took one to Mark in the living room. She preferred to eat at the table and he preferred to eat in front of the television. That’s how they usually ate their meals except when he was in an ornery mood and demanded she eat with him on the couch.
He took his plate from her without out a word. No demands or thanks, but that was fine with her. The less she heard from him the better.
She went back to the table and ate in blissful silence as she went over her mental “to do” list. She had until lunch time to clean the house from top to bottom to make sure it was ready to close-up for an indefinite amount of time. Lunch was in four hours and that’s when everything would begin.
When she was finished with her breakfast, she picked up her and Mark’s plates and took them to the kitchen. Then she started her cleaning routine. It was normal for her to clean the house on Sunday’s, so lucky for her, Mark didn’t think anything was out of the ordinary.
She watched the clock as she cleaned, grateful that she had something to keep her hands and her mind busy waiting for the clock to strike 1 P.M. That was when she and Blake agreed to set their plan in motion.
Completely caught up in her own thoughts, she nearly jumped out of her skin when the doorbell rang.
“It’s for me! I got it!” She heard Mark call from the other room.
Ever the busy-body, Theresa’s feet were carrying her towards the front door before her brain could catch up. She stopped just before she got there and hid around the corner when she heard a familiar voice. It was one of the men who’d come to intimidate her after Mark disappeared. The big one.
“The boss sent us to make sure you’re doing what you were told.”
“Hush or she’ll hear you. Yes, I’m this close to getting the money from her, but if she sees you, it will ruin everything.”
“Your week is almost up. We’ll be back in two days. You’d better have the boss’s money by then or else.”
If Theresa didn’t know already that the guys on her doorstep meant business, she would’ve laughed at their B-movie dialogue. She walked away before Mark could catch her spying. She’d heard enough. Two days. Good thing they were getting out of town before then.
She finished mopping the bathroom floor and then vacuumed every inch of carpet she could reach. Once everything was spotless, she took a shower. She hated being a sweaty mess in a freshly-cleaned house.
She picked an outfit that she knew she’d be travelling in and took the time to blow-dry her long red hair before she went to the kitchen to start lunch. She had to make something that could easily hide the crushed sleeping pills she planned to feed to Mark.
It’d been Blake’s idea. He’d asked her days ago if Mark still took the pills to sleep. Blake was excited and appalled to learn that Mark used a combination of prescription and over-the-counter pills every night. The truth was he was addicted. He took so many that Theresa worried his tolerance was too high and that their plan to knock him out wouldn’t work.
She said a prayer and moved forward anyway, deciding that the tart acidity of tomato soup would cover the bitterness of the pills better than anything. Plus, grilled cheese and tomato soup was one of the few things she and Mark agreed upon.
She prepared their meal, added the extra ingredient to Mark’s bowl and put his soup and sandwich on a tray for him to eat in front of the television. To her surprise, he was sitting at the dining table waiting for her when she left the kitchen with his tray.
“Thought I would eat with you at the table. We need to talk about a few things, Theresa.”
She nodded and tried to smile at him as she placed his meal in front of him, but her nerves wouldn’t let her speak. She went back to the kitchen for her own meal and took a deep breath before taking it to the table and sitting in the chair next to him.
“What did you want to discuss?”
“Well, for starters, I told you almost a week ago that I wanted to marry you. I assumed you were too stunned to say anything right then, but you haven’t said anything about it since either. Even when I bring it up, you change the subject. What gives? Do you not want to marry me?”
She didn’t know how to answer that. Of course, she didn’t want to marry him. He treated her and her son like shit, and she was hours away from literally running away from him. He had to be delusional to think she’d ever agree. Either that or he was sure that she would agree because she was afraid of him. The latter was closer to the truth than the former, but she would never tie her life to his no matter what he threatened. When the day was over, she hoped to never lay eyes on him again, but he didn’t need to know that… yet.
“I just need to think about it a little more. You took me by surprise.” She tried to smile at him over her bowl of soup but knew it wouldn’t be convincing if he was paying attention.
Luckily, he wasn’t. He kept his eyes on his food as he shoveled it into his mouth and spoke around his bites. “Just think about it, baby. We could be so good together.”
