Page 33 of The Bride
“Jake,” he said once he was standing a few feet away.
“You know why I’m here?”
“Yeah, did the little woman send you?” He started laughing at his own joke, which wasn’t actually funny.
“Look, I’m going to keep it simple. She’s had a rough time these last couple of months. Maybe you could lay off her.”
“I’m sorry did you say lay her?” He laughed again, and I didn’t want to hit him. He wasn’t man enough to hit. I wanted to slap him in the face like the bitch he was. “Isn’t that your job, dude? Tell us, what’s it like banging jail bait? Is she nice and fresh?”
I clenched my jaw and counted ten before I said anything. I was not going to rise to a kid’s taunt.
“Don’t talk to her. Don’t look at her. I hear anything else, we’ll have more than words, and I have a feeling your father would back me up on that.”
“Yeah, good luck finding my dad. If he’s not working he’s fucking some trash from Jefferson every weekend.”
That was a shame. For Mrs. MacPherson, and Bobby who was obviously impacted by it. It was not, however, my problem.
“Stay away from Ellie. Or I’ll know about it.”
I turned and started to walk away. I waited for whatever shot he was going to fire. I knew his type. Bobby MacPherson was the kind of kid who waited until your back was turned to feel brave.
“You know what, screw you. I wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot pole. No one around here wants used goods. Jake Talley’s sloppy seconds.”
I kept walking. There was no point in responding. No point in telling him I would no sooner touch or look at Ellie like that ever. It’s what he thought.
Think of the visual, Jake. You’re a strong attractive man, she’s growing into a beautiful young woman. You’ll be married, living together.
Janet had said it, but I hadn’t wanted to believe it at the time. I didn’t really believe people would think that about me. I wasn’t even entirely certain Bobby believed what he was saying.
Words were weapons. I got that. Insinuations could be as ugly as they wanted to be, but they weren’t based in fact.
I almost did it. I almost turned around and asked an obnoxious seventeen-year-old with a bad attitude if he really thought I would do something so… dishonorable. I didn’t, because then it would give him even more power. Knowing how much what he said hurt. I didn’t, because what if he did believe that of me?
What if I married Ellie thinking I could save her, but instead ruined her life because people thought she was the type of girl who could be seduced?
Riverbend was small. Ridiculously small. The options for both the men and women in this town were limited. Hell, it was probably why I had dated Janet as long as I did.
Ellie would have all the limitations I had, only she would have something else.
An ex-husband and possibly a reputation.
In all of things I had considered when making the decision to marry her, I never thought of that.
I should have thought of that.
Nine
Ellie
June
School endedwith pretty much a whimper. None of the guys hassled me anymore, which was cool. But they also didn’t talk to me either. Even the guys I was friendly with. I think I had officially gone from the girl most people liked, who most guys thought was pretty cool, to Weird Married Ellie.
The truth was, I probably got away with being Weird Married Ellie longer than most girls would have. This was because most people liked me and most guys thought I was cool. Had I been bitchy or nerdy, that transition no doubt would have happened much sooner.
Only three hundred and twenty-two days left of my marriage. Counting the days instead of the months made it seem like a much smaller frame of time.
Jake didn’t get it. He said the time would come when it came, and there was no use rushing it to get here. Which was such a cowboy thing to say.
