A Day in The Life
~ * ~
Wednesday, April 1, 2026. Maplewood, New Jersey.
-- 5:27 am
A few minutes before the alarm, Jack was up. He kept quiet, got his clothes and went downstairs to get dressed. Let Ruby sleep.
He put the coffee pot on. Filter, four scoops.
While it ran he got dressed in the dim kitchen, warm light coming off the strip on the wall over the counter. He brushed his teeth at the kitchen sink, wiped the rim.
He filled the travel mug to an inch down, capped it, tested the seal against his palm. Bag by the door. Keys off the hook. Phone off the charger, still warm.
About twenty minutes, the drive to work. Arriving, he looked up at the sign: Dauwalter Excavation. He'd been doing it most mornings for years, a sort of ritual. The pride wasn't as loud anymore, but it still felt right, so he still did it.
Dauwalter Excavation sat behind chain-link on not quite an acre of Vauxhall. Gravel yard, rolling gate. The shop was a low cinderblock building with two high bays and a small office built into one corner, just big enough for two desks, a bathroom and a little corner counter, microwave and a pot of coffee there.
Outside sat whatever wasn't already on a job: two dump trucks, two minis, a larger excavator, a track loader, pickups, trailers and rows of buckets and attachments along the fence. Almost nothing was new. Most of it had been paid off for years. All of it worked.
Jack got the lights on, put on the coffee machine. Pretty awake by this point. Quick warmup, then pushups and pullups in the back before anyone got in.
After the workout Jack checked off the "exercise" todo item on his phone. Then he checked the board, weather, overnight messages, where the crews were headed, which machines were already where, deliveries and inspections, anything waiting on a markout or somebody else's answer. Then his notebook. Crossed off yesterday, carried forward what hadn't gotten done, marked the calls for later, circled whatever could hold up a crew.
Second coffee at his desk. Pulling up the phone then. The idea ambushed him again. He didn't do it this time. He wanted to. Pull up Mia's Instagram and just have a quick look. But instead he put his phone away.
The yard started waking up too by then. Crews started rolling in and off to sites around six thirty, seven. Everyone getting geared up, getting their day's orders if they don't have them.
Louis came into the office. "Señor bossman, sir." Took his mug down from the shelf and filled it.
"Big L!"
"Thanks for the coffee."
“Sure.” Jack sat back, fingers locked behind his head. “You sending a pump to Millburn?”
“Manny’s loading it now.”
“Gas re-mark?”
“Ticket’s in. Supposed to be there this morning.”
Louis had worked for Jack for almost thirteen years now; he was his general foreman. And, he figured, right-hand man was a good name for him too. Louis Leonard, a couple years older than Jack, and a family man. His family being his son, Ben, and his ex-wife Sharon. Jack thought of Louis as a family man because he cared about his son and wasn't much of a drinker. This line of work, the bar for wholesome was low.
"Your kid call about that apprenticeship?"
Louis drank his coffee, long and slow, sending a look at Jack.
Jack pulled his mouth sideways.
“I love the kid, but, boy, Jesus!” Louis shook his head. “There's a word I can't use anymore and I really want to.”
"Straight to HR." Jack pointed at the toilet door.
Jack didn't envy Louis on that but he wasn't going to say anything.
Jack had a lot of trouble with what he privately thought of as 'pussy behavior', but he tried his best to keep that to himself. Other people's kids were not his business. All Jack knew was that he was lucky to have gotten sick of himself early enough to cut that shit out before it ruined his life and that with Beth he didn't have to worry about it.
~ * ~
-- 9:13 am
Mia smiled and yawned. Not something she usually did waking up - smile. She had no alarms, no school, last days of Spring Break. She stretched, still on her stomach.
The phone said 9:15, unimportant parts of the digits obscured by Roscoe's face on the rotating screensaver. Roscoe's mouth open, panting, looking like he's smiling.
She rolled over to her back and opened socials. She had practice from noon till five, nothing before then. She felt so rested, a rare thing. She usually had to power through to get up in the morning.
She checked her messages, story replies. A bunch of boys. Fire emoji, "where u at", "spring break plans?", "holy shit mia", "you busy tonight?" and so on. Nothing from Beth. She messaged her: "Coffee?" Not expecting an immediate reply.
