The Weekend Pt. 03

When she found that they were indeed alone, her eyes settled back onto Brian. She lightly pushed him back and said, "Can you back up please? Anyone can see us. This is how rumors get started."

A playful smile once again adorned his lips as his hands wiped a stray hair from her face. "They aren't rumors if they're true."

Her hand slapping his wrist away and the irritated sigh that escaped her said it all. He groaned at her facial expression and threw his hands up in surrender. "Fine. Fine. I'll be good."

"Thank you."

Her cold demeanor was meant to discourage him, but she couldn't stop her eyes from softening apologetically. She fought the urge to reach out and touch him in some kind of way. It was too intimate a gesture, and she wasn't sure what it would mean to him.

Who was she fooling? What would it mean to her? Her mouth was saying what her brain said she should say, but a part of her was still stuck in the weekend. Those memories were with her, and she was unable to shake them loose. Being this close to him made it even harder. His smile, his smell, his walk, his touch; all of that made her body respond in ways that it shouldn't.

Fortunately for her, Brian gave a small smile before turning and walking away. When he was out of sight, she finally exhaled the breath that she didn't even know she was holding. A silent chastisement was given to herself before she grabbed her clipboard and turned in the opposite direction to find the nurse she was relieving.

_____________________________________________________

Like Regina, Lee also pulled into the same space that he'd always parked in. It was a reserved spot for the shift manager. The warehouse that he'd worked at for the last 15 years stood in front him.

His hard hat sat in the passenger seat, along with the name badge that he always clipped to his button-down shirt. The coffee from Dunkin Doughnuts rested in the cup holder. These items were so much a part of his daily morning routine that they were practically Pavlov's bell. Each of them beaconed him towards the large, grey building, telling him that it was time to get started with his day.

But, he didn't get out of the car. He couldn't answer the call. Even with the digital numbers on his radio reminding him that he only had 3 minutes until he was late, his body refused to move.

Right now, his mind was supposed to making a checklist of things that had to get done. Orders had to be filled, processed, and packed in trailers to be shipped off. Deliveries had to be checked, inspected, and properly stowed in the proper location. Schedules had to be made. Complaints had to be listened to. Workers had to be monitored.

Whah, whah, whah. Charlie Brown's teacher talked to him in indistinguishable sounds. His normally focused mind was being torn in separate directions. As much as wanted to kick start his brain into Monday, it was stuck on Friday.

He couldn't go inside. Not today.

He turned the key to start the engine and backed out of the space. Once he was clear of the parking lot, he called in sick to his assistant. Kenny was gracious about it and wished him a happy recovery.

Lee didn't know what to do. He didn't know where he was going, or anything. All he knew is that he had to keep driving.

His phone jarred him from his semi-comatose state. A look at the screen told him that it was his best friend Daryl. Realizing that he'd blown Daryl off the entire weekend, Lee finally decided to answer his phone.

After Lee's introductory "Hello" Daryl immediately went in. "That's all you have to say to me? Hello? You call me on Friday to tell me that your wife went missing, and then you don't return any of my calls all weekend. Now, you're calling in sick? What's going on? You never call in sick."

OF course he would know that Lee called in sick; he checks the call out boards daily. Daryl ran the Personnel office. Lee had only called out twice in the 15 years that he worked at the warehouse, and one of those days was because Regina had surprisingly gone into labor 3 months early. It was a shock to see his name on the list, especially after the desperate call on Friday.

There was so much that Lee didn't tell Daryl about this weekend. In fact, if Lee initially believed that Regina was really going away with a guy, he wouldn't have even told him what he did. There is always a slight question mark attached to the stigma of a cheating wife; the question being the husband's manhood. Men are sexual creatures, and the satisfaction of the woman they engage with is a straight correlation to the potency of their virility. Admitting that his wife cheated would be like saying he didn't possess the skills to keep her satisfied.

At least, in his mind.

"Things are a little crazy right now." Lee said, trying to downplay the falling sky above him. "I just have to deal with it. That's all."

