Reconciliation

"Reg?"

He stood and tossed the clump into the wheelbarrow with the rest of the trimmings and looked at her. "Yeah?"

She looked at the walkway briefly and then looked up at him. "Reg...there's no easy way to say this. I really appreciate the work you've done to this place. I do. But you are getting too close. I'll repay..."

Reg raised his hand. "Stop. Just...stop. Okay." Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out. "I guess the house is finally looking good enough. You got what you wanted and now that you have it...well good bye Reg." She looked like she wanted to protest, but he held up his hand. "No. I don't want to know the reason. It's enough that you made the point. Say goodbye to the kids for me. I'm sure you already have the excuses for them all set up in your mind."

Cutting her off, not allowing her her say was a small measure of revenge, but he couldn't help himself from feeling bitter. Long dormant feelings had started to emerge again. This felt like a kick in the teeth.

He walked over to the outside spigot and turned off the sprinkler. There really wasn't a need for him to worry about how deeply the roots went anymore.

+

Mr. Perry walked down the bleachers proudly. Even as a sophomore, Reggie had been allowed to play almost half the game as a halfback. It had been a good game too. He'd gotten two first downs for the team.

Approaching as his son was putting away his equipment in his bag, Mr. Perry slowed down. There were two girls in cheerleader uniforms. One of them was giggling at something Reggie said and reached out and brushed his arm and beamed at him, then glanced at her girlfriend and the pair burst into some more giggles.

Remembering wistful days of teenage romance past he stopped a respectful distance away and looked out at the totally uninteresting playing field, pretending to give them their privacy while keeping an eye on the proceedings out of the corner of his eye. He had an ache of nostalgia as he recalled how it was to be a teenaged boy.

However things didn't go quite as he expected. The girls flounced their pom poms, they giggled, they flirted. The one who was obviously smitten with his son at one point pulled on his arm, which Mr. Perry thought was just about an engraved invitation.

His son quirked a little smile and shook his head, throwing his helmet and other gear into his duffle bag.

Walking up as the girls went off to join a mixed group of boys and girls, Mr. Perry watched his son. "So...what was that all about?"

"Oh...it was nothing. Jenny just wanted to see if I was going to the party with the team. Phil's mom is having a little get together."

"And you aren't going?" his father asked a bit puzzled.

"I got a paper and we have the lawn..."

"She looked like she wanted you to go. Jenny?"

"Yeah. That's why I'm not going. She wants us to be a couple."

"She seems cute..." dad started.

Reg pushed his bag down. "Yeah Dad. She's cute. And Bernard Bradley is always trying to hang around her too. And she broke up with David Winslow and now she's coming on to me. Why should I start dating a girl who is just going to..." he stopped

His father's face was pale. "Son...not all girls are like your mother." Much like the 'Santa Claus' discussion among most families, the reality of what happened to Reg's mom had become an unspoken understanding between the two. "There are good ones out there. Ones who'll value you for who you are and stick around. You shouldn't be so serious about this and go have some fun."

"If there are so many great girls out there, why aren't you dating then, Dad?" At the look on his father's face, he felt ashamed. "Dad...I didn't mean that. I'm...I guess I'm not ready. I'm just a teenager. I don't understand girls and relationships and any of that. I'll...I'll make an effort. I will! But..."

"Yeah, I know son." He gripped his son's shoulder and the two manhandled the heavy duffle to his pick-up truck. "When you get ready."

+

He raged at home. Words like 'ungrateful whore', 'tease' and 'user' tripped off his lips. He'd tried, God knows he'd tried to do something; something to make it up to her; something to make himself feel less guilty.

When Reg had calmed down, he thought about things. He'd done this to her...with her help, the bitter side of his soul reminded him, and so would HE want HER around if things were reversed?

At the end of the day, she didn't...couldn't want his help. Jimmy and April would suffer. Reg frowned. Whatever happened, Beth and he deserved what they got, but not the kids. He remembered his childhood. SOMEONE owed them something.

He picked up the phone book. "Turner Investigations." Came the gruff voice over the earpiece.

"Yeah...I need you to do a trace on someone." Reg considered. This was an opportunity to clear up a lot of loose threads in his life. "Actually, I have a few people I want you to look up." One couple in particular stood out in his mind. The pair who had beaten him up. He should keep his eye out for them. Why, he wasn't sure about.

They set up the meet.

