Forgiving Patience (20 page)

“We leave those women alone for one
night, and what do they do? Get in a heap of trouble that they need a man to
get them out of.” Bradley still had his line in the water, clearly not wanting
to leave just yet. He probably didn’t have a woman lined up for the night.

“What’s going on?” Jake was already
sitting upright, ready to take charge.

“Not completely sure. All I know is
it’s about Anna and Cara.”

Shit. This was not going be good.

* * * *

“Anna, I think you need to slow down
on the down-home punch. You’re not used to drinking.” Anna could sense Em
wasn’t worried yet, but she would be there soon if Anna didn’t get it together.

“I’m f-fine. I’m just havin’ a hard
time walkin’ at the moment. Funny how when she was drunk her southern accent
became more clear. “Just give me a minute.” Anna was holding a pink cup in one
hand and gripping the side of a chair with the other. It was the only thing
helping her sit up at the moment.

“Here, why don’t you eat this, get
something in your stomach? It might help soak up some of the alcohol.” Em held
out a cracker, but Anna protested.

“I’m already fat, why are you tryin’
to make me fatter?”

“You’re not fat, Anna.” Em grabbed
the cup out of Anna’s hands. “Now eat this damn cracker and stop being
difficult. You see Alice over there? She grew up with five brothers. She can
take you down to the floor and force this damn cracker down your throat. Which
way do you want to play it?” Anna took the cracker willingly. She’d met Alice
earlier and immediately knew she was not someone to mess with.

“Okay, I ate the cracker. Can I get
up now? I want to dance.” As soon as her feet hit the floor and she rose out of
the chair, the room immediately started turning. She held herself still for a
minute before testing out her wobbly legs. When she only wobbled slightly, she
considered herself able to walk. She’d seen Jesse earlier. Anna knew Jesse was
the type of woman who could hold her liquor and have a good time. Tonight she
was dressed in holey jeans, a plain white tee, and her ponytail was pulled
through a trucker ball cap. Jesse was over by a large toy bin-looking bucket
full of some concoction Anna had never seen before. Any other time, she
would’ve passed on the fruity looking drink, but tonight she wasn’t Do-Good
Anna—she was a let-go, throw-caution-to-the-wind kind of woman.

“
Heyyyyy
, Jessie,” Anna slurred.

“How’s drunk feel, girl? You want
some of my homemade punch?”

“That’s why I’m over here.”

“All right, then.”

Jesse filled a cup to the rim. “Here
you go. Now the thing is, you have to drink all of it…understand?”

“Completely. Want to dance? I’ve
never actually danced before with a woman…I mean I danced with Jake the other
night, but he isn’t a woman, if you know what I mean.” Anna giggled.

“You know I’m straight, don’t you?
Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you, are they?”

“No. I mean, yes, I know you’re not
in love with me. I just thought you could teach me how to dance.”

“Well, if you want to dance, we are
going have to change this damn music. Em is completely impossible when it comes
to the radio.

“Em, can we please listen to
something besides
R.E.S.P.E.C.T,
” Jesse yelled over the Aretha
Franklin classic. “How about some Miranda Lambert?
Gunpowder
and Lead
is a good
women
take control
kind of
song.”

Em was pointing a stern finger in
Jesse’s direction. “Hey, this is a classic. You’re just too young to appreciate
a good woman song.”

“Em, you’re only two years older than
me. You need to update your music collection. Aretha is fine and all, but you
need some Gretchen Wilson or Miranda Lambert. Hey, what about Beyoncé’s
All
the Single Ladies
?
That’s a good one, anything but this…please. My ears are bleeding.”

When the first country song blasted
through the speakers, Anna was already on the coffee table throwing her head
around and splashing half her drink on
Em’s
new zebra
print rug. Her hair had escaped from its tight ponytail and was hanging loosely
in her face. She thought it was a Miranda song, but whatever the song, she was
ready to get down to it.

