By Rachel Torrent

Scottie looked across the table at Sahndra. She was eating gnocchi and staring down at her plate. He knew he was in a bad mood. He could feel ill humor bubbling inside him.

He’d been trying all afternoon to conceal it from his wife. It wasn’t her fault that nothing seemed to satisfy him and that everything felt wrong. He’d be leaving the next day for Austin. Some big business tycoon wanted his rival offed, and Scottie had been his hired gun of choice. Maybe, he thought, I can control my raging psyche until then.

Sahndra looked up at him. “What is it, honey?”

“Nothing. Just checking you out.” He winked at her.

“Come on, Scottie. What’s up?”

“You’re cute when you eat. You must know that.” He tried to use his sexiest bedroom voice.

She laughed and went back to eating. “Okay, sweetheart. Whatever you say. But you act like you’ve got something on your mind.”

“Only you, my little chickadee. Only you.” He smiled at her now when she looked back across the table at him.

“Can we do lunch tomorrow before you head out to Texas? Isn’t that where you’re going?”

“Yeah, Austin. Sure. Lunch is fine,” Scottie answered her half-heartedly. Now he was looking down at his gnocchi. He’d already gone to another place in another zone in his mind.

Sahndra, who hadn’t noticed his distractedness, continued the dinner conversation. “Julie wants us to come over to their place for dinner when you get back. Wednesday maybe.”

Without looking up, he said, “Really. When have you seen her? Are they, uh, okay now?” He sounded like he wasn’t concerned. Just making civil conversation.

“Yeah, they’re as good as new. Earl Ray made it all up to her. I had lunch with her yesterday. She looked so……..satiated, I guess, after her four-day weekend in the mountains.”

“Like I’m sure they saw any mountains. So where’d you guys eat?” Scottie had a bored sound to his voice that Sahndra noticed now. He was still staring down at his plate.

“Down at The Snake Pit. Julie wanted something different.”

Scottie stopped pushing food around on his plate and raised his eyes to her. “The Snake Pit?”

Sahndra sensed the first signs of danger. Maybe I should have said “Waffle House,” she thought.

“Yeah. Julie gets tired of eating her own cooking and wants a change once in awhile,” she said, trying to sound jovial and normal.

He twirled his fork in the air and stared at her for a moment. Then he said, “So………was your handsome stud boy there for you to gawk at?”

“Scottie, c’mon. If you’re talking about Roger, then no, he wasn’t. Why does it always have to be about him anyway? He means nothing to me.” Sahndra saw the storm blowing up in Scottie’s eyes. She didn’t know it was a storm that had already been forecast even before Roger Lococco was mentioned.

“You could’ve gone somewhere else, right?” He scowled.

“We just had lunch! No big deal!” She sensed his ill mood in full force now.

Scottie looked down again. He knew he could let his temper get out of control with this tiny catalyst, or he could leave. He wasn’t in the mood for an argument. So he stood up. “I’m done here.” He started to walk away from the table.

Sahndra couldn’t tell if he meant that he was done with dinner or done with the conversation. “Scottie! Roger wasn’t even there!”

He stopped. “Okay. So he wasn’t. I don’t even care about that bastard right now. I just wanna be somewhere else.”

“Where are you going?”

He slowly turned around and glared at her. “Don’t worry about it.” Then he grabbed his jacket from the coat rack in the hallway and left out the front door.

Since it hadn’t been an actual fight, Sahndra didn’t worry about Scottie’s whereabouts that evening. He’d gone out without her before. Sometimes in a huff. Sometimes not. Maybe he just needed to be alone. He spent lots of time alone on the road. And sometimes he needed time alone when he was home too. After years of living with him, she knew that.

But when he wasn’t back by midnight, she started to worry. She called Renaissance and didn’t find him there. She knew better than to inquire at The Snake Pit. Very worried but not knowing what else to do, she went to bed and waited.

Scottie came home a couple of hours later, and she pretended to be asleep. From his clumsy sounds, she knew he was drunk. And she smelled alcohol on him when he fell into bed beside her. He was quietly snoring within minutes. She rolled over and watched him for a few minutes. Then she kissed him on his open mouth and laid back down to sleep herself.

The next morning, Sahndra had to get up and out the door before Scottie woke up. She had to meet Carli down at Town Hall for some publicity business. Scottie was lying on his stomach with no clothes on. Sound asleep. She kissed him on the cheek and covered him up. She left him a note on the bar saying she’d be home around noon for their lunch date.

