The room was rather dark as she rolled over to Roger’s side, onto his pillow. The sheets were chilly; he’d been gone a while. Maggie buried her face in the pillow and groaned softly. She much preferred waking up next to him.
Then the sound of his voice filled her senses. The words were muffled, but she smiled instinctively when she heard his low little chuckle. And someone else was in the kitchen with him. Whose voice was that?
Earl Ray.
Of course.
Her stomach flip-flopped with relief when she realized it wasn’t Vinnie Terranova. Oh, not that she didn’t like Vinnie or anything. She was actually crazy about him. But at least one of his visits had resulted in Roger leaving her and going on a dangerous mission. So now her initial gut reaction was to dread Vinnie showing up.
Dragging herself out of bed and stretching, Maggie looked around for the nearest thing to throw over her almost-naked body. Her terrycloth robe, she knew, was laying in the dryer and not convenient.
So she picked up the shirt Roger had worn the day before and put it on after first breathing in his scent from it. It was a lightweight denim button-down, and the sleeves were still partially rolled up. It adequately covered her panties.
When she tip-toed out of the bedroom, she found only Earl Ray sitting at the bar of the kitchen, drinking coffee from a large mug – a mug she’d bought for Roger at an antique shop somewhere in town. Scanning the rest of the room, she didn’t find her beloved.
"Hey, you," she said softly as she walked up to Earl Ray.
He hadn’t heard her approaching and jumped when she spoke. "Jesus, Maggie! Ya trying to give me a heart attack or something?" He set the mug down.
"Oh, gimme a fat break. You’re a rough and tough army man, Earl Ray. You gonna let a frail little thing like me give you a fright?" She giggled, sort of.
Then he turned to look at her, and Maggie saw the unfiltered amazement in his eyes when he laid them on her. He stared at her with blatant something – desire? longing? nostalgia? – slowly roaming over her entire body. She felt completely naked, transparent even, and realized suddenly that she’d done a poor job of buttoning the shirt, barely covering her cleavage.
As his eyes returned to hers, he said very quietly, "You trying to give me a heart attack or something?"
"No………Is that what you think?" She whispered, not knowing why. The atmosphere around them was heavy and hushed, static-filled.
Going over her form again, he answered, "Didn’t ya know I was out here, Mags? Is this a little game to you or what?" If he’d licked his lips, she wouldn’t have been surprised in the least. But he didn’t.
Maggie reached up and pulled the shirt opening together more. "No, Earl Ray. Sorry………Guess I wasn’t thinking." Honestly, indecency had not crossed her mind at all. Nor had trying to tease him.
"Where’s your robe, Maggie? It’s December, for chrissakes," Roger said as he joined them.
Neither Maggie nor Earl Ray had heard him approach through the thick, warm air. Neither were they aware that he had stood off to the side and watched their tense, unexpected little encounter. And Roger gave no indication of it.
Maggie snapped to attention at the sound of his voice. "Uh…….It’s in the dryer, I think."
"There’s more coffee in the pot if you’re interested," he offered as he passed her. He barely patted her butt as he breezed by, leaving her alone with her ex-husband once again.
Earl Ray, still facing her, was peering at her not quite so lustily now. When Roger had disappeared into the laundry room and was completely out of earshot, she said very softly, "Maybe I should cook you some breakfast…….You look awfully……..hungry." Another tiny giggle.
Then she smiled for a second and sauntered around the bar into the kitchen. Earl Ray turned around in his chair and picked up his coffee as she poured some for herself.
"You’re an evil bitch, Mags." He whispered deliberately.
Glancing up at him, she grinned. Vixen-like. "And?"
"Ya think Roger caught any of that?"
But before she could answer, Roger was back – in the kitchen with her, shaking out the huge, plush robe. Draping it around her from behind, he said to Earl Ray sarcastically, "Sorry ‘bout my shameless, common-sense-deficient roommate."
She pulled the robe up close around her neck and tied it tightly at her waist. "Kiss my ass, Roger."
Earl Ray laughed, grateful that the subject had changed, grateful that he no longer had to look at what he could not have. "Hey, man. Did ya give ‘er the big headline?" he asked Roger.