Mia didn't know who was home. Correction. She didn't know if her mom was home. Her dad would be at work. Joan could be anywhere, anytime, anyone.
As a quick test she turned on the Bluetooth speaker, put on Doechii. Looking at the ceiling then. N-words and dicks and purple cunts and sucking tits and hoes. Loud.
No protest.
"Beauty sleep and home alone? Come aaaaawn!" Mia danced out of the bed, crop top, undies, no bra.
Downstairs, speaker travelling with her, she got the coffee machine going then back upstairs to brush her teeth. She needed cold water on her face, close to first thing in the morning. Summer, winter, didn't matter. Something about it. She thought of her head as a sizzling hot rock that turned light, fresh and happy when cooled properly. She even wetted her hair up a little.
Coffee ready, she switched Doechii to Fred Again, turned it down to private, polite levels and went out into the back yard. No wind, sun out. Still chilly. Wrapped up in a robe, she sat back in the lawn chair and enjoyed the sun on her face.
She felt more hopeful than she had in a long time. End of high school. The beginning of the rest of her life. She had no idea what was coming. Would she end up going to Fairleigh? Would she give up the gymnastics scholarship and go work on an oil rig? Would she get hit by a bus, cash in on the civil suit, meet a rich lord at the Louvre while on vacation? Would it be Vampire Diaries or Gossip Girl or Mare of Easttown?
The phone pinged. Beth. "can't. work. love u!"
Mia sighed, and smiled up at the sun.
~ * ~
The mini was still sitting when Jack pulled up at the Millburn site. Manny stood beside it with one boot on the track, arms folded.
"Locators came," Manny said.
"Great."
"Marked the wrong fucking side."
The white box for the dig ran along the east side of the house. Jack saw now that the paint ran along the west.
"Impressive."
"Want me to call?"
"I'll do it. Get the pump staged. Bucket off the ground, though, alright?"
One of the younger guys looked from the meter to the paint. "We could hand it. It's an hour, maybe?"
"Hand what?"
The kid pointed. "Service should run straight off the meter."
"We could also be picking up pieces of you all over the neighborhood. The neighbor's Rottweiler using a charred chunk of your torso as a fleshlight." Jack pulled his phone out. "Go move stone, Chucky, fuck."
The kid went. Jack and Manny looked at each other, chuckling.
"At least he's not lazy."
Jack called in the bad mark with the ticket number open in his notebook. While on hold, he walked the site with Manny. They could stage the pump and hose, move the stone closer, check the elevations again and get the spoil area cleared. Not the day they had planned, but not a complete waste either.
The homeowner came out before Jack finished the call. Dress shirt, coffee cup, his face worried.
"We're not digging?"
Jack loved it when the soft-handed clients came out the house. He'd seen a thousand of them over the years. Always with the 'we' shit. Jack wanting to ask them who's this 'we' you're talking about, babygirl?
"Not until the gas is marked where we're working."
"But they were here, no?"
"They marked the other side of your house."
The man looked over. "So what happens now?"
"I get them back. My guys prep everything we can prep. The second the mark is right, we dig."
"Today?"
"If they get here today. Can't promise what they'll do. Or when."
The homeowner nodded, counting his teeth with his tongue, looked like.
By ten, they'd done all they could. Jack sent two men to help on the Union job instead of paying them to watch literal paint dry. Then he called the supplier, moved tomorrow's delivery window and answered messages from the office while holding a coupling steady as Manny wrestled the dewatering hose into place.
At twelve thirty he dug out the sandwich from his bag. Ruby had wrapped it for him the night before. He put it on the hood of his truck, unwrapped it. He was leaning over the hood and the thought of bending Mia over the... Oh, for Christ's sake, man - he thought to himself. Literally squeezing his eyes shut, turning his head. What the hell's the matter with him?
Jack laughed at himself.
He took a bite from the sandwich finally, but when he saw the locator's van turn onto the street, he put it back on the hood, heading off to meet the guy.
A few steps in he turned back, wrapped the sandwich and put it back in the bag.
~ * ~
Mia stuffed her hoodie into the locker.
“You nervous for Regionals?” Sandra asked.
