Going Home: A Marlee and Sharon Novella

An Un-welcome Home Party

Marlee stared out the window silently as Sharon drove through middle and south Georgia, gnawing her thumbnails to the quick. Sharon glanced over at her. "Babe?" she said rather timidly. Marlee managed a wan smile. She turned towards Sharon. "I'll be ok, sweetheart. This just sucks so much ass..." Marlee trailed off. " She brought out her phone and patched into the car's Bluetooth. The miles slowly disappeared, and after an hour and a half, she and Sharon were standing outside of the Shell station off of I-75, in Tifton Georgia. Marlee took out her cell phone and dialed her father's number. "Hey Dad. We're in Tifton. We should be...." Marlee balked at calling it home, "at the house soon. My girlfriend and I are getting something to eat first." Sharon, smacking her gum, looked around, looked at Marlee, grinned and wriggled her eyebrows at her. Marlee giggled and held up a finger. "Um, the Waffle House on 83, South side of the interstate, why?" She knitted her brows, concentrating. "Sure, if you really want to. Okay. About 20 minutes? Ok." She hung up without a goodbye and slid the phone into her jacket pocket. She glanced around quickly and back at Marlee. "Looks like you're about to meet my dad. Let's go get something to eat." Sharon grinned. "I'm guessing Waffle House?" Marlee nodded and pointed the way.

Marlee barely recognized Billy when he walked in. Somehow in  the intervening 3 years he had become smaller, less sure of himself. The Billy Quitmon who came through that Waffle House door was a broken man. Marlee stood and waved. He nodded and slowly made his way to their booth. Marlee motioned to the seat opposite her, and sat down next to Sharon. "Mar- uh- Marlee..." he began.  Billy Quitmon wasn't even in his fifties yet, Marlee mused silently, and looks like he's in his 70s. Being a lying piece of shit will do that to you, she thought bitterly. "I guess I owe you a better explanation than I gave you. " Sharon reached across the table, offering a handshake.  "Hi, I, uh... I'm Sharon,  Marlee's fiancée..." Billy smiled weakly and took her hand with little enthusiasm. He cocked his head to the side and his eyes unfocused momentarily. "You offered a better explanation?" Marlee prompted, curtly. "You look just like... " Marlee glared at him, "if the next words out of your mouth are 'your mother', I'm leaving," she growled through gritted teeth. Billy looked at her sadly. "No forgiveness. I get it. You've got that much of your granny in you." Sharon side eyed her again. She'd never seen Marlee like this. Billy sighed deeply. "Where do I start?" He held his hands out. Marlee glared at him icily. "The beginning is customarily the place to start." Sharon gaped at her. "Marlee Quitmon!" she scolded. "The man just lost his wife! Fuck babe, cut him just a tiny bit of slack." Marlee closed her eyes, put her head in her hands and ran them through her hair. The silence stretched out until it became awkward . Marlee finally breathed out heavily, "Ok, I'm sorry Billy. Go ahead." Billy stared at his glass of iced tea. A weak smile crossed his face. He nodded a couple of times, "fair enough." he muttered, and breathed deeply. "Um... the beginning... I guess that would have been about 30 years ago..." he trailed off. Marlee lifted her head to look at him, one eyebrow raised. She turned to Sharon and they both sat up slightly. "I met your ma when she moved to town thirty years ago. She was just ten years old. I was eleven, but the school system held me back so we had the same teachers. Back then, everyone in your class had the same classes together all day. Even back then I knew I liked boys, and she came from Atlanta so being gay didn't bother her much, she just thought of me as her gorlfriend with a dick" he chuckled at that and blushed "no offense intended, those were her words in 8th grade." Marlee drank her tea silently. Sharon kept shifting between watching Marlee and watching Billy, as though some invisible tennis match were going on. "Anyway... we became friends. I stayed the weekend with her, we went to the school dances together... not... you know, TOGETHER together..." Marlee was growing annoyed, "Okay, maybe not the BEGINNING, but the important shit, 'kay?" Sharon was aghast "MARLEE! That was just MEAN! Besides, I want to know..." Marlee glared at her icily. Sharon was treading on sacred ground right now and
she knew it. Marlee rubbed her temples. "Okay... okay... but how about we skip to the part about probate and not being married, then you can fill in the rest? We DO have to get back home as soon as we can..." her tone was even and measured, and Sharon recognized the unspoken message: 'I am being intentionally pleasant so you've already pissed me off'. Sharon smacked her gum..."fair enough," she agreed. Billy nodded, too. "Yeah, life doesn't stop just becuase somebody you loved dies." Marlee snorted. Billy straightend up, indignant, "What the hell was that about?" Marlee waved a hand, "Just... you're gay, it's not like you loved her, right?" Billy jutted his jaw. "I loved your mother as much as I could, and more so you. I never said I didn't love your mother, I just said we never fucked. Is that what you need to hear, Marlee? That I somehow overcame being gay to embrace a family as a middle class dad? No. I didn't. But I put it on the back burner for her, and for you, because you needed me to and I loved you. I'm sorry if that's some huge disappointment in that... matryr complex you call a personality!" Sharon looked around. The rest of the Waffle House was staring at them. Marlee began to blush and her eyes welled with tears. Sharon hugged and rocked her. She looked at Billy, "Can you lead the way to your house? I'll follow you. I think we need to finish this in private."