Her Teddy Bear

Pete stood and said, "Good night, Joan."

"Don't pout, sweetie. I don't mean that badly." How else could he take it? "I'll be there as soon as I finish this glass."

She was shocked when he replied, "Don't bother."

While Joan went into the kitchen to put her glass in the sink, she called to him, but he didn't reply.

When she got upstairs to their bedroom, he wasn't there. He was in a guest room. She asked, "Pete, what are you doing in here? I missed you and was planning on snuggling with my teddy bear tonight."

Teddy bear. Now he wondered about the origin of her using that pet name. Was it a term of endearment or derision? He could blow up over her use of the term right then, but he was emotionally exhausted and wanted a fresh mind to think things through in the morning. He said, "Well, then I guess we'll both be disappointed." Then he closed the door and locked it.

After a few minutes of knocking and pleading, she finally left and went to their bedroom, confused at the turn of events. Her husband must be losing his mind, she thought. She considered texting her daughter to find out more, but it was late, and she would see her in the morning. Besides, no way could her husband do what he said. It wasn't possible.

______________

The next morning, Pete knew she would sleep late after the long flight and being on west coast time for a couple of days. He wondered if she even went on a trip, which irritated him because now he was questioning everything.

He snuck into their bedroom and retrieved some clothes for running and later, changed for his run and ate a small breakfast. When he heard her beginning to stir, he went for a long run. Seven miles and just under fifty-three minutes later he returned.

When he walked in the door, Joan did not look happy. "Mister, we need to talk. I don't think you gave me the whole story last night."

He ignored her and went to the shower. She was following, but once in the bathroom he locked the door behind him. She beat on the door, but he continued with his shower and shave.

Once dressed and feeling refreshed, he prepared to face his wife.

He went downstairs to go into his home office. She was already waiting for him. "Andrew called me this morning. I'm not sure I got the entire story last night. Ricky had blood in his pee and had to go to the emergency room late yesterday."

"Couldn't happen to a nicer guy."

She said, "Ricky told Andrew that he was here just talking to Carrie when out of nowhere you came up behind him and hit him in the back with something. They think you bruised a kidney. Andrew wants to file charges."

Pete replied, "Why am I not surprised that the little dickhead is lying about the incident. He's probably embarrassed that your little teddy bear threw him out, as you said, 'like garbage."

"Andrew's very angry. Why did you do that? Why did you attack him?"

"The reason I attacked that poor boy was because he was attacking Carrie. You know, the Carrie that we love like our own daughter, and have for over a decade. The Carrie that we took with us and Eva and Lily to Spain for two weeks to celebrate Eva's and their high school graduation. That same Carrie was being dragged out of our backyard by that unrespectful piece of shit, and I put a stop to it. Are you saying that you believe their story and not your husband? Do you believe I sucker-punched him?"

Joan said, "I'm sorry, Pete. No way could you do that face to face."

Pete wanted to throw in her face how in the hell did that stupid kid know the things he knew. Pete was furious that he had to let that slide for now because all he had was a bunch of hearsay from Ricky, and not enough to accuse her of anything without her easily being able to sidestep the accusation. And if true, she would be more careful in the future. The whole situation stunk. But if the accusations were true, then they were finished.

"So, you don't believe that I could do it face-to-face, man-to-man?"

"No offense, honey. I love you like no one else, but he's huge and you're in great shape, but you're no match for him. Remember Paris? You were running as fast as you could with that little guy chasing you trying to get to the car before he caught you."

"That was after I took care of the big guy. He was never going to catch me, and I was running because..." Pete stopped. This was pointless. It was already clear what she thought of him. Regaling his hard-fought and won battles wouldn't do any good. He could see it was already a lost cause; likely in more ways than one.

She continued, "Do you have any idea how difficult this is going to make life for me?"

That surprised Pete. "Oh, excuse me. What was I supposed to do? Would you rather I have used a gun?"

"I would like to know what you hit him with?"

"My hands," he replied.

"Bullshit. I've seen you work out in our basement gym. You go after the bag pretty good, but I don't see how you could have hurt Ricky by just hitting him. How could you have gotten a clean shot, unless you snuck up on him?"

