Same Old Song and Dance Ch. 03: Conclusion

"She what!" I said loudly. "Did she force you or ... Are you ... Uhm?"

If it was possible, those huge innocent eyes got even bigger. "Noooooo! Not like that," she said. "I mean she used me as a ... an ... Oh what do you call it? She would tell me that she was out buying something for you and it was a surprise. So if you called I was supposed to tell you that we had been shopping or doing something together. But Greg, I really didn't know. I guess I'm just stupid!"

"Tara, you're not stupid," I said. "You're just trusting. You take people at their word. I think that you don't lie, so you assume that no one else does either. None of this is your fault. You two have been friends for more than ten years. Why wouldn't you believe her?"

"But I should have known," she said. "My dad is the friggin' sheriff. I should have at least a little bit of detective in me. All of the signs were there. She was always out claiming to buy you things that I never saw you with. I'm just dumb."

"So what does that make me?" I asked. "I never saw it either at the time. But now thinking back on it, I never looked for it. Tara, you know how guys are. You've been married. As long as we're getting our sex regularly, we're happy. And I was getting it more than regularly. Any time we were alone, we were all over each other. I ..."

I realized that talking about being married had struck a nerve with Tara. "Sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to ..."

"I know," she said, without meeting my gaze. "I'm just overly sensitive when it comes to marriage. I'm a three time loser. The womn in town call me Liz Taylor."

"See," I said. "I agree with them." She put her hand over her mouth in shock.

"I thought we were friends, Greg," she said.

"Elizabeth Taylor was one of the most beautiful women in the world. You have those same incredible eyes and that beautiful black hair," I said.

"Greg, they call me Liz Taylor because I've been married so many times," she said. "It's not a compliment."

"But none of those were your fault," I said. "And you've only been divorced once, and he was a real asshole. You just have bad luck with men. But don't worry. You'll get it right next time."

"I would love to believe that," she said. "So are we okay?"

"Of course we are," I said. "We were never not okay. Besides, I have to stay on good terms with you. That way, your father continues to overlook my speeding."

She just laughed and shook her head as she headed back to work. I wondered how it was going to be for both her and the Mayor, having to work together after what had been revealed by this situation. The one thing you cuod count on was that I wouldn't be voting for the bastard again.

I looked up as a burger, made just the way I like, was placed in front of me. The plate was also nearly running over with fries. I looked up to find Sally's smiling face beaming at me.

"I don't know what you did yesterday," she began. "But my Kira is smiling again. She wouldn't tell me what you guys talked about. But she said you gave her ... Hope!"

Hope. It sounded so good. It was something I wanted to be able to make good on when it came to Kira. It was also something I had run out of when it came to my own situation. I had no hope left. Perhaps, I hoped that people weren't laughing at me behind my back. I hoped that they wouldn't make fun of my youngest daughter, or think that she was anything like her mother. I hoped that my oldest children and I could get past things with our relationship intact, even thought our family would never be, could never be the same.

I'd found out a short time ago, that the judge had decided not to allow the annulment. He didn't have enough experience with the annulment concept to rule. He'd done some research and although he agreed, after reviewing the file and my evidence that Donna had married me under false pretenses. That was based on the fact that she'd been cheating on me since before we were married. But after twenty years, he thought that a divorce made more sense from a legal point of view.

Since Donna had agreed to the terms we'd set down in the settlement agreement, he saw no need to rule any further and had signed off on the divorce. In six months, it would be final and I'd be something I neither wanted nor sought to be; a free man.

But there was still one more thing I needed to do before I could settle down for my happily ever after romance with my cars.

* * * * * *

Kira

I looked at the face of my future father in law. He couldn't look at me. His face had immediately reddened and he looked away.

"My boobs aren't big," I said. "I mean ... I'm not flat-chested but ..."

"Uhm ... can we talk about something else?" he asked. "Are you ready? I mean ... I know you're brave enough for this ... But are you tough enough for what might ... Or could happen?"

I laughed. He had no idea. "I don't have to be brave," I smiled. "I already know what the alternative is. I've spent the last month and a half experiencing what life without him is like. This is nothing compared to that."

