Log in:
Username
Password
Keep me logged in (help)

Forgot username or password?

Create new login

You can change the width of the story text shown below:
Use how much percent of the screen width?

[ default ] [ 10% ] [ 20% ] [ 30% ] [ 40% ] [ 50% ] [ 60% ] [ 70% ] [ 80% ] [ 90% ] [ 100% ]

Options: Plain text or PDF (fanclub only!) version  |  Mark story  |  Mark author

Don't forget to vote for this story, in the yellow voting box below the story!

Chrissie Bentley has been interviewed! Click here to read interview.

"My wife's down in the Caribbean."

"Jamaica?"

"No, she left with that bastard fitness instructor I've been telling you about."

There was a shocked silence around the table. The jokes had been flowing all evening, and everybody wondered why Barry had not contributed. Now he had and, though most of us knew the punchline already ("Jamaica."... "did you make her? - it's a pun, dummy" was hissed in one corner), we were so relieved to hear him finally speak that we happily played along. Now we weren't quite so pleased that we had.

Sitting next to him, I was the first to respond. "When did it happen?"

"At the weekend. She came in from the gym, threw a few things in a bag and was out the door without a word. I saw him in the car outside. She called me from the airport."

"Do you think she means it?" This wasn't the first time Cassie had left Barry, after all; in fact, most people wondered why he kept letting her come back. This time, however, he seemed to have grown a backbone.

"Quite honestly, I don't care. Still, at least she's got the weather she deserves." He gestured at the television in one corner of the bar. Hurricane Alpha, the umpteenth major Caribbean storm of the summer, had spent all evening churning the island to debris, reducing long-awaited holidays to torturous nights in a hotel basement, and runaway wives... as he sank another beer, Barry didn't care what she'd been reduced to. So long as she was having as miserable a time of it as he was.

I placed my hand on his. "What you need..."

"What I need are the keys to a liquor store, a damned good divorce attorney and to change all the locks on the apartment."

"Well yes, but what I was going to say is, Steve and I are going up to the cabin tonight. And what you need is to get out of your place for a while. Why don't you come with?" I turned to Steve, a cousin who had transformed himself into one of my closest friends. Closest platonic friends. "There's room for one more, isn't there?"

"So long as you can find some place for him to sleep," Steve shrugged. He wrapped an arm around the blonde girl beside him. "It's not exactly the Four Seasons, you know."

Barry smiled. "Thanks, but..."

"Thanks, but you'd rather spend the weekend feeling sorry for yourself." I'd made up my mind and Barry knew me well enough to know there was no room for argument. "That's settled then," I continued. "We'll stop at your place on the way, you can grab a change of clothes and a toothbrush, and we'll be off." I drained my glass, then drained Barry's pint as well. "And you might want to use the bathroom. It's a long drive."

Three hours later, Barry and I sat silently on the couch in the darkened cabin, high up in the Pocono Mountains. From a room off to our left, we could hear the rhythmic creaking as Steve and the blonde ("I never did catch her name," I whispered. "Not sure if he did, either") got to know one another a little better. There was a loud groan; I giggled, and Barry, though he probably felt he should still be wallowing in his own private misery, couldn't help but smile alongside me. "Look, I haven't told you how grateful I am..."

"Don't worry about it. To be honest, as soon as Steve announced he was bringing Little Miss Blonde-In-A-Bottle with us, I was wondering who I could drag along to keep me company instead."

"I'm probably not exactly what you were looking for," Barry sighed. "But thanks anyway."

Click here to read the rest of this story (205 more lines)

Options: Plain text or PDF (fanclub only!) version for easy saving or printing

ESmail: Click here to send a private message to Chrissie Bentley (with ESmail, the site's internal message system)

Authors appreciate feedback! Please vote, and write to the authors to tell them what you liked or didn't like about the story!

Profile for Chrissie Bentley, incl. 69 stories Email: chrissiebentley@yahoo.com Add this author to your favorite author list Add this story to your favorite story list Send this story to me through email Recommend stories for further reading

Give your opinion about this story: select here 1 (terrible) 2 .. 3 .. 4 .. 5 (reasonable) 6 .. 7 .. 8 .. 9 .. 10 (excellent)

Send feedback to this author: Your name: Your message to Chrissie Bentley:     (You are not logged in, so you can't send private messages) Public: post this message in the public feedback below