+

Jim's plan to start a reconciliation between Reg and Hank and Phil a week later was a disaster. Phil's house needed a new roof. Since they guys had spent a few summers in high school and college doing roof work, it seemed silly to actually PAY someone to do it for them. At least that is how Jim characterized it to Phil, who tended to be a bit cheap. Getting the gentlemen (and Reg) to work together might be a way to remind them of the old times and to strengthen the bonds between them. Jim didn't want them to forget what Reg did. He wanted to remind them that Reg was that...and also other qualities as well.

"Plus, he gets a free house slave...just like Beth." Reg mentioned to Jim as he pulled the brand new tool box out of the trunk of his Mustang.

"That there is a pretty piss poor attitude. I'm sorry things didn't work out like my wife thought they would with Beth, but I'm trying here." Jim said.

"Yeah." They walked up the nice driveway toward the lawyer's house. Belatedly, Reg added "Thanks for that. You've been better than I deserve."

"I know. That's why they call it grace. You can't earn it. It has to be free."

The front door opened and out came Kelly DeVeccio, Phil's daughter and a cute little blonde. The two high schoolers turned and Kelly shouted into the open doorway "We're going to Barbara's house to study, mom. We're going to walk."

Reg looked at both of the girls carefully. The blonde's backpack was bulky. Kelly's bright yellow one flopped on her back like an empty balloon.

"Eyes front!" Jim hissed in his ear.

"Yeah." Reg said distractedly. "Didn't Phil buy us a round a few months ago when she passed her drivers test...then spent the rest of the night pissing and moaning about how he couldn't sleep at night now?"

"I wasn't there for that. You were there. So what?" Jim was a bit nervous and distracted, not sure how Wendy would react to Reg's presence.

"Nothing." Reg watched the girls walking up the hill along the road. Teenagers with driver's licenses...walking. When there were cars in the driveway. When they came to the top of the hill, he noted the blonde went west while Kelly went east. He shook his head.

"Let's get to work." Jim pressed.

Wendy was cool to both Jim and Reg. Coffee wasn't offered and the greetings were perfunctory at best. Out back, the pallets of shingles lay there, the ladders drawn up and the tool belts on display.

Phil and Hank just looked at him initially. "Well" Hank finally said to Jim, "Let's get started."

They used some regular spades to rip the shingles off the roof. For the first hour, there was little said.

"So...finally given up on trying to get Beth to fuck around on you again?" Phil finally spat out.

"What?" Reg asked.

"You...you're going to her house regular. I can't believe you've got the balls to do that."

"I was trying to apologize. I wanted to make things up to her. I don't know how." Reg explained.

"Quietly" Jim chided.

"Sure you did." Hank added. "We've heard all about your act."

Reg slowly turned back to them. "Yes you have. And you ASKED for story after God Damn story. It's all fun and games as long as it was someone else getting fucked. At least Jim had the balls and the character to drop me like a hot rock. You two decided to act like you were holier than thou pretty late in the game."

"Are you saying this is OUR fault?" Phil said from where he was working on a balky nail with a claw hammer.

"No. I'm saying you are fucking hypocrites." Reg said simply. From his perspective on the roof, Reg saw a yellow Camero pull into a side street. He saw someone with a yellow backpack shove her head in the open window. "What's going on with Kelly these days?" Reg asked simply, his brow furrowed.

That was when Phil swung his hammer at Reg's ankle. Luckily, from Reg's perspective, they were on the first floor roof. The roses bushes he landed on were pretty strong too, though he considered that more of a mixed blessing at the time.

Reg hobbled over to the picnic bench. "What did you do that for?" He massaged his knee and elbow.

"You stay the hell away from my daughter! Jim, what the hell were you thinking. This guy is always going to be a pussy hound! He can't control himself." Phil yelled at Jim as they started going down the ladder, Jim at speed, Hank and Phil at a more leisurely pace.

"That's not true." Reg said quietly but intensely.

"I can't believe you let him back into our lives. Aren't you worried about him and Sally, with his smooth ways? He's a snake." Phil continued.

"Fuck you Phil. He doesn't have to worry." Reg spat.

"Why not?"

"Because he's my friend and because she loves him."

"Big deal! You can talk the skin off a snake. Wes was a friend too."

