gestured with the bottle.
The coldness in her eyes bled into her expression and her words. “And what the hell has it got to do with you?”
“Josh is my best friend and I stand by him. I don’t condone what he did. Personally, I think he was an asshole to have an affair, no offense to you. I want you to leave Josh and his family alone.”
Bell’s features tightened into an angry knot. “Did that spineless bastard send you to speak to me?”
“No, he didn’t. I came because I’m a friend. You
have enough money from this. What more do you
want?”
“I want to see him suffer.”
“You hate him that much?”
“I love him that much.” She paused for a moment.
“You have no idea how hard it was to watch him leave me and go back to his wife and his daughter.”
Bell’s sincerity frightened Bob. She wouldn’t leave Josh voluntarily. She’d go kicking and screaming. He couldn’t see Josh surviving this one.
“He’ll never be yours if you destroy what he has
now.
“I know, but if I can’t have him then no one will.”
“Assholes!” Bell poured herself another drink. Anger prevented accuracy and she slopped most of it over the table and her hand.
“Who are?” James Mitchell said, joining the table.
“Men,” she said.
Mitchell took the bottle from her hand and finished the job she’d started. He poured himself some wine.
“I’m afraid I fall into that category.” He gave her a bemused smile. “Who particularly is an asshole?”
“Our lovely host.”
“Josh Michaels?”
“Yes. Are you one of his cronies?”
“No, I only met him tonight. I’m an acquaintance of a friend of his.”
“That makes you part asshole?” She took a big gulp from her glass.
Mitchell blurted a laugh. “Quite probably. Would
you like to talk about it?”
It was a relief when Bob removed Josh from another discussion about his accident. It was the sixth time Josh had recounted the events of the incident. He kept his belief that someone was trying to kill him to himself. With every new telling the event seemed
more and more like the incident happened to someone else.
“Josh, I spoke to her.” Bob was grave.
“And what happened?”
“She is pretty fucked-up over you. She’s not going to go away. This one’s going down to the wire.”
“Where is she now?”
“She’s talking to Mitchell.” Bob nodded to Bell and Mitchell over by the drink table.
Josh turned to see. “Do you think she’s telling him?”
“No. She’s angry, but she isn’t ready to throw you to the wolves. Honestly, I don’t think she knows what to do. She still loves you, did you know that?”
“No. No, I didn’t.” Josh’s eyes were still fixed on Bell talking happily to James Mitchell.
The rest of the birthday party went without incident. It was the picture of respectability and mediocrity. No one got too drunk, the music wasn’t too loud and the neighbors didn’t complain too much. People left as the food and alcohol disappeared. The designated drivers were called to duty to perform their role.
Around eleven o’clock, Kate found Abby under a pic
82
nic table curled up in a ball with Wiener at her side.
Kate put her to bed and discovered Wiener smelled of alcohol. She had no idea who had given the dog a
drink. She mused that she’d never seen a dog with a hangover.
It was well after midnight when Josh decided to call it a night and send the party hyenas on their way. He climbed onto the picnic table and surveyed the stragglers.
Bell was gone. He hadn’t seen her go or whether
she was with anyone when she had left. That worried him; she had drunk more than the legal limit and he hoped she hadn’t spilled her guts to someone. Mark Keegan had left around ten-thirty. His flying partner wanted an early night since he and Josh were flying the next morning. Bob, of course, was still there with his colleague. Bob wouldn’t leave until every plate was licked clean.
“Can I have everyone’s attention,” Josh called to the bleary-eyed congregation.
Dulled by alcohol and fatigue, they turned toward him.
“I would just like to say thanks to everyone who
came, especially those who had the decency to have left already.”
A titter of laughter came from the ensemble.
“But the party’s over. There’s no more alcohol left.”
The surviving party revelers expressed a cry of sad comic despair.
Josh smiled. “So you’ll have to go home now.”
“I don’t wanna go home,” Bob said.
“I didn’t want you to come. So that makes two of
us disappointed tonight,” he said and got another laugh.
Josh jumped down from the table and everybody
took it as their cue to go. Josh, with Kate’s help, ushered the party stragglers out. They watched their friends leave from the front yard.
Josh surveyed the battlefield of discarded bottles, plates, paper cups, glasses and other victims that fell during the festive clash in the backyard. “I think we’ll leave everything tonight and clear up tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I don’t want to deal with it tonight,” Kate said.
“Thanks for coming everyone.” Hiding a smile, Josh ignored his wife and focused on his friends’ departures.
After a moment, he looked at Kate and winked.
“You bastard.” She grinned. “You’re flying tomorrow.”
He
put an arm around her and pulled her tight. “I
probably won’t go, anyway.”
“Why?”
“I drank too much and I don’t really feel like it.” Although he had drunk too much, he hid his real feelings.
Bell’s arrival had taken the shine off his party and sapped his desire to enjoy himself.
“Now that everyone’s gone, I thought we could play, maybe?” Kate said seductively. She made little circles with her finger on his chest.
“What—Scrabble, Twister, that sort of thing?”
“You know what I mean.”