“I just did States.”
A younger girl, Natasha, a few lockers down, had been listening to Mia and Sandra talk. She was new to the level, eager.
"Was States crazy?" she asked. "I heard vault was stacked this year."
"It was alright," Mia said. "It's mostly just sitting around in a leo being cold, honestly."
The girl laughed and nodded. "I want to make it so bad next year."
Mia felt pressure to say the right thing. She could have said what you're supposed to say. Keep grinding, it's worth it, hard work pays off. But she didn't want to lie. Not that those things weren't true. Just not that simple.
"You'll get there," Mia said.
The girl beamed and went back to her bag.
Mia pulled her grips on.
The chalk, the tape, the ten minutes before her body caught on and warmed up.
The first giant felt stiff. On the second she hit the tap right at the bottom and came back up into handstand clean. No muscling it, no correction. Just swing.
Shit, she still liked that.
Mia just wasn't at all sure why any of this had to be a competition.
~ * ~
Two hours later.
Mia landed the pass low and crooked, one foot stepping out hard to save it. She turned immediately toward the corner.
“No,” Coach said.
“Let me go again.”
“You've tried it enough. Leave it.”
Mia opened her mouth.
Coach pointed away from the floor. “You're tired. We're done with that for the day.”
Mia stared at the corner another second. Then she turned her back on it and went for her bottle.
“Fine.”
Natasha, waiting her turn at the edge of the floor, looked at her. “You'd just leave it like that?”
“Yeah.”
“Wouldn't that drive you crazy?”
“Little bit.” Still breathing hard, Mia squeezed the water from her bottle, swallowed, exhaled. “Better than doing a shitty version of it ten more times until I have to unlearn it.”
~ * ~
Three hours later.
Lena, a year older, home from college for the week, was changing beside Mia while Sandra kept talking about Regionals.
“They put me on Thursday afternoon,” Sandra said.
“Better than Friday,” Lena said. “Traffic was horrible last year.”
Mia looked over.
Lena was standing there topless, unbothered - of course - digging through her bag.
Mia looked away.
She told herself to think of something in her bag she really needs. It'll look more believable. Don't. Be. A. Fucking. Creep.
Mia's eyes tried to go back to Lena on their own. God damn it. Why was she still naked?
When did this start? Is this what men are like? Unable to keep it together around a pair of breasts? Just a regular pair of nice... Soft...
Jesus!
Mia pulled on her hoodie. Her nipples had gone hard and she was embarrassed. Mia knew she shouldn't be, but knowing the reason made her feel guilty.
“Wait, so, Friday, right?” Mia asked Sandra, rubbing her eyes.
Sandra frowned. “I literally just said Thursday.”
“Right. Gotcha. Sorry.”
~ * ~
Jack got home a little after six.
Roscoe jumped around him, but not on him. At least not if he could help it. He didn't jump on Ruby or Jack unless they asked. He knew where his bread was buttered.
"What's up, buddy! Good boy!"
"Honey, I'm hoo-oome!" Jack yelled far above an acceptable volume, especially for indoors.
It had started as a joke. It was funny for a little while. A few days. Almost twenty years ago. Then it stopped being funny but he kept going. After a while, it got funny again. And then not. And so the cycle continued. He didn't much care what part of the cycle they were in at any given time.
Jack walked into the kitchen. "God, it smells so good."
Ruby turned, wiping hands on her apron, smiling a big smile at Jack. "Chili."
"I don't deserve you, lady woman honey boo-boo child!" He rattled rapidly at her. "Thank you!"
Ruby chuckled at him as he folded her in for a hug. "You hungry?"
"You know it." Jack put a finger in the scalding hot pot. "Where's the child?"
"Upstairs." Ruby slapped his hand away. "Can you fucking wait?"
Jack licked his finger. "Damn, that's good." He turned around and walked off to the laundry room. "DAUGHTER!" he yelled.
"What?" Beth yelled back from upstairs. Jack didn't reply. He was chucking his work clothes in the basket.
"Oh my god, what!?" Beth yelled again and it made Jack smile.
Ruby had an earbud in, watching something on the tablet standing up, likely an interrogation video or a podcast. Her hands absently pressing lime juice. The big pot bubbling at a low simmer.