He nodded. We got into one of his cars. It was the same one that he'd had on display at the Founder's weekend car show. We drove in silence, both of us lost in our thoughts.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

"How good it's going to be to have things back to normal. And how grateful I am to you for believing in me and giving me this chance," I said. "What are you thinking about?"

"What the hell we're going to do for plan B if this doesn't work," he said. "Terry needs you in his life. One of us may as well be happy." He put his foot on the gas and suddenly the car jumped forward as if we'd been shot out of a cannon. I was pushed backwards into my seat like there was a hand on my chest pushing me back into the expensive leather.

I wondered what he meant. He seemed to be trying to mask his anger as he'd said it. I looked at him and saw something I never expected to see. He was as torn up as I was about something. We were although I had never seen it before, kindred spirits. That only made his helping me even more special. I wonder if I would have had the grace, while tormented by my own struggles o try to help someone else.

In that moment, knew where most of the qualities that I loved about Terry had come from.

I didn't have time to dwell on them though because we were almost at the park. We drove a bit until we saw Terry's sonic blue Mustang.

"Okay, Honey, good luck," he said. "I'll be close by, watching. I'll pull you out if things get sticky. You can do this." I nodded showing more confidence than I felt.

A short distance away I saw them. The queen was in situ. Her court fluttered around her. There were at least six other girls there. All of them wearing clothing very similar to what she wore and trying very much to act the way she did. The girls were the prettiest girls from some of the best families in town. Some were still in high school while others were in college. Of course with the girls came, men. There were a lot of them nearby. Several of them were tossing a football around.

A bit further away, were several couples lying on the grass nearby. They weren't a part of the court ... But oh how they wanted to be. All of their attention was focused laser-like on Lana's every movement.

Lana, of course, pretended not to notice that she was the center of all of this rapt attention. Her focus, was on something, the one thing that didn't belong to her. She was concentrating on Terry.

My Terry. This was it. This was the reason I was out here in the park in a top so tight that you could see every pimple on my nipples and shorts so tiny I may as well have been wearing a pair of blue jean panties. It was like his dad had said. I needed to do something to shock him enough to make his decision. Did he still love me enough to make the right choice?

What I'd done had been terrible, but it was a mistake. Did he love me enough to overlook it, or were we done. His dad really believed that Jeff had given me more than just alcohol.

Thinking about it, Terry's dad was either the biggest genius, or the biggest moron I knew. Terry had called me everything except a child of God. He'd called me a whore, a skank and a slut. I just didn't see how dressing like a slut would get him back.

A wolf whistle cut through the air as I walked past the impromptu picnic. Several of the unoccupied guys looked at me and a couple started to follow me. One of them stepped in front of me.

"Hey baby, what do I have to do to get between those legs?" asked a guy I had never seen before.

"Die and come back as someone else," I quipped, moving around him. His friends started laughing at him and even Lana noticed it. Before I knew it, she had gotten up and was heading, with a couple of her girls, in my direction.

"Hello, Kira," said Lana. Her voice was controlled and almost warm sounding. She made it seem as if we were old friends. She didn't exude any type of threat or menace. This wasn't one of those 'mean girl' situations like they have in the movies.

"Hi," I said nervously.

"I was sure that I'd made myself very clear about you being welcome at any of my events," she said. From the smile on her face, anyone passing by would have thought that she had just complimented me on my outfit or some other pleasant thing. And her words were phrased in such a way that it seemed as if she was telling me that I was welcome.

From behind me, one of the guys who'd been trying to talk to me spoke up. "Well day'um!" he said with an exaggerated accent. "Excuse us your lady ship. We were not aware that you owned this park. We'll just be on our merry way." He grabbed me by my arm and started pulling me.

"Shit, nobody told us the fuckin' queen was in the park," said another of the guys. I looked around for Terry's dad's car. This was going bad quickly.

"She isn't going anywhere with you!" The voice was calm, but there was an undercurrent of menace in it. I looked up and saw Terry beside Lana and he was pissed. I couldn't tell if he was pissed at me or the guys.

"Wait ... Let me get this straight," said one of the guys. "Your girlfriend thinks she owns the Damned park. And you think you own all of the women?"

"Not all of them, just her," said Terry pointing at me.