She returned promptly at noon to find the Porsche gone from the driveway. Inside the house, her note had been thrown in the garbage, but no note from Scottie replaced it. She searched everywhere. No note. So she tried to page him and got no answer after a half hour. Nor did he answer the cell phone in the car.

In the bedroom, she discovered that he’d packed his overnight bag and taken it with him. So he wasn’t planning to come back here before he went to the airport. Was he angry? Had he been angry the night before? Was he planning to say good-bye to her before he left for his trip? She had no idea. Just when she thought he was becoming somewhat predictable, he pulled something like this.

At one o’clock, she called Julie at Renaissance to see if maybe he was waiting for her there. At the bar. She still had hope. Julie told her that Earl Ray had mentioned earlier something about Scottie being at the shooting range with him. So Sahndra got in her car and drove to the range. The Porsche was parked out front. She was quickly building up some anger and didn’t take time to calm down.

She found Earl Ray inside. He saw on her face that she wasn’t there for some target practice.

“Hey, sweetie! What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” He tried to sound friendly. He tried to distract her.

“Hi, Earl Ray. Seen that husband of mine?”

“Oh, he’s here. I know you saw the car outside. But check this out.” He pulled a small cross-bow from behind the counter.

She ignored the crossbow. “Point me to him, please.” She was not hiding her feelings well.

“Sahndra……”

She glared at him. “What?”

“Stay here with me. Please. I’m trying to help you.”

“What’s going on, Earl Ray?”

“I don’t really know. I didn’t ask him any questions. He came in and asked for a booth like a regular customer. He’s……..uh…….He said he’s giving a lesson.”

She didn’t get it. “He’s what?”

“Look. I only saw him for a second. And he hasn’t been here long. Hey, let’s go get some lunch. I’ll find Bart. He can watch the place.”

“Earl Ray, where is Scottie?”

He saw she wouldn’t be swayed. “Three booths down on the left. But don’t go.”

Sahndra went down the hall anyway. She didn’t know what to expect. But what she saw was worse than anything she might have imagined.

Scottie was in the booth in very close proximity with a young woman. All Sahndra could see was that she had long, dark brown hair. He was practically wrapped around her, supposedly teaching her how to aim the gun. He was too close for Sahndra’s tastes. She opened the door of the booth and hit him on the shoulder.

Startled, he let go of the mysterious girl and turned around. When he saw his wife, he raised his eyebrows slightly and almost smiled. Then he grabbed her upper arm and led her out of the booth over to where things were quieter. His pupil stayed put.

Sahndra was fit to be tied. He was acting irrationally, and she had no idea why. “Who the fuck is that? Is she what you stood me up for?” She yelled at him.

He let go of her arm and smiled. “Calm down, baby. Whadaya mean stood you up?”

It infuriated her that he didn’t remember their lunch plans. Or that he was pretending not to remember it. “We were supposed to have lunch today before you went out of town. But I see you had other things to do!” She hadn’t calmed down any.

He laughed. “I’m just giving a lesson, sweetest.”

His charm didn’t work this time. Sahndra glared at him. “Who is she, Scottie?”

“Just a friend.”

“Just a friend? I find you in that booth all over this bitch when you’re supposed to be having lunch with me, YOUR WIFE, and you tell me she’s just a friend?”

He smiled again, not upset at all that he was being screamed at. “She’s someone I met last night at your favorite place, your beloved Snake Pit. I had to see what was so damn great about the place. And she was there. She wanted to learn to shoot from the best. That would be me, of course.”

Sahndra felt nauseous. He’d picked up this woman in a bar. The man she’d agreed to spend the rest of her life with. She certainly hadn’t been prepared for that. She felt weak in the knees.

“Did you fuck her?”

“Not yet.” He winked at her.

Before she thought twice about it or anything else, Sahndra slapped him across his cheek. “You bastard. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

He said nothing. Just stared at her. She turned around and stormed out of the building. But she wouldn’t remember doing so later. Her blind rage had become blinding pain.

Earl Ray was waiting for her at her car. As she rushed up to it, he said, “Sorry, sweetie. I tried to keep you from it.”

Sahndra threw herself on him, and he hugged her comfortingly. She sobbed onto his shoulder. “Why’s he doing this to me, Earl Ray?”

“Aw, he’s not doing anything. He’s just bullshitting. You know Scottie better’n that.”