Jack went up the stairs. Said hi to Beth. Beth said hi back and asked him for the five-hundredth fucking time to stop yelling at her from across the house.
~ * ~
"Hello?" Nobody answered.
Mia was in around six. Practice had wrung her out completely. Her legs heavy. Her shoulders chalk-dusted and sore. In other words: literal heaven. No better feeling.
She didn't even mind the empty house today.
The kitchen light was on and a plate sat on the counter, covered in foil, a sticky note on top: "chicken + rice, nuke 2 min. - Dad."
She microwaved the plate and started eating standing up at the counter. She was so hungry the first few bites felt like steak or dirty fries, not chicken and rice.
After the food and a shower, she jumped in bed, hair still wet, towel tied around her upper body, riding up as she scooted up against the pillows, exposing her black underwear to no one except herself.
Beth: sorry slept forever. then christian came over
Mia: ew
Beth: shut up
Mia: coffee tomorrow?
Beth: yea
For a while she lay there looking out the window. The neighbor's porch light put a long bar of yellow on the ceiling. She had music on, quiet, just to fill the room. She picked up the phone, scrolled all kinds of nothings, put it down. Rolled onto her stomach across the bed.
The house was silent. She was calm. Rested.
And, god, horny.
She got up and locked the door to her room.
~ * ~
Beth ate with them. She talked about school, her business-consultant-accountant-logistics-supervisor side hustle. Christian. Then she thanked her parents for the food and disappeared upstairs.
After, Jack loaded the dishwasher.
"She has too much going on," Jack said.
"You think?" Ruby said, sitting on the stool at the end of the kitchen island, a glass of wine and this week's Maplewood Record in front of her. "Why?"
"She asks questions usually. Pays attention. Cares about what's going on in our lives, how things work."
"Yeah..."
"She talked so much during dinner, but it was all about her and things going on in her life," Jack said, shrugging.
"I know what you mean." Ruby sipped wine. Then she put the glass down. "You think it's a problem?"
Jack closed up the door of the dishwasher. As it hummed, he came up and took Ruby's glass.
"What about you?" he asked and took a sip.
"I don't think so. Not yet, anyway."
"Let her figure it out?"
Ruby nodded yes, head to the side a little.
"Yeah." He sipped again and put the glass down.
~ * ~
Around ten - both showered and in bed - Ruby reached for him.
"What's this now?" Jack said.
"Hmm..." Ruby put her hand down his boxer briefs.
They kissed. Lying on their sides, Ruby's hands around Jack's cock, now fully hard. She didn't stroke it. She held it. Both hands. She kissed him, squeezed, released, played with her fingers around it, but didn't stroke it. Jack liked that. She knew it. Something playful about it. Not getting down to business, but instead playing with it.
"I love your cock, baby."
In a high voice he asked, "You do?"
"Get it up here. Put it in my mouth."
Jack could not be more excited to do as he's told. As he pulled off his underwear and shirt, Ruby settled in on her back, head propped up a little on a pillow. She licked her fingers and moved them under her dark green nightgown, the shiny one with the little pale green swans on it. Jack got up next to her on his knees, his cock rock hard, straight out.
~ * ~
Mia opened the photo app, scrolling back through months. Past the school stuff, the gym posts, Beth's birthday.
There.
Album: 2024 Lake Trip.
She tapped through. Sunny, bonfires, swimming. Her and Beth, selfies with burgers. Ron at the grill, beer in hand. Then the volleyball pictures.
Jack in shorts, shirtless on the grass. Mid-swing, arms up, everything visible. The chest hair, the size of him, sweat shining on his shoulders. A big hairy monster of a man. The kind could break her.
Mia bit her lip. Flutters low in her chest. She went to the next one. Jack laughing at something outside the frame, one arm up over his head.
Mia zoomed in.
“Jesus Christ.”
She went back to the first one.
~ * ~
"Come here, baby." Ruby rubbed her chest.
Jack swung a leg over her, not putting weight on her. He held the headboard. He knew what she wanted. And he was happy to give her that, the selfless saint he was.
He moved in over Ruby's face, the underside of his shaft dragging softly on his wife's smooth skin, her lips open a little. He let it rest on her face.