She just nodded and kept eating. If she hadn’t heard the conversation on her doorstep earlier, she’d wonder if Mark had fallen and cracked his noggin. He’d been so different since he’d been back and hadn’t once raised an unkind hand to her. She had however, caught him being an ass to Joe again. It seemed even her money couldn’t change his attitude towards her son.
Mark finished eating and stood up from the table. The slight wobble as he did was the only sign that he was feeling the effects of the sleeping pills. “Thanks for lunch babe. It was good for once. I’m going to watch some TV.”
She rolled her eyes at his back while biting her tongue and held in a laugh as she watched him stumble into the living room. He looked drunk as he maneuvered around the coffee table. He went to sit on the couch but missed and landed on the floor. Too tired to get up, he laid down right where he’d landed and fell asleep.
Theresa pulled out her cell phone and texted Blake that Mark was out cold. She washed and put away the things she’d used to make lunch while she waited for Blake to get there.
A few minutes later, he let himself into her house. When he came around the corner and spied Mark passed out on the ground, he started laughing uncontrollably. She came out of the kitchen to see why he was laughing and when she saw Mark, she started laughing too. He was laying in the fetal position on the floor sucking his thumb. She could honestly say she’d never seen him do that before. She took out her phone and snapped a picture. Something to remember him by. It would sure beat the menacing images of Mark that played through her head on repeat most days.
“Good job, beautiful. He really is out cold. I haven’t seen that move in twenty years. Have you packed?”
“I was just about to. I didn’t want to raise suspicion by doing it earlier.”
“Probably a good idea. What about Mark’s things? Do you need help gathering whatever he has over here?”
“Yeah. That’d be great. He has a bag in my room and some things in the bathroom. I’ve already done all the laundry this morning, so we should be able to throw things in bags and get this party started.”
“‘Party’ huh?” He laughed and pulled her into a hug. “Yeah. Let’s get this party started.” He released her and said, “Show me the way.”
She tried not to think of the feel of his strong arms around her as she led him to her bedroom and handed him Mark’s bag. Then, she pointed out his clothes which were folded on the bed, and then, towards the bathroom where his razor and things were.
Blake opened Mark’s bag and chuckled. “Man, I thought this would be harder.”
“What’s that?”
Blake held up a stack of hundred-dollar bills. “I thought it would be harder to find the money he took from me. I can’t believe he just had it laying in his bag.” He leafed through the stack. “About a thousand short, but that’s better than I expected.”
She had to give it to him. She didn’t think she could ever be so blasé about a thousand dollars no matter how much she had in the bank. While he pocketed the money, he also found and packed Mark’s things, and she packed her own. They worked quickly and were done in less than half an hour. Blake took the bags out to his truck while Theresa walked around the house and made sure she had everything she wanted to take with her.
“All right, beautiful. It’s ‘go’ time. Are you ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
She helped him load Mark, and she drove Mark’s car to his apartment while Blake followed with Mark in his truck. Then they took Mark into his apartment and tucked him in his bed. Hopefully he’d stay knocked out until they could get out of town.
By the time they got back to Theresa’s house, they had only an hour to wait until Will would be there with Joe. Blake kept the truck running. Early September in Arizona meant it was still warm enough to need the air conditioning even at sunset. It was surreal to sit in front of her house waiting on the moment when Will and Joe would find out she wasn’t there and wasn’t coming back for a while. She needed something to take her mind off things.
“So, tell me more about where we’re going.”
“What do you want to know?”
“I don’t know. You just said we’re going to park your trailer on your buddy’s land somewhere up north while we figure out our next move with Mark.”
“Well we’re going to see my friend, Bryan Hatfield. He lives in Brennan Lake, Montana with his wife, Rebecca. She’s currently pregnant with their first and might even give birth while we’re there.”
“And you’re sure we’re not intruding on that?”
“I’m sure. They have so much land. If she does have the baby while we’re there, we can just retreat to our space and give them theirs.”
“Okay. I’ll take your word for it. And what have you found out about the people Mark owes money to?”
He was quiet for a moment like he was contemplating how much to tell her. She hoped he would just be straight with her, but instead of saying so, she waited to see what he would tell her. One thing was for sure, he was so confident that things would work out and they would be able to return after a short hiatus that surely, he had to be figuring out how to make that happen.