“But we didn’t even have a fight. And he went to Roger’s bar and picked up somebody else.” She still couldn’t let herself imagine the situation fully. Scottie cheating was something she’d never had to deal with before.

“No, you got it wrong. I was there last night when he came in. He sat at the bar by himself like he usually does. I tried to get him to shoot some pool with me and Jack, but he just wanted to drink. Then this girl approached him after about an hour. He was pretty loaded by then. I left shortly after that.”

Sahndra pulled away from him. “But he’s still with her now.” She had stopped crying.

“Sahndra, honey, sometimes a guy will do something like that just to see if he still can. It ain’t nothing against you. It’s a pride thing. An age thing.”

“You don’t do it,” she said to him.

He smiled at her. “But I might. I’m not perfect. Let him go on his trip. He’ll be okay when he gets back.”

“But I don’t think I can trust him now.”

“Aw, you can trust him. He won’t touch that girl.”

“I’m glad one of us can be so sure, Earl Ray. Oh, look. I got your shirt all wet.” She brushed at the spot she’d made on him.

He looked down and then back at her. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s go make Julie cook us something good to eat. C’mon.”

He wouldn’t let her drive in her state of mind. So they left her car, and he drove her over to Renaissance. The lunch crowd had gone, and they sat at the big bar and ate lunch with the chef, Earl Ray’s wife. Sahndra had two glasses of wine with her meal as she told Julie the whole ugly story.

“Why didn’t you do something?” Julie asked her husband.

“What in the hell was I supposed to do? He’s a grown man. I can’t control him. He comes in the range with a strange woman, and I ask him where Sahndra is. He says she’s working. And then he’s gone. What should I do then? Tackle him?”

Julie rolled her eyes at him. Then she saw something walking up to the bar that made her whole face light up. “Jack! No one told me you were here!” She stood up to hug him.

Earl Ray snidely said to Sahndra, “Great. Her new favorite customer.”

Sahndra, however, was as happy to see Jack French as Julie had been. She turned around to look at him better, and he hugged her too. She instantly felt better than she had all day. Jack didn’t know it, but he was balm to her soul.

Jack told his lunch party that he’d catch up with them back at the office and then stood there at the bar and chatted with the other three. He looked his best, as usual. Pale gray pleated pants, white starched dress shirt with sleeves slightly rolled up, suspenders that fit perfectly, and loafers. Hundreds and hundreds of dollars. He looked sensational.

They discussed Jack’s job, the shooting range, and a little bit of everything. No one mentioned Scottie. Sahndra was glad. She didn’t want to think about him right now. Not at all. Jack had all her attention. She was willing to give him more than attention. He was especially flirty with her today. She was sure he knew about her current troubles.

After a while, Earl Ray said he had to get back to the range, and Julie was ready to go home. Jack looked inquiringly at Sahndra who had not indicated where she was going from there.

“I’ll take you home, Sahndra. You don’t need to drive,” Julie told her. “I’m leaving soon anyway.” She kissed Earl Ray, and he left.

Jack put his hand on Sahndra’s back. “Oh, allow me. I’d love to drive you home,” he exclaimed.

I’d love you to drive it home IN me, Sahndra thought to herself.

“If you really don’t mind, that would be nice, Jack,” she told him.

“Cool. Let’s go.”

Jack kept his hand on her back as she grabbed her purse and they walked to the door. He opened the passenger door of his Range Rover for her and helped her in. As she swung her legs into the vehicle, he ran his hand up the back of her calf without looking at her. She felt a reaction to his touch in her loins.

“Wanna drive around for a while or ya wanna go straight home? You seem like you need cheering up some.” He looked over at her when he was behind the wheel.

“Whatever you want, Jack. I got nowhere to be.”

“Scottie’s out of town?”

“I don’t wanna talk about Scottie,” she said, closing the subject.

He took the hint and drove through town to the outskirts without saying anything else. Sahndra looked out the window some, but mostly she watched Jack. Stunning profile. And he smelled so damn good too. She didn’t know if it was the wine or her attempts to forget the pain from Scottie, but Jack was overwhelmingly desirable to her right then. She wanted him. And if this whole situation of being here with him like this was unusual, she didn’t notice. She had urges she didn’t feel like controlling.

He must have sensed it too. Or maybe this was all completely natural for him. He parked the Range Rover off a little road in some trees. He left the music on the radio. Then he loosened his tie and took it off as he turned to her.