Reg started laughing quietly. 'You don't know shit and it's so funny, I can't even describe it. I remember when you THREE couldn't wait for my stories. How this one or that one would suck my cock or give me their ass when they wouldn't for their husband. And you ALL really grooved on that. What did you say, Phil? 'I was the only sex life you had,' you idiot. As much as you two loved my stories, good old Wes, stand up guy Wes, 'Reg you dirty bastard, how dare you sleep with his wife' Wes...Wes...thatfucker, he wanted to JOIN me on my hunts! Always wanted to cruise the bars with me...just the two of us 'buddies'. He has BETH at home and he wanted...he wanted...Wes wasyour friend. He was nevermy friend." Reg's hands gathered into fists.

"What was that?" Jim asked. This was new information.

"You worried about me and your daughter, Phil? They are ALL someone's daughters. That girl you dumped badly in High School, Hank? Do you want to talk about that little 'procedure' you paid off in college, Phil? You fucked over their daughters. Or do only your daughters count, your friends count?"

"And the big question was 'why'. Never once did you ask why a woman who swore before God, man and her family to be true, WHY would she be willing to suck my cock and risk EVERYTHING! How fucking lonely does a girl have to be to do that? You really thought I seduced them all? You stupid assholes. A lot of them pursued ME! You think I targeted married chicks. I just talked to pretty chicks. I talked and I danced and I listened. That's it. If she didn't care about her marriage, why should I? Their husbands were so damned busy with wood shop or the games, or hunting with his friends, or work, that he couldn't stop by for a fifteen dollar bouquet of flowers at Kroger except maybe at the last minute on Valentine's Day."

Reg blew out his breath and continued. "You know...I had this call once on Valentine's Day. This woman invited me over to her house. Her dumbshit was working on some critically important thing of the week at work which replaced the critically important thing of LAST week and was probably getting ready to deal with the incredibly important thing of NEXT week. Meanwhile the person he supposedly exchanged VOWS with he abandoned...and not for the first time. Not for the second time. Not for the twentieth time. She cried when I told her I already had a date that night. She...cried." Reg's face looked dark. "What am I supposed to think about that? You treat me like the disease. I'm just a symptom of some seriously fucked up marriages."

Jim stood to the side, his arms folded and his chin resting on his chest as he'd listened to this exchange. "You make it sound like you're doing some kind of public service instead of tearing relationships apart."

"No...I wasn't helping." Reg deflated a little. "Most of those girls were on their way to divorce court anyway, they just stopped to ride the Reg on their way out." He cast another glance at Phil. "Just like Wendy."

"WHAT? You sunnovabitch, how dare you tell me you fucked..." Hank and Jim had to grab Phil quickly.

"I never slept with Wendy...but you're one, two years tops from her walking out on your ass or cheating on you."

"Shush Phil! What do you mean, Reg?" Hank asked.

"She stopped bugging him about his weight. For the last ten years, she's been bugging him about his heart and his blood pressure and his weight and he hasn't given a damn. Now she isn't. She's quit. I see it in her eyes. He doesn't care about her opinion, so she's starting to not care about him."

"I...I got a slow metabolism..." Phil said, looking nervous.

"THAT ISN'T THE POINT! She doesn't care if you succeed, she wants to see you TRY! She wants to know that you give a damn enough to DO SOMETHING! And all she sees is that you'd rather shove another cannoli in your mouth instead of spending extra five years with her and the kids. If...IF I ever wanted to make a run at Wendy, it would have been easy. And you put her there..." Reg shook himself. "You know what...this isn't worth it. I thought there was a way back, but there isn't." He started walking away.

Jim called after him. "Reg. REG! Don't do this." Things had escalated way out of control. Tempers were getting out of hand.

"It's done."

"But...stick around and gather your tools. We can talk..."

"I only ever used those things to help out you guys. They're worthless to me now. I live in an apartment, remember?" The Mustang door shut with finality.

Out of curiosity, Reg turned east and slowed as he passed the side street where he had seen the Camaro.

Kelly was in plain view. Some greasy looking thin guy who looked like he was barely out of high school was munching on her face.

Reg drove on. Phil's problems were no longer his.

+

Reg got the call that evening about the time he got into the apartment from coming from Phil's house. "Mr. Perry, I need to meet you. When are you available?" There was a sense of urgency in the voice.

"What's the problem?"

"Well...I have some of the information you want. Plus I have something for you." Mr. Turner said.

"How about the Buffalo Wild Wings in Grove City at 7:00 p.m.?"

"Perfect."