“Umm… he owes a bookie named Stilts. Corny, I know, but I have no idea what his real name is. It doesn’t really matter though because Stilts works for one of the biggest, most dangerous drug cartels currently infiltrating the southwest region of the country. My source tells me that not only did Mark run up debts he couldn’t pay, but he also stole drugs from one of their dealers. My guess is before he could pay for his debts, they found out about the stolen drugs and that’s why the sum went up.”
It wasn’t easy to shock her, but that did it. She’d never expected the gambling, but add the drugs, and it was all too surreal to wrap her head around.
Still wondering how she got herself tied to a man like that, a truck pulled into her driveway and parked next to her car. Even from her vantage point in Blake’s truck across the street, she’d recognize the truck anywhere. Her ex-husband, Will, was there to drop off Joe, but Joe wouldn’t be coming home to her that night or any night in the near future. She watched as Will and Joe got out of the truck and went to the front door. With her car in the driveway, he probably thought she was home.
She reached for her cell phone, but Blake stopped her. And then she realized why. If she called Will the moment they arrived, he’d figure out that they were watching. She’d wanted to see Joe one last time before skipping town, but she knew if she talked to him, she wouldn’t have the guts to leave.
But she knew she was doing what was best for him and he would be in good hands with his dad.
Things may not have worked out between her and Will, but she couldn’t deny that he was a good dad. When they divorced, it broke her heart to take Joe away from him, but she couldn’t stay in their loveless marriage another minute.
The truth was neither could he, even if he could never admit it. She knew that much was true. She couldn’t survive without help though, so she came back to Yuma.
It was the place she swore she was done with forever, but she had family there who could help her with Joe. Then Will decided not to reenlist and moved to San Diego to be close to Joe and she was so happy that Joe would get to see his dad on a regular basis.
Her phone rang, and she took a deep breath before answering. Blake reached over and grabbed her free hand to give her support as she accepted the call. She spoke to Will and told him she wasn’t coming home for a while and he needed to look after Joe. She even got a chance to pester him like old times. It was her way of telling him that everything was all right, or at least, it would be all right.
When she hung up, she looked over at Blake and gave him a weak smile. They continued to watch the house while Will and Joe were inside. Both tense and afraid Mark would show up while they were all still there. After twenty minutes or so, Will and Joe walked back out the front door with Joe’s suitcase and Theresa felt like she could breathe a
gain. She noticed though that Blake stiffened beside her at the same time but had no idea why. She watched Will pocket the key that she’d left for him under her ‘Welcome’ mat probably to come back if Joe forgot anything, and that made her glad she’d decided not to change the locks.
Blake had asked her when they were planning their exit if she wanted to have her locks changed as well, but she didn’t want Mark forcing his way in when he woke up and came looking for her. She didn’t even take the key she knew he had. There was nothing irreplaceable left in the house and nothing that would help him figure out where she went or where Joe was. When she could come back, she didn’t want to return to a broken-down door.
Her vision blurred as she watched her son climb into his dad’s truck. She had to commit the moment to memory. It was the last glimpse of him she would get for months. How many? She didn’t know and that made watching him from a distance that much harder. It took everything in her not to jump out of Blake’s truck to run over to her son, but she knew if she did that then she wouldn’t let go. She wouldn’t leave, but she had to leave to stay safe. And he had to go with his dad for the same reason. His dad would give him a stable home, take him to school every day and keep him safe; three things she couldn’t do for him at that moment.
Will drove away with Joe, and Blake waited until they were out of sight before driving in the opposite direction. It was still early evening, but they had miles to go before they slept.
Chapter Seven
Blake
He should have asked Theresa more questions about her past. He was so focused on her life with Mark that he didn’t stop to consider her life before Mark much. Never in a million years did he expect to recognize her ex-husband though, even if he had known he was a Marine.
He’d met Will Braun over six years prior during his last deployment. He knew that Will was shot four years later during another deployment shielding a pilot from enemy fire. It was good to see Will walking around without any ill effects from the incident but seeing him walking around with Theresa’s son in her driveway was a shock.
