“Get what?” I asked.
He looked from my face to my lap then up again. “You live in fuckin’ England. England,” he spat out his last word and I jumped again, the venom in his tone surprising me. “You come to town, drive straight fuckin’ through, straight to Max’s. Now you’re sittin’ with his Ma and his sister at The Dog, laughin’ and bein’ loud. Then you’re pressin’ up tight to Max and makin’ out with him. I mean, what is that?”
I didn’t know where he was going with this or why he was even talking about it or, most of all, why he seemed so angry about it, so gently I said, “Harry, I don’t understand.”
“It’s just him,” Harry told me. “Been that way as long’s I can remember,” Harry’s eyes went across the bar to Max and his unhappy face went tight, “always.”
I was getting uncomfortable with the conversation and not knowing what to say I watched him take another sip.
“Harry, maybe –” I began but Harry looked back to me and what he said shut me up.
“Knew Anna,” he informed me, “knew her for forever. She was a sweet little thing. Wasn’t pretty though. Sweet as hell, always. Funny, Jesus, so fuckin’ funny. But not pretty.”
I stared at him, having seen pictures of Anna I couldn’t believe he didn’t think she was pretty. She was beautiful.
Harry continued, “Then, she got pretty. Like the ugly duckling story, in high school, she turns into a swan. She’d had a crush on Max for fuckin’ years. Years. He didn’t notice her, didn’t know she fuckin’ existed until she got pretty. Then he noticed her all right. Everyone did.”
I didn’t want to hear this, not from Harry.
“Harry, Max and I haven’t –” I started but he kept talking.
“He asked her out and that was it, she was his. The whole town thought them bein’ together was so sweet, so fuckin’ sweet. Everyone thought it was like Cinderella. Anna wantin’ him for so long, watchin’ him from afar, never had a boyfriend, no one but Max. Max bein’ Max, every girl wantin’ a piece of him. Anna’s impossible dream bein’ possible and them hookin’ up, gettin’ so tight, fallin’ in love.” He shook his head and downed another healthy sip before continuing, “Even when he went off to CU, got that scholarship to play ball but got her pregnant his sophomore year. He quit school and came home and married her. Everyone thought it was so romantic. He was such a good fuckin’ guy, givin’ up his dream of bein’ an architect, doin’ the right thing by Anna. Jesus.”
As this information pummeled me, I was beginning to breathe heavily and my heart was skipping in my chest. I wanted to run away, slide off my stool and run back to the safety of Max’s arms, to the time when I didn’t know this. I realized, after all that time thinking I wanted to know that, actually, I didn’t want to know.
“Please, Harry, listen to me a second –” I begged but he kept talking.
“And you know what? He was never pissed about it. Never thought about what coulda been. Never angry that she derailed his life, gettin’ knocked up. He was fuckin’ happy about that baby, thrilled to put a ring on her finger. Over the fuckin’ moon. She was happy too. They were so fuckin’ happy. Even when she lost the kid. And the next one. And the one after that.”
I was no longer breathing heavily, I wasn’t breathing at all.
“They quit tryin’ but hey,” he threw his hand out, “that’s okay. They had each other and for the Great Max and the Beautiful Swan Anna, that was enough. It was everything. Fuck,” he muttered and took another sip.
I forced air into my lungs but didn’t get a word in before Harry spoke again.
“Then Curt kills her.”
The breath I’d pulled in squeezed out as my chest froze but Harry kept right on going.
“Jesus, tore the whole town apart. Thought they’d hunt Curt down, hell, thought Max’d do it. Max was un… fuckin’… done. Never seen a man like that. Never. Fuckin’ shit, he was wild. All anyone could think about was Anna bein’ dead and Max losin’ her and, finally, Max mannin’ up and not seekin’ retribution. And wasn’t Max so great that he didn’t lose it and whale on Curt? Wasn’t he so fuckin’ wonderful that, when his world came crashin’ down, in the end he kept his shit together? No one thought about Curt takin’ Bitsy’s legs, leavin’ her in that chair and Curt walkin’ away unscathed. All anyone could think about was the end of Max and Anna, the death of a damned fairytale.”