Mr. Turner, the private investigator Reggie hired, sat at the bar. Reg hopped onto the stool next to him and ordered a Coke. The private investigator sipped his beer a bit nervously and slid an envelope over to him. "That first job didn't take too long. There's his address and the info on his new car. He's still at the same company, but he mostly works from his apartment these days. He incorporated and went to contract work to hide his money. He's not on the normal employment rolls, which is why her lawyers couldn't find him. They were looking in the wrong books."

Reg took the envelope without opening it. He was unsure exactly what he was going to do with this. "And the other matter?"

Mr. Turner sighed deeply. "Well...I'm afraid I have a bit of bad news for you." He squirmed on his seat a bit and looked around the bar again nervously.

"Oh?" He was making Reg nervous, who also started to scope out the place.

"Okay...I hate to say this, but I was burned. I went to a number of bars including the one you suggested. Not a lot of joy, but occasionally, I got a nibble. She is...memorable. Likes to dance and likes to drink but she never gets tipsy. Nobody really remembers him very well, but hey, the plight of being a guy, right?" He licked his lip. "Okay. Are you sure about the names? Because I got a bunch of names. Curtis, Andrea, Guy, Faylene, Blondie, Tyler even Treasure. I think they are the same people, but the only solid clue is that GPS bracelet she wears." He stretched his neck. "So...I'm asking the questions at this one bar and the bartender said he was going to do me a favor and not rat me out. It seems that they offer a bounty at the places they go to. If someone comes looking for them, they offer a grand to the first person who verifiably gives them a call. Five hundred for the second caller. This bartender I knew so he wasn't buying. But I'd already been to a lot of places so...well...here." He slid a little square of plastic over to Reg.

"Someone broke into my office. I found this on my desk next to your file. What exactly have you gotten me involved in?" the PI asked accusingly.

Reg picked it up. It was his old license that had been stolen by the couple who had abused him in the bar that fateful night. The night they had warned him in dire tones about if he went looking for them. It seemed like tough guy talk. Now... He started to tremble.

+

Like so many owners of fancy cars, Reg had parked far away from other vehicles with empty spots on either side of his beloved Mustang. The blue Charger parked right next to his vehicle. A laughing blonde got out of the driver's side. Her sneaker was distinctly untied. "...and she said 'Not in this lifetime.'" She looked at the restaurant parking lot. "I don't see your car? Where is it? No...it's not there. You said Grove City, right? Oops! DUBLIN? No, no, no...you said Grove City...Damn, I'm at the wrong one. Okay, I'll be there in a few." She glanced down and looked at her sneaker. She squatted to tie it.

That accomplished her hand dipped into her purse and her fist came out. That hand grasped the quarter panel of the wheel well of Reg's Mustang to help hoist her to her feet. Her hand came away from the car empty, the GPS tracking unit firmly mounted in the wheel well. She climbed back into the Charger and drove off.

The exchange had taken 20 seconds. Andrea was no longer wearing her bracelet.

Curtis just waited until a crowd was walking in front of the windows to grab the other GPS unit from the PI's car.

+

"Why didn't you try to talk to him? Why didn't you call?" Sally demanded of her husband. "He was making progress!"

Jim rubbed his face. "I'm taking a lot of flak from the guys. They are nowhere NEAR ready to forgive Reg for anything...and I'm not sure I am either. He isn't answering my calls...and neither is Wes. So, yes, I went by his place." Jim paused, puzzled. "Reg moved. Overnight to hear his landlord tell me about it. One day, he's there and the next, he took a day off, abandoned his security deposit and moved out. I saw his car at the dealer, so he hasn't disappeared, but I think at this point we let everyone cool down and figure things out."

"But..." Sally protested.

"Honey...he has to WANT forgiveness...and the other ones have to want to GIVE it. We are pushing too hard."

Sally acquiesced with poor grace.

+

"Hey dad!" Reg bounded into the house at a sprint. Mr. Perry looked up from their dinner preparations. His son seemed a lot more energetic than usual. His face glowed.

"What's up son?"

For a few seconds, his son wanted to play it cool, like nothing was up, but it was fair to bursting out of him. Finally, breathlessly, he spat it out. "Dad...I've been dating a girl. A NICE girl. A real true kind of girl! She's nothing like...She's different. We like the same things, we like the same music...Dad...she's special." His enthusiasm fairly bubbled out of him.