"Thanks for the faith, babe. It's confidence inspiring. In case you didn't pick up on it; that was sarcasm."

Exaggeratedly, she rolled her eyes and groaned, "Oh, come on. That's not helping. What do I tell Andrew?"

"You tell him that he raised his piece-of-shit son to be an asshole, apparently, just like him, and that Ricky needs to apologize to Carrie and to me."

"I will not. Ricky told him what happened, and it sounds like he didn't do anything wrong."

Pete shook his head. "You must be delusional if you believe him over your husband. Did Andrew give you drugs while you were traveling?"

Joan's face flamed at that comment and was about to reply when they heard a vehicle drive up and honk the horn. Thankful for the reprieve, they stood to see who was there.

It was a big Bentley, and out of the vehicle exited Eva, Lily, Carrie, and her dad, Brian. All three of the girls ran up and hugged Pete and then Joan. A moment later Brian came up and shook his hand.

"Pete, I want to thank you for looking after Carrie. It means a lot to me that you would do what you did. She's everything to me. I'll be forever grateful."

Pete shrugged his shoulders, uncomfortable with the praise. "You know we love Carrie. No way was I letting that shit leave with her. Wasn't going to happen. You would have done the same."

Brian nodded his head, and Joan piped up, "Girls? Would you please explain to me what happened? I'm getting conflicting versions of events from what Ricky told his dad and what Pete is telling me."

Eva asked, "You're getting two different stories, and you don't believe Dad?"

"Uh, well...not that, exactly. That's not what I'm saying. I'd...I'd just like to hear it from someone else. It all sounds so...I don't know - preposterous."

Pete shook his head and went back inside. He wouldn't be there long. While the girls described the whole scene to Joan, Pete was grabbing his laptop and an overnight bag. He was getting away before he said something that he couldn't take back. He needed time to determine what he was going to do next.

When Pete walked back outside, Brian, Carrie and Lily were gone, and Joan was stunned. How could her husband have done that?

Seeing the shock on his wife's face told him how far he had fallen. When combined with her focus on how all this affected her and her work, not him, his daughter or Carrie, it spoke volumes.

Pete asked, "So, what are we going to do about that dickhead? Someone needs to teach him some manners."

Joan scoffed, "And you think you are going to be the one to do it?" Pete couldn't believe it. She just heard three people corroborate his story and she still didn't think he was capable of handling that dickhead? She must think her husband some kind of a wimp. She said, "He's probably pretty pissed."

Pete smirked thinking how Ricky was probably still pissing some blood.

What she said next killed him. "I don't think you'd be so lucky next time."

The look on Pete's face told her she had gone too far. She meant it and was just trying to protect her husband from getting hurt. How could he take on such a big, strong, young man directly? She watched as his face morphed from one of complete shock to being filled with fury.

"When did you lose all respect for me as a man, Joan?

"What...?"

"You didn't use to treat me this way. You used to have some faith in me. I see that's gone now."

"You're being ridiculous. My feelings for you haven't changed. I'm proud of you and everything we've done together."

"Well, call me skeptical. Did you know that I have C-level people from several Fortune 500 companies in my contacts app? These people call me and my company when they need help. That's how I make our living. My company may not make as much as Andrew's, but my people and I get a hell of a lot of respect within our industry. Apparently, a lot more respect than I get at home. These last couple of days have been very educational when it comes to what you think of me."

"What does that mean?"

"Not for you to worry about. I've made a decision. If that piece of shit, either one, him or his father, isn't here tomorrow at 6:00 pm to apologize to me and Carrie, then Brian and I will call the police and press charges. He needs to pay for the hood of her SUV, also."

"You can't be serious. I still have to work with Andrew."

"Well, maybe you can convince him that he should teach his son some manners and that he should respect others. Clearly, he hasn't learned that from his dad, but I'm sure you know that by now since you have to spend so much time around him."

"Pete, this could hurt my job."

"Well, Joan, look at what this is doing to us, but it doesn't appear that you see it that way. Tomorrow. 6:00 pm. Or Brian and I are calling the police. I'm going out for a while."

"No, you aren't! We aren't finished talking about this."