"Terry, let her go," said Lana.

"Yeah, Terry, let her go," smirked one of the guys. "She'll be fine with us. You go back and sit with the qu ..."

I had seen Terry in tournaments and competitions. I'd seen him practicing kicks and punches and blocks until sweat poured off of him. I had seen him strike punching bags so hard that the walls of his dad's garage shook. But I had never seen him strike a person in real life. While Lana and the guys had been talking Terry had been moving slowly and constantly closer to me. When the guy who'd spoken last crossed between Terry and I to say what he'd tried to say, he made a mistake.

Terry who was already angry, saw it as an aggressive movement. He saw it as the guy putting himself between Terry and me. Too many bad things had happened to Terry that summer. I didn't know about most of them until much later. But Terry had lost me, or so he thought. He had lost our hopes for a future and a family. What I didn't know was that he had also for all intents and purposes lost his mother. And his family had been changed forever.

The anger that had been bubbling near the surface all summer errupted. Terry leaped from the ground into some kind of spin. He spun halfway around in mid air and his right leg shot out and slammed into the side of the guy's head. Terry landed lightly on his feet and looked at the other two guys. They looked down at their stunned friend and took a step backwards.

They didn't know whether to attack Terry in defense of their friend or to run so they didn't get flattened along with him. Before they could make up their minds, four hundred and sixty two horsepower and four screaming Good Year super car radials further destabilized the situation.

The Mustang screeched to a stop right beside me. "Terry, don't hit anyone else. Get your ass into this car, NOW!" Yelled his father from inside of the growling car.

Terry as usual did what his dad told him and approached the car. "Get in the back," his dad yelled. Terry looked puzzled but pushed the seat forward and crawled into the tiny rear compartment. I almost laughed as he tried to get comfortable with his knees on his chest and his head bent low.

"Come on Kira, we don't have all day," he smirked at me. I sat down in the comfortable and luxurious leather seat and smiled.

"Dad, why is she coming with us?" whined Terry.

"Because I'm psychic," spat his dad. "All fathers are."

"But what does that have to do with ..." began Terry.

"You love her and you know it," said his dad as he took one of the sharp corners in the park so quickly it felt as if we were on two wheels.

"No I don't," said Terry, stubbornly. "Your psychic mojo is off."

"Remember last week? The day of the big rainstorm?" questioned his dad.

"Yeah," said Terry. "Lana and I were going swimming. You should see those hooters in a bikini," he was obviously taking a pot shot at me. I just smiled and leaned over between the seats and stared at him.

"What are you staring at?" he hissed at me.

"You," I smiled.

"Well, stop. I'll be back with Lana in just a few minutes," he spat.

"Why?" I asked. "You loooooooooooove me."

"Says who?" he hissed. "I was perfectly fine with Lana. She's the prettiest girl in town and she doesn't dress like a ..."

"Terence!" said his dad.

"Dad your psychic powers suck. I don't love her anymore. Okay, I did. But that was before she ... I just don't anymore. Maybe your psychic gift is the ability to look into the past. We don't call that psychic. We call it history."

"As I was saying, before we started discussing Lana's hooters," said Terry's dad. "The day of the rain storm, I was running around the house closing windows to keep the storm out. While I was in your room ... You know, the one you left to go staring at Lana's hooters. You left your photo album open on your computer. Funny isn't it? You have hundreds of pictures on that computer.

I saw one or two of me and your sisters. There was even one of your mom, which surprises me. I don't remember any pictures of Lana or her magical hooters. So either the hooters aren't that magical to you, or you have a secret Lana's hooters folder hidden on the computer somewhere.

A funny thing though ... There must've been a couple of hundred pictures of Kira in a slide show. Anything you want to say?"

"Nope," said Terry clamping his lips shut.

"Terry do you remember the first breath you ever took?" asked his dad.

"Of course not," said Terry. "No one does."

"I do," said his father.

"Bullshit," said Terry. "Oops ... Sorry dad, but no one remembers their first breath. Most of us don't remember much before we first started school ... You're makin' this ..."

"Terry are you sure you're going to be an engineer?" asked his dad. "You're a little slow on the uptake ..."