The line went silent for a second, and then Daryl said, "I'm leaving out now. Be at my place in 20. When I get there, you need to start talking."

Lee wanted to object; or at least, he wanted to want it. In reality, he needed to talk. The crumbling of one's life isn't something that anyone wants to go through alone. Keeping everything inside can cause insanity. It's why most therapists drive new cars.

About 45 minutes later, the two sat across from each other at Daryl's kitchen table. Stunned silence is the only way to describe the atmosphere that fell on them after Lee had given a summary of the situation.

"So, you're sure she actually went away with this guy?" Daryl said in a voice laced with both incredulity and disbelief. "I mean, this is Regina. She could have just been winding you up to get you back for that...uhh... halter top girl."

Lee shook his head with a mixture of sadness, anger, and irritation. "She wasn't lying, D."

Daryl shook his head again. His mind wouldn't connect the dots between Lee's story and the Regina that he knew. He'd known her as long as Lee had. That was a literal statement; he was there the first night they met.

"Damn." Was all he could say. After a moment of contemplative silence, he asked, "So, what you gonna do?"

"If I knew that, I'd be doing it." Lee said bitterly.

Daryl nodded his head, and then shook it right after, as if he couldn't decide which was appropriate. After a moment, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. He then slid a single key off and laid it on the table in front of Lee.

"Go home and pack a few things. You're staying here for a while."

Lee looked at him with slight confusion, and then he shook his head. "No, Daryl. I'm f..."

Daryl slid the key further in front of Lee, as if whatever he was going to say was unimportant. "Dude, you sat in that house all weekend by yourself while your wife was away fucking some guy. You're certainly not fine! The last thing you need is to be around her while you process this. I don't want you going to jail for doing something stupid. Now, go home while she's at work, pack some things, and bring your ass back here. My couch has to be better than sleeping next her."

Lee chuckled inappropriately, and Daryl looked at him like he was going crazy. When he saw the confusion in Daryl's eyes, he said "Actually, I slept in Cassie's room."

Daryl groaned and blurted out, "Are you fucking serious?" Lee's face gave him the answer, which made him shake his head. "You're DEFINITELY staying here. This isn't up for debate."

Daryl got up and started putting his coat on, like there was nothing more to argue. From the corner of his eye, he saw Lee grab the key and put it in his pocket. He was satisfied with that, so he said, "I'm going back to work. I'll see you later."

Once Lee was alone, he looked around Daryl's apartment. As much as he appreciated his friend's worry, he didn't plan on staying here for long. A couple of days to get his head together was sufficient for him to come up with his next step; whatever that step may be.

At the end of the day, he still loved Regina. Even this weekend couldn't change that. He loved her so much that choking the life from her seemed just as plausible as kissing her.

After a brief moment of reflection, Lee grabbed his own car keys and headed out the door.

_______________________________________________________

What color r ur panties?

Brian checked his phone again to see if Regina responded to his playful text. He hoped that after an hour, she'd have removed the stick from her ass. The blank line beneath his last message that should have had a response from her was clear indication that it was still firmly lodged place.

He growled in frustration and put his phone back in his pocket. Was she really that busy, or was she intentionally ignoring him? It was always difficult to tell with Regina. She ran hot and cold, and he could never anticipate if he would encounter the vixen or the bitch.

That's part of what had changed him into such a moth. The flame of her uncertainty drew him in and made him want to earn those moments of heat. He'd become a little spoiled when it came to women. Anticipating their behavior had always been relatively easy for him. More often than not, he was able to turn this information into a means of getting whatever it was that he wanted from them.

Without realizing it, he'd become bored with the cat and mouse game.

That boredom made it easier on him when he decided to change his ways of pursuing married women. The chase was no longer exhilarating for him. Sex itself had become something that could be gotten at will instead of a prize to be won. Once that was stripped away, there was nothing left but another naked body.

Regina changed that. He felt something more with her. Maybe she added a new dimension to the chase, or maybe she was destined to be more. Brian couldn't really tell at this point. Things between them had happened so fast that he wasn't able to catch up. All he knew was that he wanted her, with or without sex.