"We are finished, and I need to get away...from you! I'm going over to Brian's to discuss this. I'm not calling that dickhead's father. Since he listens to you, you can tell him what his kid must do to avoid jail time. Clock's ticking."

"Pete! Come back here!"

He ignored her, walked into the garage, placed his bag into his car and drove away with Joan standing there with her hands on her hips and an exasperated expression on her face. Pete had never done anything like that.

While driving to Brian's, Pete also decided that he needed to do some traveling for his business. What he feared was that based on his wife's reaction and hers and Ricky's comments, she had already succumbed to Andrew. Traveling would get him away from her and give him a little time to see exactly how involved she was with Andrew. At this point he believed that stupid kid. Damnit, Joan!

Brian and Pete talked and agreed upon 6:00 pm tomorrow or they would call the police.

Pete went to a local hotel and sat at the desk and worked with the Braves game playing in the background. Around 5:00 pm his phone rang. He had blocked Joan's phone and the home phone, so he could have some peace. He wondered who it was. Eva.

"Hey, baby."

"Hey, Daddy." She said, "I'm driving back to the apartment, are you nearby?"

At Vanderbilt, Eva shared an apartment with Carrie and Lily, on campus. All Vanderbilt undergrads are required to live on campus. The three of them, undergraduates, being together in one of those very nice apartments was an unusual arrangement when campus housing requests seemed to be decided by random rolls of the dice. Supposedly there is a very convoluted selection process for getting into one of those coveted apartments. He guessed that Brian simply asked how much he needed to donate to the university to make it happen, and it happened.

Brian and his wife were born into money, a lot of old-school money, and he had also done very well in entertainment law there in Nashville. He came from a long line of Williamson's and had contributed significantly to the Williamson Medical Center in the Williamson County seat of Franklin, TN.

Pete answered her, "I am. I'm at the Residence Inn near the mall. Room 413."

"I'll be there in a few minutes."

Ten minutes later he heard a knock on the door. When he opened it, Eva hugged him fiercely. "I don't understand Daddy. Why doesn't mom believe us?"

"I'd say she doesn't think very highly of my ability to protect my family."

Eva said, "She should. I told her about Paris."

Pete shrugged. "Let me guess. She didn't believe you."

Eva shook her head, and he could see a tear leak from her eye. He said, "I'm sorry, baby. Maybe great big Andrew convinced her that I don't quite measure up. I don't know."

"You don't believe what that dickhead said? Do you?"

For the second time, what he wanted to say was that he thought the reason that Joan had lost all respect for him as a man, was because she was likely fucking someone a lot bigger than he was. He wanted to tell his daughter that it appeared that her mother was a slut, but he didn't say that.

He said, "No. He was just talking smack." Pete hated lying to his daughter, but he didn't want her thinking those things about her mother. It may turn out that they are true, and while things didn't look good, it was just speculation for the moment. "Don't worry, sweetie. Everything is going to be fine. You'll see."

She replied, "I want to believe you, Daddy, but I'm worried."

"Don't be. We'll be okay."

She wondered if he meant her and him, or their family. A few minutes later she left. School would begin in a couple of weeks and she had her summer internship at the university medical center that had a few more days left.

______________

The next day he checked his home security app on his phone to see when the garage doors opened and closed signaling when Joan had left for work. The good thing about running your own small consulting company was that when you weren't traveling, you could work from your home office. The bad thing about that was when you were having a fight with your wife, you couldn't escape to the office.

Finally, at lunchtime, he checked his messages. He had twenty texts from his wife, some of them quite long. Most of them were about his being unreasonable. The last one said, "you, win. He'll be there at six. I left you a voicemail."

When he checked his voice mail, he skipped all of them, which he would later delete, but listened to the last one. "Pete, Andrew said that Ricky would be there a couple of minutes before six tonight to apologize. I'm still not happy with you for putting me in this situation. We can talk about that after everyone leaves."

Pete rolled his eyes. It was still somehow his fault.

He was supposed to drive up to Louisville, KY to lead an operations planning whiteboarding session for one of his clients all day Thursday and Friday morning. He decided that he would drive there tonight, after the apology, and arrive a couple of days early. He would absorb one hotel night himself and do some prework with the client in person on Wednesday.