"Dad, I'm trying to follow your conversation, analyze it because I can't tell when you're joking and when you're not and avoid getting cooties from Kira at the same time. It's a bit tough," said Terry.

"Okay," smirked his Dad. "I'll slow down. But you let me know when I can take the training wheels off. As I was saying I remember YOUR first breath son. In fact, when the doctor smacked you on the ass to start you breathing, I almost hit him back. I know you Terry. No one knows you as well as I do with the possible exceptions of your mother and ..." he pointed at me.

"I know when you're happy. I can feel it when you're sad or upset. So I know that you don't have any feelings for Lana, magical hooters or not. And I also know ..." he continued.

"Okay, big whoop," spat Terry. "I love her. I always have. That does not make you the world's greatest detective. The whole damned town knows that. But I'm getting over it. Just like you're getting over mom. I'm moving in with my life."

"Terry, the situations are completely different," said his dad. "I wish I could give your mom a second chance. But what she did went on for too long. And her reasons were completely different. I would give anything to be in your shoes. You haven't smiled one time since the two of you broke up. I know you've been trying to get over her, son. But it doesn't seem to be working."

"I don't see it that way," snapped Terry. "Look at the way she's dressed."

"She's wearing that for you, dummy," said his dad. "I told her to wear it."

"Why did you want her to dress like a ..." began Terry.

"Slut," I said.

"Okay, we're here," said his dad.

"We're where?" asked Terry as his dad pulled the car over. He opened the electronic locks and got out of the car.

I got out too. Terry got out and tried to stretch his sore muscles from the tight confines of the Mustang's back seat.

"Where are we, Dad?" asked Terry looking around.

Suddenly, the door locks on the Mustang clicked locked. The big engine started and his dad shouted over the sound.

"It's about five miles back to your car, Terry. That should give you two time for a nice long talk," he shouted. Then he drove away.

"We may as well start walking," said Terry.

"Do you want me to walk on the other side of the road and maybe fifty feet or so behind you?" I asked. "That way no one will see you walking with the whore."

Terry took off his shirt, he had a T-shirt under it. He handed me the shirt.

He noticed the tears that I tried to wipe away, before I got to them.

"You hate seeing my body so badly that you can't stand it huh?" I hissed. "I'm sorry I don't have big fake tits like your girlfriend. My mom and I aren't rich. So I have to just deal with what I have." I started walking and he caught up with me.

He grabbed me by my hand and stopped me. "Let go of me, Terry," I said. "Or are you going to beat me up, too?" He dropped my hand.

"Kira," he said in shock. "I have never ... I could never hurt you."

"Bullshit!" I said. "What do you think that ignoring me the whole summer did?" I started crying then. I just couldn't hold the tears or my anger back. "And you called me a wh ... whore, Terry. You just tore my heart out. And I watched you all friggin summer ... While I sat around crying you went everywhere with your new girlfriend. I hope ... I hope the two of you are happy, Terry. Because you're killing me. One piece at a time, little by little."

"She's not my girlfriend," he said. "She's just a friend. We're just helping each other get over what you two ..."

"It wasn't us two, Terry," I hissed. "Like your dad said, for an engineer, you seem to be a little slow. Jeff, is very good at what he does. He started out by telling me about all of those girls that you were around up at school and how pretty they all were. And I began to worry. He kept coming into the restaurant and he would always tell me about how worried he was about what Lana was doing up at school. He'd always say that you were probably doing it too.

Then he started telling me how, the two of us should hang out. He said it wasn't like we'd be dating or anything. It would just be two friends who were left alone helping each other over a rough time. Terry, I'm not like you. I'm the poor girl from the trailer park. I don't have a lot of friends to hang out with, so I didn't see any harm. You were my first boyfriend Terry. You were my first everything. So when you left me. As much as I knew that you were just going to school, I had doubts. I wondered about you with all of those pretty girls around. "

"You shouldn't have," he spat. "I never went on one Damned date. While you were back here dating that asshole Jeff, I was working my ass off for US. US, KIRA! Not me. US! You and me Kira. And our future! Besides, how the hell was I supposed to date anyone? I was always on the phone, or Skype, or texting YOU!" He was so close to me that I could feel him. I could feel his anger.