What scared him about Regina was the similarities between her and another woman who was his downfall. Selene was a siren of his past from his last hospital. She drew him in so much that it nearly ruined him. He became slightly obsessed with conquering her and went through ordeals that he never before would have submitted himself to.

Unlike with Regina, he never got to taste Selene's forbidden fruit. She was the one that got away. But in a way, that made this situation worse. To have been there and explored the wonders of Regina's garden created an even bigger desire for more.

It wasn't just about the actual sex. It was being away with her, outside of the confines of everyday life. He'd never done that before with any woman. The intimate moments that he shared with her weren't faked to get her in bed, like he'd done countless times before. He actually wanted to be around her. Even when she switched to bitch mode, she challenged him in ways that he found exhilarating.

Her husband didn't deserve her.

He found it a little worrying that he was back in the situation that he was trying to stay clear from; pursuing a married woman. He considered this situation different though. He wasn't doing this for the sport of conquering like he had in the past. This was just something that he fell in without meaning to. Sure, he was attracted to Regina; she was beautiful. But there was something familiar in her that he found; a kindred spirit. For a year before this past weekend, the two of them talked about everything under the sun. He made her laugh, and she got him.

Then came that Monday that she returned to work. She was distraught. Brian had seen sadness in her eyes, but never the depths of despair that she had then. Brian felt sort of protective over her, so he covered her. He took his patient load and helped her with hers. In the shape that she was in, she might have killed someone accidently if he hadn't intervened.

Then she told him everything. Her inability to have kids, her husband's wandering penis, and the woman who'd just showed up on her doorstep pregnant.

That was the first moment that his rules went out the window. Perhaps Lee's indiscretion was just a convenient loophole to satisfy that urge to do what Brian really wanted to do in the first place; kind of like an alcoholic skipping AA and heading to the bar because he had a rough day. In spite of the "purity" of his current motives, he'd destroyed a few families on the way to his newfound level of self-awareness. He never even thought about how harmful his actions were. The list of victims extended past the women. Husband's, children, friends, and other family were also among the casualties.

That is the nature of family. The actions of one member can ripple out and touch everyone. Each person works as a separate cog, but the overall unit runs as one. Simply put, happy parents make well-adjusted kids.

The opposite is also true.

Family was a word that Brian avoided. His own childhood was full of memories that he'd rather forget. He never fully appreciated the damage he caused because his own family was so damaged. In a secret compartment of his mind, Brian yearned for that family that he never had.

Perhaps that why he did what he did in the past. He jeered at the sanctity of marriage every time he got a woman into bed, but envy can rear its head up and present itself in a myriad of ways. Being a predator was a lot easier than being the victim. Ironically, predators are victims themselves. The pain they inflict is really a compensation for the pain that had been inflicted upon them. They often don't realize the vicious cycle until it's too late.

Brian stood outside of the room of his next patient and looked over her charts. Mrs. Carson's was a woman in her late 40's who had surgery on her back and was being kept for a few days to make sure she didn't catch any infections.

Brian had a sort of kinship with this woman. Her personality was infectious. She was brash, had no filter, and enjoyed making the people around her squirm uncomfortably.

"Here's my sexy nurse!" she called out when he walked in. A saucy smile spread on her face. Her voice was kind of rough and scratchy, no doubt due to her 2 pack a day habit.

A younger woman, who appeared to be twenty at best, sat by her bedside. She shook her head and looked apologetically at Brian before saying to her, "Mom, cut it out. He's young enough to be my brother."

"Oh hush, girl." Mrs. Carson said as she waved her daughter off. Then her eyes fell lustfully back on Brian as her eyebrows bounced. "So, are you here to give me a sponge bath?"

Brian laughed good-naturedly, mostly at the poor girl who looked like she wanted to crawl inside of herself and die. He then shook his head at Mrs. Carson. "Well, no. You're able to move around quite well by yourself, so you have no problem getting to the shower. Besides, if I did that, your husband would be extremely pissed that I stole his wife and ran away with her."