At 5:45 pm, Brian and Carrie arrived. She gave Pete a big hug, and Brian shook his hand and said, "Well, this should be interesting. Are you and Joan, okay? It sounded like this is putting you in a bad spot."

"Nothing to worry about. We will be. She's trying to wrap her head around her 'little' husband beating up great big Ricky."

Brian said, "I'll admit that I'm a little surprised, too. Not so much that you did it, but how convincingly you did it. I guess I shouldn't have been. You've always seemed very prepared in everything you do."

"Thanks, Brian. Hopefully, Joan will remember that as well. If you don't mind, we'll wait out here, because I don't want that piece of shit in my house."

"I wouldn't either."

A couple of minutes before 6:00 pm a red, two-door BMW pulled into their driveway. When Ricky got out, he was not wearing a happy face. Joan still hadn't arrived.

He approached the three of them standing there and said, "Carrie, I'm sorry about Saturday. I was out of line. I miss you and wanted us to go out again. I took your rejection poorly. I know we won't be going out anymore, but I hope I haven't destroyed our friendship. I'm sorry."

He seemed somewhat contrite, but cynically Pete thought he was probably just looking for a way to get into her pants one day.

Carrie said, "I don't know if we'll ever be friends again, Ricky, but I'll try to be polite and at least friendly. That's the best I can do right now."

"I understand." Ricky turned to Brian, "Mr. Williamson, I'm sorry about what I did to Carrie and her SUV. Just send us the bill and we'll take care of it."

The words "I'm sorry" may have come out of his mouth, but he didn't seem very sorry.

Brian just nodded.

When Ricky looked at Pete, the contriteness was gone. "Mr. Clark, I apologize for interrupting the party and barging onto your property. I shouldn't have done that."

"Okay, Ricky. Thank you. I think we're done here."

Before Ricky turned to walk back to his car, he had a smirk on his face that they all could see. When he reached the car door, he looked at Pete and mouthed the word "pussy."

Pete opened his hand and pointed to it like he did Saturday, meaning he'd believe him when he saw the evidence.

Ricky grinned and got in his car.

Brian said, "Well, his apology to Carrie seemed sincere, but ours? Not so much. What did he say to you before he drove off?"

Pete shook his head, "Nothing important. We had a discussion as he was leaving the other day. He was bringing it up to try and provoke me, again."

Carrie wanted to say something, but she felt terrible that she had ever agreed to go out with him in the first place. Talk about a poor decision.

Brian said, "Well, if you need any help with him, just let me know. I can have a team of lawyers on him and his father with one phone call. I might even find a deputy or two that could shadow him for a couple of weekends. That could prove entertaining." He smiled at the thought.

"Thanks, Brian. Let's hold off on that for now. I've got a few other problems I need to resolve first."

Brian nodded. After dropping Eva at home yesterday, Carrie told her parents all the nasty things that Ricky had said about Joan. They had known Joan for years. None of them thought he was telling the truth. At least, they hoped so.

Brian and Pete shook hands. Carrie gave him a goodbye hug, and they drove away.

Pete opened the garage and drove off after they left. As he was pulling out of his driveway, Joan's car was approaching. Pete didn't even bother to wave, as he pointed his car north towards Louisville. He would use the time to figure out what he was going to do regarding getting some evidence, one way or another.

What he needed most of all was to get away. He was still furious with his wife for the disrespect, and with Ricky's accusations on top, he knew he wouldn't be able to keep from saying something he might regret. He would use the time away to calm himself and prepare.

__________________

Ten minutes later his phone was ringing. He considered not answering but decided there wasn't much left to lose except the aggravation. Maybe he could placate her enough that she would leave him alone while he was gone.

"Hello, Joan."

"Pete, I hope you are only going to the store and coming right back."

"No. My client needed me to come to Louisville a couple of days early. I'll be there until after I have lunch with them on Friday. I should be home in time to eat dinner with you after that." Then he decided to get in a little dig. "Well, that assumes you won't be traveling with Andrew this weekend."

She was surprised by the comment. "What? No. You know I only travel every six to eight weeks. Why would you say that?"