Em was loudly talking to Jesse. “Why
did you give her another cup? It took all I had to pry the other one out of her
death grip.”

“She looked like she needed it. Look
at her.” Jesse took a break from drinking her own punch long enough to point at
Anna. Anna gave her thumbs up, added to what felt like a goofy smile. “She’s
having a good time.”

“I can see that, but you see my rug.
It took weeks to talk your brother into that, and now it’s stained with your
punch. Hope you don’t have plans tomorrow.”

“Well, no. Why?”

“’Cause you will be here scrubbing it
up.”

“Why me? Your friend there is the one
who spilled her drink on it.”

“Who gave her the drink?” Anna
watched Em pat Jesse on the butt and hurry off. “I need reinforcements.”

Anna should feel guilty for ruining
the bachelorette party. But to her credit, Em did tell her to have a non-Anna
time, and that’s exactly what she was doing at the moment.

“I got it,” Anna said to the ringing
doorbell. After jumping off the table and stumbling her way to the front door,
she swung the door open and barely missed her face. The woman on the threshold
held out a six-pack of beer. “Sorry I’m la—you’re not Em.”

“Hey, everybody, look. Cara is sorry
she’s late,” Anna hollered over her shoulder. The music went silent, and Anna
could hear her own heart beating.

“Cara, come on in. You should try
some of Jesse’s lunch.”

“You mean punch, honey…she should try
some of my punch.”

“Shut up, Jesse,” Anna heard another
girl mumble.

Anna turned her head around and bowed
to Jesse. “Sorry…I mean punch.”

“What’s going on in here?” Em came in
the room with a cell phone to her ear. “Shit.”

“No, it’s okay, Em.” Anna put her arm
around Cara and dragged her in the house. “I’ll take one of those, if you don’t
mind? You don’t mind sharing do ya? Oh—what am I’m sayin’? You love sharing,
don’t ya, Car?”

“Sure, go ahead,” Cara replied. Anna
pulled out one of the beers, popped the top, and turned it up.

“I’ve not drank beer in, oh….I guess
since Jake and I…oh crap, was I supposed to say that? Cara, you know Jake,
don’t ya? That’s right, you and Jake know each other real well.”

Cara looked scared and mortified at
the same time. She didn’t move away from the front door. “Cara, why look so
scared? You didn’t look so scared eleven years ago when you were banging my
boyfriend.” Anna was up in Cara’s face, pulling the rest of her hair down from
its loosened ponytail. Her shoes were off…now what…oh, her earrings. She was
supposed to pull her earrings out. At least that’s what she saw in the movies.

“It wasn’t like that, Anna.”

“I’m sorry. I know I’ve had a little
too much drink, but did I just hear that come out of your mouth?”

“I can explain.”

“I don’t want explanations, you
little red-headed bitch. You couldn’t keep your own boyfriend so you just
thought mine would do just fine, huh?” Anna turned up the beer before she
hauled back and spit a mouthful of beer in Cara’s face. “That’s what I think
about your explanations.”

Em hung up the phone and ran to the
door, tripping on several pairs of shoes in the process. “Okay, Anna, you’ve
had a lot to drink. Let’s go sit down in the kitchen, and I will put some
coffee on. Sound good?”

Anna was pulling out of her grip,
lunging toward Cara at the same time. “Can I have some help please? Alice, put
the cup down and make yourself useful over here.”

She didn’t stand a chance with the
man-chick in the corner, so she let Em walk her to the kitchen. “Em, you should
let me go. I deserve this. After all these years, I should get to shove her
down on her ass. Please, let me have her.”

“Anna, you’re drunk. I’m not going to
let you get in a fight.”

She pouted her way over to the
barstool. This was just great. All week she’d been putting Jake off when he
tried talking about what went wrong between them. And now, when she thought she
was strong enough to face the problem head-on, no one would let her do anything
about it. These people sucked. What was the point of having fun when you
couldn’t do things you normally wouldn’t do? Her night wasn’t over, and she
wasn’t going to let this go just yet.