"Mmmm." She grabbed his ass, digging her nails in a little. Her eyes closed, nuzzling against his cock. "That's so nice."
He felt he could almost cum right then. Not even taking his cock in her mouth. Just moving it with her face, nose, lips.
Looking at this woman enjoying him so much. He didn't understand it.
"Fuck my mouth, baby," Ruby asked.
Jack moved his hips back a little. "Stick your tongue out."
Ruby obliged, looking up at him. He took the base of his cock then, squeezing it and flexing his cock. Flexing it felt so good. He lightly tapped Ruby's tongue with the tip of his cock and she pushed out a breath. He tapped again, and again. Then the cheek. The other one. Then he moved up, higher, Ruby's mouth open wide, he put his tip in. Ruby closed her lips around it, leaving her tongue out, licking the bottom of his cock. The wet heat felt so nice.
He slid his cock in as far as the angle allowed. Ruby was flat on her back. Only about the top third of his cock managed to fit inside her mouth. He held it there.
He could feel Ruby's arm moving against his inner thigh, from her rubbing her clit. As he held his cock in her mouth, she looked up at him and moved every muscle in her mouth she had any control over. Contracting, squeezing, brushing.
"Fuck, baby..." Jack looked down, losing himself.
He pulled it out, Ruby breathing heavier now. He left his cock hanging in front of her eyes. She reached up and forward with her mouth to get it back in. Licking at the tip, just barely catching it.
Jack let her have it. It never got old. Her asking for it like this. God. He used to not believe her. He felt silly. As if he was being humored. But no. It was real. He knew it was.
As she got his cock back in between her lips, he pushed back inside her mouth slowly. Once he'd gotten it inside again as far as it would go, he used his throbbing cock to push his wife's head back down on the pillow.
"OK, baby, OK," Jack said, pulling his hips back. "I'll fuck your mouth, baby."
He made small strokes, gentle at first, but picking up a little steam with each stroke. God, he wanted to cum. He fucked Ruby's mouth until she turned her head a little. He pulled his cock out, knowing it was a sign Ruby needed to breathe.
"Take a breath, baby."
As she breathed, hard, he dragged his wet, sticky cock across her open lips.
"Fuck, come here." Ruby pulled him back inside her mouth by his ass.
As he moved his hips in, she pulled him. As he was almost done pulling his hips back out, she was already pulling them back in again. Jack cursed the angle, dying to get all the way inside her.
"Fuck, baby. Stroke my cock," Jack pleaded with his wife. He wanted Ruby to touch the whole length of his cock. Anything else was a tease, no matter how good it felt.
Ruby maneuvered her free arm out from under Jack and wrapped it around his cock as much as she could. She took his cock out of her mouth, brushing her saliva from the tip of it down to his balls, then pushing her head forward and pulling Jack closer in, getting his balls on her open mouth and working them with her tongue as she stroked him.
All the while still touching herself.
"I can go down on you," Jack said, looking down at his wife, barely holding it together himself.
"No, baby, I want you to cum."
"You sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure, come here, fuck my mouth, baby!"
~ * ~
Mia zoomed until Jack filled the screen.
Her free hand moved under the towel and pulled the tucked corner loose. Fingers circling one nipple, then the other. Just touching. Not rushing anything.
The picture was starting to pixelate from the zoom. She zoomed in one more time anyway. She tried to imagine his weight over her. What the hair on his chest might feel like under her hand.
Fingers tightened around her nipple.
“Fuck.”
~ * ~
Jack moved higher on the bed and pulled the pillow from under her head so Ruby could slide farther down.
He gripped the headboard.
He rolled his hips forward. Ruby's head sank into the mattress under him, her mouth full, tongue moving underneath his cock. She had both hands on his thighs, not pushing him away. Just holding on.
He fucked her mouth in slow, shallow strokes. Each one a little deeper. Ruby breathing hard through her nose, the sound of it filling the quiet room.
~ * ~
Mia pushed her underwear down off one hip. The phone lay face-up beside her, Jack still frozen there laughing in the sun. She touched the screen once before it could go dark.
If he, or anyone in her life, ever found out, she would have to fake her own death, move to Belize.
