Chapter Nineteen
Blake’s legs bounced nervously beneath Sally’s kitchen table. The house was thick with the scent of bouquets, which covered the top of every inch of counter space in the kitchen.
Sally set a cup of coffee in front of Blake and sat down across from him. She clasped her hands around her cup and looked into the dark liquid. “Thanks for coming over,” she said.
“Sure, whatever you need. I’m happy to help, but I think before you tell me whatever it is you need to tell me, I need to talk to you about Rusty.” He’d wrestled with how to tell Sally about Rusty’s excursion all night and finally decided that the truth was the only appropriate path and that not telling her could only lead to a tangled web later.
Sally lifted her eyes. “I’m sure that whatever it is, I already know.” She looked back down into the steaming coffee.
“Sally, when I took Rusty to basketball practice the other night, he…well, he didn’t really go to practice. I know I should have said something, but with all that you’re going through—”
“I know,” she said in a flat tone.
“You know?”
She looked up with tear-filled eyes. “That’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about. Surely you knew about our problems—mine and Dave’s?”
Shit. The last thing Blake felt prepared to handle was their marital issues. “I don’t get it. As far as I knew, you and Dave were the happiest couple around. He was always carrying on about your family movie nights, Rusty’s basketball practice. Hell, getting him to spend any time away from you was like climbing Mount Everest.”
A tear slipped down Sally’s cheek. She shook her head. “Family movie night? We did that once, like date night. Dave was anything but happy, Blake.” She looked down again. “Wow. I really thought you knew.”
“No,” he said thoughtfully. “Why are you telling me all of this?”
“I’m telling you for Rusty. I know he quit basketball; the coach called me two months ago.” She swallowed hard. “But that’s also about the time that I realized Dave was really having an affair.” She wiped a tear. “Before that, I just thought, I don’t know, that something was going on, but I didn’t really know what.”
“I just can’t believe that, Sally. I mean, Dave gave me a hard time for slee—dating so many women all the time.” Did he? Or did he only egg me on? Blake couldn’t be sure anymore. “He adored you and Rusty. He said he went to every basketball practice.” Blake ran his hand through his hair and let out a long sigh. “I just don’t understand this. I feel like I’m being Punk’d or something.”
“I wish you were. Dave was really good at covering his tracks. For the first few weeks, he claimed to be leaving work late, going skiing with you at night.”
“Me? He and I hadn’t gone skiing for ages before…the accident.” Blake took a sip of his coffee and lowered his face to his hands, trying to figure out what was going on. Could he have been that blind to Dave’s charades? He lifted his head, anger bubbling into pain in his gut. Danica’s words came rushing back to him. This isn’t about you. It’s about Sally and Rusty. He remembered Kaylie’s advice of empathy. “I’m sorry that you two were having trouble,” he said with compassion. “I still don’t understand why you're telling me all of this now. I mean, Dave’s gone. There’s nothing I can do.”
She leaned her elbows on the table and then crossed her arms over her chest. Blake watched her open her mouth, then close it again, struggling to find the right words. He had an urge to hold her in his arms and tell her everything would be all right, but how could he do that when everything was not all right?
“This is embarrassing. The whole awful situation is just…humiliating. I never told my family about it. I didn’t know how. I was afraid about what it said about me as a wife.” Tears streamed freely down her cheeks. “Rusty is falling apart at the seams, and I just don’t know what to do.”
Blake was still reeling, trying to get his arms around Dave having an affair. “Does Rusty know?” That would explain his comments.
“I don’t think so. At least, he’s never said as much. But being a teenager is hard, and he’s acting out in so many ways. When he came home the other night, the night you drove him to his supposed practice, that was the first time he seemed normal in forever. He’s so angry all the time, and whatever went on between you two, well, it seemed to help.”
“But I caught him. I’m not a parent, and I am really confused by all of this.” Blake ran though his memories of his night with Rusty. He had been so gruff with Blake, so who-gives-a-shit, that what she said made no sense to him.
“I should have warned you about his practice.” She made air quotes when she said the word practice. “But I was in no shape to deal with anything, and he needed the outlet. He doesn’t know that I know he’s off the team, and I just couldn’t sit here with his cursing and stomping around.” Anger lifted her voice. “It was selfish of me, and I’m sorry. I just needed a break.” With that, her entire body seemed to collapse. She covered her face with her hands, and her shoulders shook with sobs. She looked like a small child trying to hide from big-world problems. And this one was massive.
“Hey, hey,” Blake said softly. “I didn’t mind. I’m happy to take Rusty to his…friends, or whatever you need. You weren’t being selfish. Really, it’s fine.” He really needed to talk to Danica. She would know what to do.
“It’s just…” Her voice hitched. “Rusty needs a man in his life, not a man who’s with me, not a replacement for his father, just someone who gets it, you know? Dave didn’t have time for him, and it’s unfair to ask it of you, but I’m afraid to ask this of anyone else. Just forget it. I should never have said anything.”
Blake was so shocked by the entire situation that he didn’t know what else to say.
“She was there, you know, the woman he had an affair with. I saw her in the back of the funeral home.”
Blake thought of the woman in the church and began putting two and two together.
“I wanted to yell at her for showing up, but I saw her sitting there alone, crying, and all I could think was how Dave had screwed her over, too.” She wiped her eyes.
“Sally,” Blake began, but then realized he had no idea what to say. Dave was his friend and business partner, even if he was screwing around. What did friends and business partners say in these circumstances?
“Listen, it is what it is, right? I get it, and believe it or not, I still love the man. And the woman, well, how can I really blame her? Maybe she didn’t know he was married, or maybe she did. I don’t know. She fell in love with him, I’m sure, for all the same reasons I did. It just sucks.”
“I feel like such a fool. I should have known, seen something.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. He was too good at covering up. But none of that really matters anymore. Right now, he’s gone and Rusty is left without a man to turn to.”
“Have you thought about a therapist? I mean, I’m not really qualified to step in; you know what I mean?”
“You’re a man,” Sally said lightly. “You’ve been a teenage boy, and besides, he won’t go to a therapist. I’ve been playing that angle for the last two months.”
“Sally, there’s stuff about me that you probably don’t know.” Blake stood and paced, while Sally remained seated, wiping her eyes, gathering her wits about her like she was redefining a shield.
She sat up straighter, tucked one leg under the other, and cleared her throat.
“Dave probably didn’t let you in on much of my life, but I’m a…serial dater, I guess you’d say.”
“You’re a player; anyone who knows you, knows that,” she said like she was stating yesterday’s news.
“Yeah, okay, you could put it that way.” He hesitated. “Everyone knows that? Really?”
“Blake, it’s not like you hide it in any way. I’ve known you for a few years now and you’ve never said the same woman’s name twice, so yeah, it’s pretty obvious. But it doesn’t really matter. I mean, I’m not looking for someone to teach Rusty about dating and women, just to be there for him to vent to.” She sighed. “Like I said, never mind. It’s really not something I should have expected you or anyone else to do.”
Blake thought about Rusty. Would he do more harm than good spending time with the kid? Could he turn his back on Dave’s son? What would Dave want him to do? Goddamnit, Dave. He took a long, hard look at Sally and realized the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her in any way. Sally was broken, the woman in the church was broken, and Dave had done the damage. Blake turned his back to Sally, realizing that what he did with women probably caused similar pain. He’d heard it too many times to count—Why didn’t you call me back? You make me feel like a piece of meat. You used me.
He turned back to Sally. “If you can overlook what I’ve done in my life and the things I haven’t done—like the right thing. Ever. Then yes, I will help you in whatever way you need with Rusty, and I’ll do my best not to have him turn out like me.”