* * * *

“Shit,” Jake muttered out loud.
Putting Anna and Cara in the same room together wasn’t going to go over real
well. Everybody knew that. He doubted they had seen each other in the past
eleven years, and if Em called Tommy for help, it only meant the little reunion
wasn’t a happy one.

“Maybe it’s not that bad,” Bradley
proclaimed from the backseat. He’d had a few too many beers and wasn’t thinking
all too clearly at the moment. That was probably why he couldn’t remember the
reason those two women in the same room was a very bad idea.

Tommy whipped the truck carelessly in
the drive, almost taking out his mailbox and a few parked cars parked along the
side of the road. Jake jumped out of the truck before Tommy put it in park. He needed
to get in there—now.

“Good grief, Jake, you’d think
something bad was going on.” Bradley had somehow made it out of the truck
without stumbling and was on Jake’s heels.

“Bradley, why don’t you just shut the
fuck up?”

“Fine.”

Jake flung the door open. The only
way one would notice it was a bachelorette party was by the amount of penis
decorations. Except for the whispers, there were no other sounds in the room.
All heads looked up as he entered, followed by Bradley and Tommy.

“Now, this is a party. I should’ve
just hung out with the ladies. Why didn’t we do something like this?” Bradley
apparently was amused with the penises.

The absence of loud music and
men-bashing let him know everything he needed to know. Anna had done something.
He knew Cara was regretful for what she and he had done so long ago, so his
only guess was that Anna was drunk and confronted Cara. This was his fault.
Things were out of hand because of the mistakes he’d made. The Cara thing was a
way overdue conversation. And eventually Anna was going to have to listen to
him.

“Where is she?” he asked the first
woman he encountered. She didn’t say a word, just pointed him toward the
kitchen.

He could hear someone crying and
another woman trying to soothe her. Stopping himself suddenly, he saw her. She
looked a mess. Her head was lying on
Em’s
shoulder,
and her hair looked like bees had made a permanent home in it. He didn’t know
what to do. Should he run to her? The only thing he knew he couldn’t do was
leave her. That was not an option.

Anna raised her head, as if sensing
someone else had entered the room. He couldn’t tell from her blank stare if she
was relieved to see him. It didn’t matter to him. Whether she liked it or not,
he was going to be there for her.

* * * *

“Jake, thank God you’re here.” Em
looked relieved. She might have called Tommy, but Jake knew she had really
wanted him. He could hear the concern in her voice, and he knew the situation
was worse than he might have originally thought.

“Is she okay?” His voice dropped a
few octaves and gave away the worry he was trying to hide.

“Will you two stop talking about me
like I’m not in the room? Oh, and Jake, I can see the worry all over your face.
You can take it and shove it. You don’t get to worry about me. Leave and take
that red-headed bitch with you.”

“She’s been like this for twenty
minutes. One minute she’s crying, saying she’s fat and sucks, and the next she
is using language I’ve never heard coming from her mouth. It’s like she doesn’t
know what kind of drunk to be. Please help. Nobody out there knows her well
enough to know what to do, and Jesse is just disappointed there wasn’t a
slap-fest. I hated to interrupt the fishing trip, but I didn’t know what else
to do.”

“It’s fine, Em. I’m glad you called.
Can you give us a minute?”

“Sure, let me know if you need me.
I’ve been trying to make her eat crackers, but I’m not promising there won’t be
hurling.” Em left them alone.

The music was being turned back up.
Em was obviously trying to give them some privacy. She was a good friend. Tommy
was getting a good woman.

Anna had her head on the counter,
staring at the floor. She was either trying to avoid him, or it hurt too bad to
pick her head up. She wasn’t going to make this easy for him, he knew that. He
just hoped he got her out of there without too much of a scene.