Her fingers were in her mouth, wetting them.
~ * ~
Ruby stroked his cock with one hand, working his balls gently with the other, her mouth still on him. He was close and, by the way she was looking up at him then, she seemed to know it before he said anything.
She tilted her head back, opened her throat, slid her own body down just a little.
The first pulse hit and she pulled him deeper, her lips stretching around him. Jack went still. Every muscle locked. His cock pumped in her throat and she held him there, swallowing around it, one hand still moving on his shaft. Doing her absolute best to get every last bit out of him. It was all hers.
And the whole time, Jack looked down. At least when his eyes were not rolling over to look at the darkness of his empty skull.
~ * ~
Mia's face mushed in the pillow, she was down on her stomach, one leg straight, the other bent up and out to the side. As she massaged her asshole with one hand, the other hand alternated between fingering her pussy and rubbing her clit.
She came with the pillow in her teeth, making a sound she'd have been embarrassed by if anyone had been there to hear it. Her whole body tightened and held, then let go.
For a moment she thought she could feel the weight of Jack collapse on top of her.
~ * ~
Ruby didn't let go. As Jack pulsed, she kept her hand moving, slow and firm. Her tongue flat on the underside of his shaft, she seemed to be feeling for each throb specifically.
Jack stood on his knees above her, hands on the headboard, not moving at all. Just... twitching.
~ * ~
Mia stayed curled around the pillow, breathing.
Long breath in.
Slow one out.
Again.
Her pulse finally coming down.
Then she started laughing.
Not a giggle. Actual laughter, alone in her room with underwear around one thigh and a zoomed-in picture of her best friend's father glowing on the bed.
“Fucking idiot.”
~ * ~
Jack lowered himself beside Ruby.
"God!"
Ruby smiled. They both caught their breaths. The house silent.
“Hey.”
“Mm?”
“Are you still...”
Ruby turned her head. “Mia?”
Jack covered his face with both hands.
Ruby laughed and slapped his chest. Jack's hands instinctively dropped down to protect himself.
"You just did what you did to me - on me, with me! At me? In me!"
"I know. I'm sorry!" Jack made a face.
"And all you can think about..." Ruby leaned in and yelled in a quiet whisper. "is Mia?!"
"Ugh, I'm the worst!"
Ruby leaned back in her spot next to him, smiling and scoffing.
They were quiet for a little while again.
“It's embarrassing how badly I want her, Jack.”
~ * ~
Friday, April 17, 2026 (two weeks later). Maplewood, New Jersey.
-- 5:27 am
Jack woke around five twenty. Dressed downstairs. Ruby slept.
Coffee on. Cup filled. Bag, keys, out.
At a red light on Springfield, Jack tapped the steering wheel. He was already fighting the urge.
"Come on, stupid."
It was his own fault. He'd given in to it, now he had to work at it to stop.
~ * ~
Alarm. Six-thirty. Mia stopped it. School day. With a heavy sigh, she counted three, two, one, commanding herself to get up on one.
Joan looked up from the mess of flour and bowls and dirty measuring cups. "Morning, sweetie!"
"Oh, wow. OK." Mia rubbed her shoulder. "Morning."
She was going to ask what her mom was up to, but decided she didn't have the strength.
"Can I get in here, fix some breakfast or..."
"Yeah, yeah, sure, go ahead."
Her mom got up, gave her a kiss on the cheek, holding her dirty hands up in the air to not touch Mia.
Mia smiled. She made coffee and a quick scramble.
"Oh, kiddo!" A cheerful greeting from her dad, as he emerged from the bathroom, doing up his fly, book under his arm. "You need a ride?"
"If you wash your hands," Mia said over the plate of eggs and tipped her head toward her dad as he came in to give her a kiss.
"Good morning, sweetie. I'm ready in five, if you are."
~ * ~
Jack worked out at the yard. Going harder today. Even closer to failure than usual, more sets.
When done, he checked off the todo on the phone and before locking it, his brain yelled at him for a quick look at Mia's page.
The sound of a loud yawn ending in an operatic slur snapped him out of it.
"Morning, Andy!"
"Boss-man! Morning."
"How's the knee?"
"Knee's alright. It's my life that's fucked."
