Chapter 9

“Hi, Rand,” she said warmly. “How are you?”

“I’m doing okay, May. How’re you managing without your favorite son-in-law underfoot,” I asked, playfully.

“I miss the poor lug,” she told me. “Who else is going to eat pie with me ‘til we’re sick?”

“I’d eat your pie morning, noon and night,” I assured her.

Yeah, we were aware of the double meaning. We teased each other with this joke since I’d first gotten together with Beth. I’d made the comment innocently the first time and everyone caught the dirtier meaning at the same time. I was mortified, Glen (I refused to call him Colonel after our blow-up) was furious, Beth had been overcome with laughter and May had kept most of her composure and announced that at least someone knew good pie when they smelled it. After that, I always got an extra-large piece at holidays and she always gave me a kiss on the cheek for my appreciation. She chuckled and told me I was still a flatterer.

“Hang on and I’ll call Beth to the phone for you.”

“Actually, I called to chat with you,” I told her. “We don’t get to talk much, and I miss you.”

“You’re a sweetheart,” she said, her voice choking up.

I’ve realized that our breakup has been harder on her than on anyone other than me.

“How are you doing?” she asked. “I could hear some of what you and Beth were talking about the other night. You laid her out in lavender, from the yelling I heard through your end of the phone.” She lowered her voice some and added, “It’s about time.”

I chuckled at that.

“Yeah. She hasn’t been much of a friend to me even though she asked me to stay in touch. In the end, that was probably good for me, but there were a few issues that came up. Overall, I think we’re doing okay. She told me about Roger. She even wants me to meet him at some point.”

“Oh, good Lord!” she snorted. “Do you have to meet all her lovers, now? I love my daughter, but sometimes I wonder if her head is filled with straw.”

“It’s okay, May,” I told her with a chuckle. “I think this one’s a little different. Maybe I’ll feel the same, but that’s on me, not on her. I won’t know until I shake his hand, really.”

We settled into a pleasant chat while I made myself some dinner, and she whipped up a miracle in her kitchen. I told her about the plant and about my support group.

“You really need a support group?” she asked, clicking her tongue in vexation at how much this had affected me.

“I do, for all sorts of reasons,” I told her. “This all came out of the blue for me. Beth had checked-out emotionally, years ago. I found out she didn’t love me, she cheated on me, and she infected me with an STD - all on the same day. Then she left town and I was left to pick up the pieces alone. She didn’t exactly give our friends a fair picture of events, so they haven’t talked to me since, and I haven’t had the best time at work. Our plant is shutting down sometime next year. So, it’s been sort of a shitty year for me. Beth’s had a good year. She’s had two lovers, got rid of 240 pounds of useless husband that she wasn’t using, and traded in her life in Charlotte for a whole new life in Atlanta with new friends, and a relationship and a job. The divorce didn’t hurt her. It actually gave her what she wanted.”

“Yeah, she’s very happy,” she agreed. “I don’t say that to make you upset, but the change in her is noticeable.”

“Well, I’m developing new friends and new hobbies,” I told her. “I don’t begrudge her a little happiness. I’m starting to put things back in order. I’m renovating and redecorating the house and I’m getting a sense of how bad things really were between Beth and me.”

“How so?” she asked, curious about how I’ve come to the new insight about Beth.

“Are we alone on the line?” I asked quietly. “Beth’s doing her own thing? Glen doesn’t have the phone bugged, claiming it’s for national security?”

She chuckled at that.

“No, I think he’s actually going to be retiring in the next couple of years, so he’s started to relax some, and Beth’s in the shower. She’s probably going out with Roger for the evening. It’s just you and me.”

“Okay. I don’t want Beth to know just yet, but I met someone. We had our first date last night. She looks at me with eyes ... Well, Beth never looked at me like that. Not even on our wedding day.”

“Oh! That’s marvelous, Rand!” she gushed. “I’ve been worried that you were going to mope around and carry the torch for her, forever. Where did you and this girl meet?” she asked.

“It’s actually a hell of a story. When the book’s done, I’ll make sure to get you an autographed copy.”

“Book?!!? You’re writing a book?” she blurted out.

“No! I’m not, but someone is. The woman is in my support group, but that’s not really where I first met her. One of the other women in the group is a writer, though, and she’s been taking notes to write a novel about how we met.”

“That’s exciting!” she said.

I could hear her grin through the phone. I was always the son she never had, and I loved her to death.

“So where did you and your mystery lady meet?”

“May, I need you to absolutely promise not to let Beth know about this. She’d blow her stack if she knew. Please?!!?”

“I promise. Neither of them will hear a word from me,” she swore, “but why, Rand? You must want Beth to know, eventually.”

“I do, but I want it to be face to face. She knows Beth, and we both want to announce our relationship to her in person.”

She laughed. “You mean you want to see the look on her face when you show her who you ended up with on your arm?” she asked with an amused tone of voice.

“That’s only part of it,” I admitted. “I’ve changed a lot. After she left, I decided pretty quick that I didn’t want to get drunk to numb the pain, so I joined a gym. Three months of hitting the gym twice a day has made me almost unrecognizable. As much as I want to show off my new girl, she wants to show Beth how much of a good man she left behind.”

“Bring her here!” she said excitedly. “I want to see this new Rand myself and I want to thank the girl who’s made life worth living for you again. You said Beth knows her,” she said. “How?”

“That’s the unbelievable part,” I said, lowering my voice. “She’s the wife of the guy Beth was cheating on me with. I met her briefly at Beth’s Christmas party last year. Then we met again at the support group.”

“Really?!!?” she gasped, thrilled with this scandal. “Oh, that’s delicious! When can you come down?”

I laughed. “I’m not sure. Life’s complicated here.”

I explained why she hadn’t divorced her husband, his cancer and her adamant refusal to make our relationship official until Stan was dead.

“Wow!” she said when my story was complete. “I want to meet her,” she said. “Since we both know Glen wouldn’t go across the street to see you, let alone drive up to Charlotte, you’ll have to come down here. Can you make it for Thanksgiving?”

“I’m afraid not,” I said gently. “She’d already made plans to be with her family in Washington. Maybe between Christmas and New Year’s though.”

“You keep me informed. We could maybe go out for New Year’s Eve. You think? Beth and Roger, you and your mystery woman, me and Glen?” she asked hopefully. “I know you’re thinking that a celebration with Glen would end with him being lowered into the ground. He probably thinks the same but imagine the fun of being a new man with a new woman to prove to him that all his crap over the years hasn’t been true. I love Glen, but there’ve been times I wanted to hit him with my cast-iron skillet for the rotten things he’s said to and about you. You come down here and show him how it looks to live well.”

“I think I’d like you to meet her,” I said sincerely. “Her name’s Melody and she’s the girl of my dreams. She seriously makes each of my days brighter.”

“Oh, I’m so glad to hear that! I’m so happy for you! I know Beth will be too, when she gets over the shock,” she said and we both laughed. “Glen, probably not.”

“Well, I’m told that he’s calmed down some, since I tore a strip off him. Maybe he’s decided that I’m not such a pussy after all,” I suggested.

“He has calmed down some,” she admitted. “Dare I ask what you said to him?” she asked with a chuckle.

“I might have suggested that he liked to admire real men in the shower,” I said sheepishly. “I also bitched him out for refusing to spring for a Christmas present for me, ever, told him he wasn’t my father-in-law anymore, and demanded to know who the hell he thought he was to tell me how to treat Beth, since I’ve seen him treat you like crap with my own eyes. I was pretty angry when he called, and I wasn’t in the mood to pull punches.”