By Rachel Torrent

“So is he being like the world’s biggest baby, or what?” Sahndra asked Julie on the telephone. It was Monday afternoon following the big boxing match on Saturday. The boxing match that proved to be the surprise entertainment at Roy Dean’s bachelor party.

“No, not really. He’s keeping ice on it for the swelling, and he says it’s damn sore. But that’s about all. I can’t kiss his mouth, of course,” Julie said with regret.

“And I guess there are other things he can’t do with that mouth either.” Sahndra snickered.

“You shut the hell up. We’re making out, so to speak, just fine. No thanks to your pugilistic boyfriend.”

“You’ve definitely been around that prick too long. Listen to those big words he’s got ya using. And as for Earl Ray, I think he feels better about the whole situation now. Maybe a little pummeling was good for both of them.” Sahndra said.

“Yeah? Well, you can be the one to tell Roger that it was ‘good’ for him.”

“Can I come over and see him for real? I feel kinda bad for him. I made some fresh rye bread this morning, and there’s some vegetable soup in the fridge. I could bring some to him,” Sahndra said. She did, in fact, feel horrible about Roger getting physically wounded, no matter how small.

“C’mon over. He’s in the den reading something.”

Julie let Sahndra in the loft when she arrived and then returned to the kitchen where she’d been conditioning copper cookware. She could still see and hear what went on in the den, but she was safely out of the line of fire.

Roger didn’t looked up from his book when Sahndra walked in, so she spoke to him. “Hi, Roger. Howya feeling?”

He raised only his eyes in a surly, almost bored way. “I’m in traction………What does it look like?……….Didya come over here to hit me too?”

She laughed nervously. It might take longer this time to get him into the good-natured banter mode. “Hell, no, Roger. I’m not gonna hit ya………..Can I sit down?”

“Of course,” he said, dryly.

“I’m sorry ‘bout what happened, Roger. Really, I am. I hope you’re not too banged up……….It was a childish thing, if ya ask me.”

“I don’t remember asking you………….And it’s your boyfriend who’s childish, not me.”

Gosh, he’s ill today, Sahndra thought. Julie hadn’t warned her about this. But then, he probably wasn’t treating her this way. “Earl Ray told me what went on between the two of you, Roger. The conversations, all the little stares…………What you said to him provoked him, don’tcha think?”

Roger raised his whole head now and peered at her with a kind of a frown on his face. “Provoked him to HIT me? What is this? West Side Story? Or maybe we’re ganstas or something, huh, Sahndra? Is that what you’re saying?”

She sighed. “C’mon, Roger. It’s over now. I’m sorry it happened.”

He snarled slightly. “It’s over for YOU. I still have a busted jaw.”

He’s being especially hard to get along with today, she thought. “I brought you some bread I made myself and some soup.” She set the brown bag on the coffee table in the middle of them.

“Thanks. How thoughtful of you…..but…….”

“But what, Roger?”

“Why do ya keep bringing me shit to eat when I………….live with a chef?”

Ouch. This stung Sahndra. And she knew he’d meant it to. Earl Ray wasn’t here to spare with, so she was catching the brunt of it from him.

“I’m trying to be nice, you prick. And you’re insisting on being your usual asshole self. Maybe worse than usual today.”

“Julie can take care of me, Sahndra. That’s all I’m trying to say. I don’t need shit from you.”

“You’re a real piece of work, Lococco. I still have no idea why she would WANT to even be bothered with you,” Sahndra said, hatefully.

He looked down, realizing probably, that he was being too cruel. “Sorry……….What kind of soup is it?”

She hesitated, and he looked back up at her. Those stormy eyes were enough to make her melt. “Vegetable. And it’s kinda spicy. I made the rye bread. It came out great.”

“Let me try a piece…………if ya don’t mind.” He was trying to warm up to her, she saw. Trying to make amends in his own chilly way.

Sahndra opened the bag and looked inside. “Oh, I almost forgot. You’ll need this to eat the soup with.” She handed him a red-striped bendable straw. And she smiled an evil smile.

He looked at the straw, then back at her. “When are ya gonna get your own HBO comedy special, biker chick?”

She laughed. “If you’re so busted up and in traction, Roger, like you been whining about since I got here, you oughtta be eating through a straw. Right?”

“Whatever. Just let me have some of the damn bread,” he said.

She snickered and broke off some of the bread for him. “Hey, Roger………Is this serious injury of yours affecting your………..sex life any?”

He glanced up, chewing. “Why do ya always gotta get into my sex life, Harley groupie?”

“Because from what I hear, you ain’t got much of one, you prick. So this jaw thing must have brought your bedroom activity to a grinding halt. No pun intended.” Sahndra laughed at herself.

Roger didn’t laugh. He looked over at Julie in the kitchen. She didn’t notice his attention. So he glared at Sahndra again. “The bread’s good, Sahndra. And as far as what I do in my bed goes, that’s none of your goddamn business.”