“So……….feeling any better?” His voice had a bedroom quality she’d never heard before. And she felt her body responding to it. Her nipples were hard, and she knew she was getting wet between her legs.

She licked her lips while he watched her. They were both seducing each other. “Much better. Thanks, Jack.”

He smiled, and his eyes twinkled. Sahndra’s mouth watered. She wanted to touch him. She wanted to feel him touch her. She had a suspicion that he had a hard-on.

He looked her over with those twinkling eyes. “Would you mind if I……….kissed you? I mean, you look like you could use one.”

She sucked in her breath. Scottie was far from her mind. “I don’t guess it would hurt anything.”

“Oh, I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

And he slowly leaned over and put his warm mouth on hers. She responded immediately and kissed him back. Their tongues met, and they briefly explored each other’s mouths. Sahndra’s body was on fire, and she couldn’t stop herself from touching his hair and face. He felt wonderful.

“Oh, Jack,” she groaned as he slipped his fingers under the elastic of her panties and touched her.

“God, you’re so wet,” he whispered.

“Jack, don’t do this. I can’t…….” Sahndra felt too guilty to go on. Even though, she thought, Scottie probably had done something equally as bad.

He stopped but didn’t retreat. “Stop? Are you kidding? After getting me this far?”

Sahndra sat up, away from his hand. “I’m sorry for teasing you, Jack.. But I just gotta stop. Please……..”

They didn’t say much after that. They both adjusted their clothing and caught their breath. Jack said, “We should go, I guess.”

“It was fun, Jack. But I can’t--”

“I was sure you’d say that. Whatever the lady wants,” Jack answered her. Then he started up the Range Rover and drove Sahndra home. He didn’t make a move to kiss her when she got out, but he did put his hand on he leg for a second and smiled at her.

Sahndra went inside and laid down on her bed. For an hour, she thought about the whole afternoon. About Scottie and the girl she’d seen him with. And how much that had hurt her. And it had hurt her. She probably didn’t even know how severely yet. About Jack and how much she’d wanted him. Cheating? Probably. But it had certainly eased the pain. The guilt was still hanging around, and she was trying to deal with it.

When she came home from another meeting with Carli the next day, Scottie’s car was in the driveway. He was home. And waiting in the living room for her.

“I didn’t call you last night ‘cause I wanted to talk to you in person,” he said in a low voice.

“What do ya want to do, Scottie? Ask me for a divorce? What’s her name anyway?”

“Don’t, Sahndra. This is hard enough for me as it is.”

She laughed. “Hard for YOU? How is that?”

“I’m not having an easy time dealing with my mother’s illness.”

Sahndra sat down but still smirked at him. “Don’t give me that stressed-out bullshit, Scottie. If you want somebody else, just say so. I can take it.”

“I don’t want anybody else. And I didn’t fuck that girl either.”

“But you had some kind of relations with her, didn’t you?”

“We slow-danced. I kissed her. It was nothing. I hardly remember it.”

“Why, Scottie? What had I done to make you mad?”

“Nothing. And there was no reason. It just happened.”

She felt hurt all over again. She couldn’t get the image of him with someone else out of her mind. She didn’t know what to say. “Whatever, Scottie.”

“I’m sorry. Do you hate me?”

“I don’t know. I mean no. I need some time to myself. I need to think.”

“Well, that’s another thing. I gotta go to Amsterdam for a week. Big job.”

She was floored. He was leaving again. “Is SHE going with you?”

He sighed. “No, Sahndra. She’s not. She meant nothing. Please believe me.”

“I think some time apart from each other will do us both good.”

He was exasperated. “That’s not the answer I wanted to hear.”

“Well, I didn’t create this mess. And now I don’t know how to handle it.”

He looked at her with pleading eyes. “Come with me.”

“Absolutely not. What are you? Crazy?”

“Will you at least be here when I get back?”

“I’ll be here, Scottie.”

“And we can talk?”

“Yeah. We’ll talk. When do you leave?”

“Now.”

She looked around the room and saw his big suitcases. Then she got tears in her eyes as he stood up. He held out his arms to her, and she went to him. They held each other for a full two minutes.

“I love you, Sahndra.”

“I love you too, Scottie. But maybe things are different now.”

“I just want them to be like they used to be.”

“We’ll have to see, honey.”

“I’ll call you when I get there.”