Roger hit his forehead dramatically, in mock frustration. "Ah, musta slipped my mind somehow………probably due to the pathetic subject matter." He laughed quietly and refreshed his own coffee.
"What?" Maggie asked, sipping from her mug.
"You tell ‘er, Michaels. That crap was always more your cuppa tea anyway."
Earl Ray wrinkled up his face and then looked straight at Maggie. "Sahndra’s lawyer called me again Friday……..They hadda commit her, sweetie."
Visibly astonished, Maggie set her coffee down carefully. "Commit her? To an institution?"
"To an all-out nut house, baby. Put her away." Roger chimed in, without remorse. He’d seated himself at the bar next to their guest and now watched her for her reactions.
"Some kind of asylum, even they don’t call ‘em that anymore……….Somewhere near her parents’ house in Long Island……….They were the ones who finally made the harsh decision……..They were supposedly at their wits’ end with no other choice," Earl Ray explained.
Maggie wasn’t sure how to respond. Her emotions were in upheaval, and her thoughts were spinning a little too quickly. "But why? Had things gotten that desperate, Earl Ray?"
He shrugged and shook his head. "Don’t know exactly since I’ve hardly spoken to her in months……..But when I saw her last, the bitch would stand there in my face and scream at me that the sky was orange instead of blue…….That’s how bad her lying had gotten……..Couldn’t be truthful ‘bout a damn thing……..Guess she started believing all that bullshit she was trying to feed to everyone else and went off the proverbial deep end."
"You okay, Maggie?" Roger asked her. He’d noticed the tears filling up her eyes.
She looked down, clutching the bar for support, still feeling torn. "Yeah, just a little shaken………..She was my friend……..at one time."
Earl Ray sighed loudly. "Lotta water under the ol’ bridge since those days, Mags……..The attorney said Sahndra just got too unstable and too dangerous to live in society by herself……..She had nothing left to live for, I guess."
"And she wasn’t much of a friend to ya anyway, as I recall." Roger smiled at her comfortingly, but her insides were still wrecked.
Holding back the tears, she said, "Still……..we had some fun times."
"Yeah, so did we. But the sucky times outweighed, no pun intended, the good times by a long shot. And now there’s not a damn thing any of us can do ‘bout what’s happened to her," Earl Ray said.
"Yep. She’s history, sweetheart. When you’re gone, you’re gone," Roger added.
"This bites."
"Maggie, me and Roger figured you’d get a big kick outta this news………what with the blatant irony and all."
She glared at him, her cheeks assuming a pinkish glow. "Well, then you and Roger are assholes. This isn’t funny! Just because she viciously accused me of being crazy doesn’t mean I’m throwing a little party now that she really is! This is a sad and horrible fate for her, and I feel sorry for her."
"Settle down, baby," Roger said. "Nobody thinks it’s funny……..Just and deserved, maybe……but not funny."
Maggie took a deep breath and let it out audibly. "Okay. Whatever. You two are totally non-sympathetic and callous."
"No, sweetie…….We just don’t give a damn anymore. We’re past that. And it would be in your best interest to follow suit," Earl Ray told her. "As callous as it might sound, this is ‘bout the end of the line for Sahndra in our little world. No further involvement necessary."
"Or desired," Roger said with his head down.
She thought for a moment and tried to harness her psyche. "Okay…….I guess you’re both right, as much as I hate to admit it…………I should just finally let go………completely and absolutely……..for good………No more involvement whatsoever."
"Now you’re talking," Earl Ray said. "You’ll be happier. Trust me."
"Just do me a favor and watch out for nut cases like that in the future, baby. They give me the creeps." Roger pretended to shudder.
"I’m gonna kick your ass," Maggie promised him.
"Yeah, yeah. I hear ya."
When Maggie awoke on Sunday morning about a week after her "healing" conversation with Elyse, she felt instantly that Roger was neither in the bed nor in the room with her. And she heard the rain – the seemingly ever-present steady downpour that had ceased being as depressing as it once was.
