Pauline's Pumpkins - Day 05

It took her a moment to speak but she straightened her expression and cleared her throat, "Good evening Ms. Clements, I brought a fresh set of clothes and some paper towel to help you clean up, but I see you already have clothes here." The woman noticed the pile of clothes Pauline brought in earlier, "Here's a fresh set if needed. I hope it's not too much trouble to ask, but I wanted to speak with you in private. Would you mind if I waited inside your home? I can get you anything else you might need."

Out of everything Pauline was thinking about, she imagined what she must look like. Red, raw, naked, messy, embarrassed. It was difficult to speak, even more difficult than just a result of her shouting earlier.

"Yes." Was her simple answer.

Her voice was weak but the woman nodded, understanding Pauline just wanted time alone. She walked a yard closer, used the roll of paper towel to keep the clothes off the ground and stepped out the door.

"Wait!" Pauline's weak voice called out.

The woman stopped and looked back inside.

"...Thank you Denise."

Denise paused to think before nodding in response. Pauline crawled towards the presents she'd left, wishing she'd brought them closer but understanding why she kept her distance.

***

The two women sat across from each other at her table. Pauline drank nearly a gallon of cold water while they both sat in silence. Both were fully clothed but Pauline's face was still as red as when she was naked.

"Would you like anything else? More water?" Denise asked. There was little intonation in her voice.

"You don't have to do that." Pauline gave a somewhat hostile tone.

Denise looked a little off-put, "You just seem-"

"No, not asking me if I want more water... Just... you don't have to be polite to me... I know you hate me..."

There was a moment of silence before Denise scoffed, "First of all, if I really hated you, I would have realized what was happening and left. I did watch for a moment, but only because I thought you were having fun and I thought I was intruding."

She gave a hardy scoff before continuing, "Honestly I was looking for Conor, half expected to see him in there."

Denise was clearly trying to alleviate the tension, but Pauline's expression didn't lighten up. She stared back with growing tears in her eyes, reflecting the rollercoaster of stress she was still going through. She seemed like a real fighter earlier, but Denise understood how much shame and regret she must be taking on, and in no small part because of herself.

Denise gave an apathetic sigh, "Conor cheated on me with you, right?"

Pauline was slow to answer.

"Right?" Denise continued, "That's what he told me. Out with it, was he playing a trick on me or not?"

"R-right yes, yes he cheated on you."

"With you, right?"

"...yes."

Denise's tone lightened up, showing some sympathy, "Well why'd he do that?"

Pauline took too long for Denise again, "Conor cheated on me with you because it made him happy. Now, cheating is a cardinal sin, but the devil betrayed God because of his nature, and humans can only try their best. I enjoyed Conor's company and I think he really enjoyed mine but as of late we've been distant. I knew I was old for him, and everybody knew he liked you at one point. Other women might hate you for letting him get away just to steal him back, but I've enjoyed my time with Conor."

"So.. you're not mad?"

"I'M FURIOUS!" Denise's thunderous voice shook the house, silencing the evening insects and freezing Pauline solid, "...but I forgive you. And besides, what am I going to do? Make Conor stay with me? Try getting him back? If he was that easy to steal, you can keep him."

"...well we were talking about something like an open relationship."

Denise cocked her head to the side.

"No nevermind, I don't think it'd be something you'd enjoy. But I didn't want to steal him, we just went out to talk about business and-"

"Spare me the details young lady! I've loved before, I have two wonderful children, and I can imagine what love does to somebody. We don't have to keep talking, just promise me one thing."

"Anything Denise... almost anything I guess, as long as it's not-"

"I want you two to go on a vacation. Soon."

At this point Denise was used to Pauline being a little slow to catch onto the meaning of her word. The pattern hadn't broken and Denise knew she had to explain.

"It'd be good for you two to get to know each other, make sure you didn't ruin my marriage for nothing. More importantly, I hear enough about you in this town as is, and I sure as hell don't want to see either of you two right now."

"Right before harvest season? Like, you mean a long vacation? Like a week? A month? I could leave for a month."

"Just leave town, please! Give me some time without hearing about you or my soon-to-be ex-husband sleeping around. I don't care! I'll pay for your gosh darn plane ticket if you take a week off."

"O-ok thank you... I've got some business to clear up I think... but I can head out soon, I need to figure this whole dog stuff out with my sister. Hopefully it clears up soon."

Denise smiled, "Glad to hear! Then call me whenever you leave. Outside of that, I think I'm done here, so I wish you a good rest of the night."

And with that Denise strode right out the front door. Pauline wasn't sure what to do now but before she could make her next move the door opened again. It was Conor, dressed the same as before, with the same glaring black eye.

"Hey Pauline!" He gave her a weak smile.

"Hey Conor... were you right outside there?"

"Yeah, after I hung up I tried to come help you but some farming folk outside kept me back. I didn't know what to do so I called Denise and she sure as hell saved the day. Good to know someone in my marriage was reliable."

Pauline felt bad hearing him self-loathe but she still had questions.

"Ok, a couple things. First of all I kind of already assumed where you got it, but I couldn't ignore it during the call earlier,"

Conor laughed, "Yeah, I got it from Denise. Half expected her to give you a matching one."

The front door swung open, and Denise poked her head through, "She didn't cheat on me!" As soon as she'd popped through, she disappeared. Conor and Pauline stepped up to the window to watch her ancient white buggy and drive off, waiting until the coast was clear to continue talking.

Pauline giggled at the surprise "hehe...Right. Oh my!-"

In a flash Pauline had her phone unlocked in hand. Conor gave her an intense stare, uncertain what she was doing. After reading a message on her phone Pauline breathed a sigh of relief.

"What's up?" Conor asked.

"I just remembered the mob was looking for Rory! I'm not sure what the hell's going on but Gittergut says she's the reason for the dogs. That's why they mobbed my farm, because her car was here. Thank fucking God she was hiding in the woods. I don't know if she's evil, but I'm glad she's safe."

Pauline began texting her about the house being safe again. She came back, unscathed and curious why the men were looking for her. There would be a lot of explaining to do, by a lot of people.