“Yeah, whatever, Roger. And tell me this………What man in his right mind goes out and buys his girlfriend pots and pans for a gift?”

He let his book fall to the floor. “THAT’S none of your goddamn business either, you bitch! Do ya come over here just to piss me off? Julie wanted pots and pans, so that’s what I got her. As long as she’s happy, I don’t give a fuck what you think!”

Sahndra saw that she’d riled him up again. And that wasn’t her intention. “Okay, okay, Roger. Settle down. You might hurt yourself more.”

“Kiss my ass,” he said.

“Gladly.”

The remainder of the banter session went along as usual while Julie watched and listened.

* * *

“Hey, beautiful……..Fancy meeting you here.” Julie whirled around in the open market to find her ex-husband behind her. He was casually smiling.

“Hi, Earl Ray. You’re looking pretty damn good yourself. What brings you to the market?”

“Gotta get groceries, just like you! I’m the cook at our house, ya know,” he said.

Julie smiled back at him. He wore dark jeans and a loose-fitting dark yellow button-down shirt. It was tucked in, and the sleeves were rolled up over his wrists. He looked very healthy and satisfied with the way life was treating him.

Unknown to Julie, he’d been very surprised that she hadn’t whirled around just then and thrown the tomato she was holding at him. As he’d expected her to do. It was four days after he’d punched Roger in the face at the very public bachelor party for Roy Dean. He knew she would be more than a little upset with him. She had been that night.

But she seemed calm and friendly today. “Yeah, I hear all about your kitchen wizardry.”

He blushed, even at this simplest of compliments. “I learned from the best. Remember?”

Julie laughed a small, polite laugh. “So………what are ya cooking tonight?” The basket he held was empty.

He was still a bit stunned that she hadn’t mentioned the fight between him and her boyfriend, the one that ended with her boyfriend bleeding and sore. “I dunno yet………Ya got time for a walk? I’d like to talk to ya.”

Julie stared at him for a moment. She had known that he’d want to clear the air between them. She understood that this was his opportunity to do just that. “Okay. I can come back here later and get what I need.” She put her almost empty basket down and walked out into the warm sunlight with Earl Ray.

“Guess you’re a little pissed at me for decking Roger,” he finally said after they got away from most other people. They were walking down the street.

“I was when it happened………probably as much as he was………But I’m over it now. We talked about it, and even he agrees that it was bound to happen eventually,” Julie said.

“Is he okay?”

Julie looked sideways at him. “Do you really care?” A tiny note of antagonism there.

“C’mon, Julie. Sure, I care…………What’s important to you will always be important to me.”

“He’s swollen and sore, but he’s fine.” Julie smiled to herself with the memory of Roger finally letting her give him little soft kisses on that damaged side of his mouth.

“I really didn’t mean to hurt him, sweetheart,” Earl Ray said quietly.

“Yes, you did, Earl Ray. You’d kill him if it was legal. You know it.” A little more antagonism.

He laughed almost silently. “Naw, Julie, I wouldn’t kill him………..’cause that would crush you. But it felt damn good to nail his ass just that once…………..Sorry, but it did.”

“Can you let go of all that hatred for him now? Can you get over it finally?”

Earl Ray hesitated for a moment. “I think so…………It’s just that…………he stole you, Julie………right out from under me………..while we were so happy………without any warning and not because of anything I did wrong……….while he was my friend……….and I’ve always thought he was low-life scum for doing that. Ya understand, baby?

Julie stopped and took his hand. No one was on the sidewalk near them. “Earl Ray, he did it with my encouragement, my help………No, you didn’t do anything wrong, and you didn’t deserve what happened……..but I had a big part in the whole thing too………I’m to blame equally.”

He looked up at her. “But I can’t blame you…………I’ve loved you for a million years………You were all my dreams come true……….and you do no wrong in my eyes, baby……….not even now.” He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it.

She let out a huge breath. “Well, then do this for me, Earl Ray……….Stop blaming and hating Roger. He knows it was wrong what we did……..He said himself that he woulda hit you too……… But that’s all in the distant past now……….I’ve got him now, and you’ve got Sahndra……..Try to forget about the pain and live for the future…….Please.”

Earl Ray looked a little sad, but he smiled anyway. “I guess I could do that, sweetheart………since you asked so nicely.”

“No more glaring showdowns, no more petty fights, no more sly, smartass comments, okay?”

He laughed again and looked down, tilting his head to one side. “I’ll try. That’s all I can promise……..But ya know……..I haven’t thought much about him this week……….Maybe that pounding I gave him DID release my anger at him.”

“God, I hope so. You two are driving me fucking crazy,” she said.

“But don’t expect me and Sahndra to come over for a barbecue anytime soon.” He smiled.

“And exactly where would we barbecue in the loft?”

“Aw, Roger could just blow-torch the shit. That’s about his style.” Another smile.

“All right, Earl Ray. Don’t start.”

He laughed almost silently again. “Just kidding, baby. I’ll leave him alone………Just for you…………..Everything’s gonna be just fine.”