I found Charlene, guided her away from the kids and held a low-voiced conversation with her in the living room.
“Right, you go out but Creed is not leaving and, Charlene, I love you, he loves me, he cares about you and those kids, so he’s not gonna leave you alone with Dan in order that he can be close to see to you. You listen to what Dan has to say but, warning, if Creed doesn’t like his bullshit, it’s done.”
“But he’s back and –” she started and God, God, God she needed to clue in!
I grabbed her by either side of her neck and gave her a gentle shake. “Trust me. Trust Creed. Dan says his head was screwed up and maybe he’s not lying. If that’s the case and he’s got his shit sorted, Creed will get that and roll with it. If it’s not, Creed will sniff it out and Dan will be on his way.”
She held my eyes.
I held hers back.
She said nothing.
I didn’t either until this lasted awhile so I whispered, “Babe, trust us.”
She licked her lips before she nodded.
I squeezed her neck and let her go.
She was walking away when I called her name and she turned back.
“Uh… FYI, Dan thinks Creed’s your new boyfriend, he’s mine too and we do three-ways.”
Her mouth dropped open as her eyes went huge.
I grinned at her then went to find the kids.
*
Adam, Theo and Leslie were strapped into their car seats in Creed’s truck and I was making goofy faces at them through the windows. Once I got big smiles, I stopped doing that, rounded the hood and went to Creed’s open window.
“You got them?” I asked quietly.
“I got them, you get her,” he answered quietly.
I nodded before saying, “Love you, babe.”
“Back at ‘cha,” Creed replied, I smiled at him, slapped the side of his truck with my hand and stepped away.
Creed pulled away.
I moved to Charlene’s house.
I found her in her bedroom, the drapes pulled, the room dark. She was face down on the bed and she’d already been through a half a box of Kleenex, the tissues rumpled and strewn all over the bed and the floor.
Suffice it to say, Douchebag Dan had not got his head screwed on straight. Even Charlene cottoned onto the fact that Dan was home because Dan had underestimated what it would cost to set up a new life without the ball and chain of home, spouse and family. He’d run out of money and had nowhere else to go. This being the case, Creed didn’t send him packing. Charlene did.
When I arrived in her room, I climbed right into bed with her, shifting until my front was flush with her back and I wrapped my arm tight around her waist, holding her close.
“We’ll get you through this,” I whispered.
“He’s a dick,” she whispered back, her voice trembling.
“Yep,” I agreed. “He’s also gone. You feel this for a while then you move on.”
Her body bucked against mine with her sobs but I just held on.
We lay together silently for long minutes before she asked softly, “What if he’s my Creed?”
Seriously?
I loved her but she had to clue in.
“He isn’t your Creed and I know this because the true Creeds of this world are out doing things like my Creed is doing, taking your kids for lunch and ice cream and to a park so you have time to get yourself sorted. They do not take off, shirk their responsibilities, come home after over two months and not even ask to see their kids. He isn’t your Creed, babe. Maybe there’s one out there for you. It just isn’t Dan.”
I heard her stuttering breath before her head moved on the pillow indicating she was nodding.
“I’ll stay until your shit’s –” I started but stopped when she turned in my arm and wrapped hers around me.
“You won’t. When you’re ready to go, you’ll go. I’ll be okay. You be happy.”
“Helping you out makes me happy,” I informed her.
“Not as much as being with Creed.”
That was the truth.
“Charlene, girl –”
She shook my body with her arm. “You aren’t going tomorrow, right?”
I grinned at her through the dark and confirmed, “Right.”
“When my eyes don’t feel puffy and my stomach doesn’t feel funny and my heart doesn’t hurt so damned much, we’ll talk. We’ll plan. We’ll figure it out. I’ll find my way and I know you’ll help me. It doesn’t feel fine now but it will be. It always is.”
“Yeah,” I agreed softly. “It always is.”
“I hope my fine doesn’t take sixteen years, though,” she told me and I grinned again.
“I hope so, too.”
She nodded and didn’t grin back. She dipped her chin and stared at my chest.
I lifted a hand and pulled her hair away from her face and neck. Then I wrapped my arm around her again and held tight.
Once I did that, I said quietly, “Love you to bits, Charlene.”
“I know, Sylvie,” she replied quietly back without looking at me. “Love you, too.”
I held her close and listened to her take another staggering breath.
And I held her close until she fell asleep in my arms.
And I held her close for a while after.
Then I got up, left her sleeping, closed her door and, as quietly as I could, I cleaned her house.