She laughed and rolled her eyes. "He'd probably kill the both of us, but you know what? I guarantee you'd die with a smile on your face."

So far, Mrs. Carson had been here nearly a week. There wasn't a moment that she was alone. This young lady that now looked mortified was one of three children who took shifts during the day sitting with their mother. The father worked during the day, but he sat with her at night until visiting hours were over.

"Jules, why don't you go to the cafeteria and get something to eat. Give me and sexy nurse some privacy, will ya?"

The younger woman snickered and grabbed her purse. "Fine. I'll let you two talk. But I swear, if I come back and see you in the throes of passion, I'm telling dad."

"Maybe he'll learn something." Mrs. Carson retorted back, which earned her a disgusted look from her daughter before she left. Once "Jules" was safely out of the room, Brian's eyes fell on Mrs. Carson with worry. The smile had left her face and had been replaced with a grimace of pain.

"You know, flirting with me to get your daughter to leave the room because you don't want her to hear how much pain you're in is pretty transparent. I think she's on to you."

She shook her head and tried to sit up, wincing as the pain shot through her back. "My family worries. It's why they're up here all day. Ever since the cancer scare, they treat me like I'm fragile."

Brian assisted her slowly, being careful not to jerk her too much. "Well, right now you are fragile." He said, which earned him a look that temporarily replaced the grimace. When he finally had her settled in, he asked, "Vicodin not working for you?"

"Not really. You might as well be giving me tic tacs."

He laughed but shook his head empathetically. "Unfortunately, you're already at the max dosage. I'll have to give your doctor a call to see if he can suggest anything else."

She nodded sadly and sighed. Then she chuckled ruefully and cast a longing glance out of the window. The sight of swaying branches cast against a sunlit blue sky did nothing to calm her anxiety.

"My life is a complete shit show. First the hysterectomy because of the cancer, then this spine thing. I swear I'm being paid back for something."

"A complete shit show? You do realize that you have people who love you so much that they take shifts to make sure you always have someone by your side, right? I have a total of 10 patients, and only two of you have that. The other is a nine-year-old girl who caught the flu and is now in a coma. If you ask me, the only thing you're being paid back for is cultivating a family that sticks with you through the bad times. That's no easy thing."

Mrs. Carson shot a surprised look at Brian as a semi-smile of understanding crept on her face. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

The conversation was cut short by the reemergence of "Jules". She suddenly and dramatically appeared in the doorway with a skip, like she had taken a running start to try and catch them doing something inappropriate. The two instantly stopped talking and turned their attention to her as she looked at them with narrowed eyes of suspicion.

She entered the room slowly, as if she were inspecting a crime scene area. After a moment, a smile broke out on her face as she sat down beside the bed.

"Just checking." She said with a chuckle, looking at the two with humor. "I guess I won't have to call dad after all."

Mrs. Carson snickered. "Trust me Jules, if I were taking advantage of Brian, you wouldn't have had to wonder. You'd have heard him from down the hall."

"Yeah, screaming for help to get the crazy old bag off him!"

Brian laughed out loud at them and wrapped up his visit. Watching them two together is what family is supposed to be. That's what he secretly longed for; someone who will be there with you when all hell is breaking loose in your life.

As of right now, he was alone.

Once he was in the hallway, he felt a vibrating in his pocket. He quickly pulled out his phone and smiled when he saw that Regina finally responded to his text. It simply said, none of ur business. Get back 2 wk.

No, she didn't answer his question in the fashion that he would have liked, but that didn't stop his lips from curling upward. She responded. Any response at all told him that she was thinking about him. He'd been down this road enough times to know when he was inside of someone's head.

He knew how women thought.

He quickly typed his next text before returning the phone to his pocket and going to visit his next patient.

__________________________________________________________

Lee rummaged through his dresser drawers and pulled out several neatly folded boxer shorts. They followed the rest of the items into the suitcase that he was packing.