One
ONE
SOLEIL
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come stay with you and take care of Dolly until Gene gets home?” I reach into the center console of my car, grabbing a tissue, before getting out and walking towards the sliding doors.
It’s hot out, the early summer already hitting the south hard, but my body shivers as chills run across it. My nose is red from the tissues that have rubbed it raw all day, trying to contain the sniffles that make me feel more like a leaky faucet than a human. My muscles ache like an overstretched rubber band, and the bass drum someone is playing in my head gets exceedingly louder with each step I take across the hot parking lot that suddenly feels like I’m crawling across the Sahara.
“I’m sure, Ky. I left him a message letting him know I was leaving early and stopping to get medicine. He had a big proposal today. I called Mom, as well, and let her know that he’d pick her up as soon as he could.” I cough and hear my best friend, Kyle, sigh on the other end.
She’s truly like a second mother sometimes, but when you’ve been best friends with someone for twenty-nine of your thirty-five years, they tend to know everything about you. Including when you’re covering for your husband who seems to be rather busy as of late. Too busy to spend time with his family.
“Okay, babes. If anything changes you call me right away and I’ll pick up my favorite niece.”
“I will. Promise. I’m just about to step into the drugstore so I’ll call you later.”
“Ok. Get some rest. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” I click end on the call as I walk through the door of the drugstore.
Someone from behind the counter calls out a hello and I give them a small wave, my throat too scratchy and burning to talk unless absolutely necessary.
I trudge over to where the plethora of medicine sits and begin reading over labels, trying to decide which is the best one to knock me out cold. I find one that says it treats flu symptoms and grab it along with cough drops and another box of kleenex before leaving the aisle, but freeze when I hear a familiar voice.
“I think you should get these ones. Ribbed for her pleasure,” she purrs, her voice sounding overly sexual.
I hear her laugh and know for certain that my step-cousin is here looking to get some protection for a little afternoon delight.
I turn towards where she must be when another voice pipes up that sends shivers down my spine.
“What about these ones? Bare skin. I’ll be able to feel every inch of your…” his words grow lower and I miss the last part of what he says.
However, I have a pretty good idea of how it ends.
I stand at the end of the aisle and witness my step-cousin getting groped in the middle of the contraceptive display by my husband.
“What the fuck!” I shout and they both spin their heads to look at me.
Gene’s face turns to a shockingly shade of pale, while Meredith morphs into a putrid green sweaty mess.
“Sunny! Wha-what are you doing here?” Gene stutters like I’m the one to be answering for my whereabouts this afternoon.
“What are you doing here? Is this the big proposal you had planned for today?” My hands shake and my heart feels like it’s thumping from the pit of my stomach where it landed after falling out of my chest.
“It’s not…I…”
“Don’t try to spin me a web of lies. I heard you, you piece of shit. Is there some other reason you’d be buying condoms? I’m on the pill, so they can’t be for me. Or are you helping Meredith pick some out with your vast knowledge?” I sneer at my pseudo cousin and she shrinks.
“Soleil. I’m sorry,” she blubbers.
“Shut up whore and wait your turn. I’ll get to you in a minute.” She shakes like a chihuahua in a snowstorm and cowers behind Gene’s back.
“How long?” I ask my husband, or rather soon to be ex- husband.
He shakes his head, eyes now glistening with tears. “Babe, please. I’m sorry. She was a mistake.”
“Hey,” Meredith whines.
“I’m sorry, but it’s true. Did you really think I’d leave my wife for you?”
“You prick. You thought you’d get your rocks off with my cousin and then crawl into bed with me after fucking her? Jesus, Gene. You are the biggest asshole I have ever known.” I throw my hands up and the items I’m gripping clatter to the ground.
“What’s that?” he asks, looking at the scattered items.
“Medicine, you asshat. If you had answered your phone, you’d know that I am sick and left work early to sleep it off. But now I see that your hands were much too busy to answer your wife’s phone call.” I hear Meredith sniff as she peeks out from behind Gene.
I kick the package of tissue towards her and grit, “Here. Wipe your whore tears with these.” I shake my head and take a calming breath, which does nothing to calm me. “How could you, Meredith? You could have any man, yet you chose my husband.”
“It’s not like that,” she cries at the same time Gene points at her with an accusing finger and says, “She seduced me.”
Her jaw drops and big, fat tears pour from her eyes. If it was any other man, I’d be pulling her into my arms to soothe her. But trash doesn’t deserve comfort.
“Ha,” I snort. “How did she do that, Gene? Did she tie you down and rip your clothes off? Give you an unwanted blowjob? You poor, poor thing.”
“It’s true!” He shouts. “She found me at the bar. She flirted with me. She told me she had always wanted me. Then she said that no one would ever know and it could be just one time,” he tries to explain.
“And you are the one who took her up on her offer. Was it one time?” I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him, daring him to lie.
To my surprise he doesn’t. He shakes his head and drops his gaze to the floor.
“And you…” I direct my anger at the woman who obviously has balls of steel for being so forward with another woman’s husband. “What do you think your family will have to say about this? ‘Cause you best believe I’m going to shout this shit from the mountain tops like I’m a fucking world class yodler.”
“No. Please don’t. I’ll do anything. I’ll never see him again. I’ll stay away from every family event. We’ll never cross paths. I promise.” She has literally dropped to her knees, hands clasped in prayer and begging me.
“Fuck that. You can have him because this fucker is going to find his shit out on the front lawn by the time he gets to my house.”
“Sunny,” Gene looks at me like he can’t believe how unreasonable I’m being.
“I want you out of my house by the time I get home from my Mom’s. You take your shit and only your shit. Don’t even think about going to see Dahlia because I’m calling George right now to tell him not to let you anywhere near the house.”
“You can’t do that,” he shouts. “She’s my daughter!”
“Hm. I just figured you forgot about her. Kinda like how you forgot I was your wife while you were banging this See You Next Tuesday.”
“See You Next what?” she asks, still kneeling. It’s obviously a position she’s familiar with.
“See. You. Next. Tuesday. A c u n t. You are a cunt! A stinky, skanky, husband stealing cunt!” My voice has risen well beyond what is socially acceptable in public, but ask me if I care.
“Soleil. Please don’t do this. We can work this out. I’m weak. I let a manipulative woman seduce me. I don’t even think she’s pretty.”
Meredith sobs harder and I have to admit, that was pretty cruel of him to say.
“A weak man is not someone I want in my life. I’ll have Kyle file divorce papers as soon as she can. In the meantime, don’t call me.” I spin on my heel and start to walk away. Before I’m out of sight, I pause and throw one last dig over my shoulder. “And Gene?”
“Yeah,” he whispers, his voice thick and rough.
“Go choke on a bag of dicks.” I hear a laugh and a yes, girl from somewhere in the store.
Looks like we had an audience. Hope they enjoyed this afternoon’s soap opera.
I stomp my way through the store, not meeting the flabbergasted eyes of the other customers. I fling the door open and step out onto the sidewalk, my cold long forgotten, and make it all the way to my car before I completely lose it.
What in the hell just happened?