Fiends

as they roamed higher.

    Marty took a big swallow of bourbon when the hand found her breast.

    It tickled, it massaged, it squeezed.

    Lowering the bottle, Marty clutched his hand and pressed it harder against her breast. She moaned. Clamping the bottle between her legs to free her other hand, she grabbed Willy’s thigh.

    ‘Go for it, honey,’ he said.

    Marty squeezed his thigh until it must’ve hurt. Groaning, Willy dug his teeth into her shoulder. The car swerved. His groaning changed to a gasp of alarm. The hand under Marty’s jersey went still as he focused on steering.

    When the car straightened out, he laughed and yelled, ‘Yeah!’ and gave her breast a tweak.

    Marty flinched and grabbed his wrist. ‘Quit it, now,’ she said.

    ‘Yeah?’

    ‘Yeah. I’ve been through a hell of a lot with you, Willy. I’ll probably go through lots more. But not, if I can help it, a windshield.’

    ‘Maybe I’d better pull over, huh?’

    ‘Maybe so,’ Marty said.

    But he didn’t.

27

    Roger stroked the length of Tina’s back, and kissed her shoulder. Still she continued to cry. He started to ask her what was wrong, but stopped himself. He was tired of asking, and tired of being answered with speechless sobs.

    ‘I wish you’d stop that,’ he finally said. ‘I hate it when a woman cries. Is it something I did?’

    A muffled ‘No’ came from under the pillow.

    ‘Something I didn’t do or say?’

    ‘It isn’t you.’

    ‘Well, that’s nice to know. I wish you’d told me that half an hour ago.’ He pulled the pillow off her head. She looked up at him. Hair hung in her eyes. She pushed the hair away, and her eyes were red.

    ‘What is it?’ Roger asked. ‘I mean, you don’t have to tell me, but maybe I can help. You never know. I’ll help you if I can.’

    ‘Thanks,’Tina said.

    ‘Do you want to talk about it?’

    ‘I don’t know.’

    ‘You might feel better if you talk about it. That's what they always say, anyway. I don’t know how true it is.’

    She sniffed and said nothing.

    ‘Is it a guy?’

    She nodded.

    ‘What did he do? Did he hurt you?’

    She rolled onto her back and looked at the ceiling. ‘I found him with… making love with somebody. Right in the store. Right behind the counter. He was going to marry me.’ A tear trickled from the corner of her eye, down her temple and into her ear. With a fingertip, she rubbed it out of her ear. She wiped her eyes.

    ‘Who was the girl?’

    ‘I don’t know. Someone from Camp Wahtooki. It’s a summer camp down the road from town. A girl’s camp. She was maybe a counselor, or something. She had one of those camp station wagons, so I guess she must be a counselor. The bitch.’

    ‘Do you think the guy is serious about her?’

    ‘It looked serious to me. Brad was screwing her.’

    ‘I mean, have they been seeing each other?’

    ‘I don’t know. How should I know? He’s with me nearly all the time when he’s not working. Maybe she visits him at the bait shop every day. I don’t know, I just walked in on him. It was like one of those dumb things that happens on TV. But, hell, you know, I drop in on him all the time and… I’ve never caught him doing that before.

    ‘Did you talk to him about it?’

    ‘Are you kidding?’

    ‘No. Maybe it was completely innocent.’

    ‘How could it be innocent? He was humping the bitch.’

    ‘What I mean is, maybe it didn’t mean anything.’

    ‘It means plenty when you get down on the floor and stick your weenie in a woman. Doesn’t it?’

    ‘Usually,’ Roger admitted. ‘But the thing is, any normal guy is going to do it to a good-looking gal if the opportunity presents itself. Especially if he’s not married. Even if he is, maybe, depending on the guy.’

    ‘God, that’s nice.’

    ‘It can be nothing more than a physical thing. There doesn’t always have to be a big emotional involvement.’

    ‘We were going to get married!’

    ‘So?’ Roger said.

    She glared at him.

    ‘I’m not claiming it’s right. I’m only saying it sometimes will happen, and maybe the guy really does love you and just got… involved, carried away. It happens. It almost happened to me. Several times.’

    ‘Almost?’

    ‘I guess the Boy Scout in me won out against the lech. I was married then. Somehow, I always managed to resist the temptations. It wasn’t easy. Some of those gals… Now I sometimes wish I’d gone ahead. Faithful, boring Roger should’ve put it to every babe in sight. If I’d known what my dear wife was up to, I would’ve had myself a field day.’

    ‘She was playing around?’

    Roger couldn’t answer. He lay on his back and rubbed his face. It made him feel weary and sick to remember. Finally, he said, ‘I wanted to kill her when I found out.’

    ‘I wanted to kill myself,' Tina said.

    ‘Instead, we both ran away.’

    ‘Yep.’

    ‘That’s because we have high moral character.’

    ‘Is that why?' Tina asked, and smiled.

    ‘But of course. What’d you say the guy’s name is? The guy that cheated on you?’

    ‘Brad.’

    ‘Tell you what, why don’t you give him a call?’

    ‘I can’t do that.’

    ‘Sure you can. I told you that I’d help, didn’t I? Well, this is my help. Advice based on years of wisdom. Phone Brad. Give him a chance. Give yourself a chance. Just call and see what happens.’

    ‘I don’t know.’

    ‘Go ahead. The phone’s right there beside you.’

    ‘I can’t just call him.’

    ‘Sure you can.’

    She shook her head.

    ‘Go on. You want to. I know you want to.’

    ‘I guess so, but…’