~ * ~
In the car her dad had the radio low, some morning zoo noise.
"You sleep OK?" he asked.
"Yeah. You?"
"Like a baby." His stock answer.
She watched the side of his face. In the car with her, but not all the way. She used to think it was work. She wasn't so sure where he was lately.
"How's work?" she asked.
"Ah, you know. Busy. Good busy." He tapped the wheel at a light. "Can't complain."
"Busy how?"
"Just busy, kiddo." He smiled at the windshield. "You don't want to hear about invoices."
She wanted to tell him he doesn't pay nearly enough attention to know what she wants.
"You excited?" he said. "Fairleigh. Big year coming. Gymnastics, the whole thing."
"Yeah," she said. "Real excited."
"Good!"
"Thanks for the lift." She kissed him on the cheek.
"Have a good one, kid."
Three steps up the sidewalk a horn went off behind her, two quick taps from a truck of senior boys idling at the curb, and one of them called something she didn't catch. She raised a hand without turning around, waved.
Beth was on the steps, holding two coffees.
"You look rough," Beth said, handing one over.
"Good morning to you too."
~ * ~
"Sharon will murder-suicide that kid." Louis dropped into the chair.
Jack laughed.
"He knows he's got one chance to-"
Jack's attention was in his phone. On Mia. Pictures from a recent competition. Her sitting on a bench after competing, laughing at someone or something off-camera, warm-up jacket partly open over her, one bare leg stretched out.
Jack said, "Ah, man. Kids."
Then he caught himself. He hadn't heard a word Louis had said.
"Man, one lucky bastard. Wife like Ruby, a kid like Beth."
As Louis sipped his coffee and read the board, Jack locked the phone and drummed it against his thigh. Felt shitty already. Half-assing.
"You off early today, then?" Louis asked.
"Oh, yeah. Hot date."
"With the missus?"
Jack made a face, shaking his head. "Yeah, fuckin' - of course!"
~ * ~
"How's things with Christian then?" Mia asked, not looking at her, sipping her coffee.
"Good now."
They walked toward the class, Mia letting the silence hang for a bit. She wondered what the significance of the 'now' was.
Mia wasn't the biggest fan of Christian. He'd done nothing wrong, as far as she knew. She couldn't explain it. But she didn't write it off as nothing.
"I thought he had something with some girl, but he explained everything and it all made sense so I think I was just overreacting and now it's all good."
"Oh."
"Do you know him?" Beth asked.
"Who?"
"The guy who just cartoon-walked into a wall looking at you."
Mia looked around and saw a kid nursing his embarrassment, his friends laughing.
~ * ~
-- Later that day, in class.
"We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts," the philosophy teacher, Mrs. Calvo, quoted Aristotle. "So what is he saying about character?"
"Fake it till you make it, babyyy," Jamie yelled.
A bit of chuckling.
"You might be joking, but that's not entirely wrong." Mrs. Calvo leaned back against the desk. "Anyone else? What's the relationship between action and identity?"
A girl two rows up: "He's saying you don't just decide to be good. You have to actually do good things."
"Right. And if you practice the wrong thing?"
"Then... you are bad. Or wrong," the girl said.
"Bad and wrong, or good, sorry... is that, like..." Another girl's hand had stopped halfway to raised. Shoulders up, head tucked. "Good and bad according to who? I guess?"
"Yes!" The teacher pointed at her. "That is an excellent question. We'll get to that soon enough."
Mia was half-listening, pen between her teeth, looking out the window. The sun was on the football field and somebody was mowing it. She could hear the mower through the glass and wished she could smell the cut grass.
~ * ~
Jack went with a heavy brown overshirt over a white T-shirt and dark jeans.
Ruby had on some sort of a black lacey blouse, a high-waisted black skirt that fit her like tailored, because it likely was. A soft, light black blazer over all of it. Jack had a good time looking at her.
"Mom! You're so pretty!" Beth yelled from the couch.
"Thanks, sweetie!"
"And me?" Jack asked.
Beth looked at him over a pair of glasses she wasn't wearing. "You!? You look good, yeah..." Giving Ruby a look as if to say 'look at this fucking guy'.
"What?" Jack turned to Ruby. "Something wrong with it?"
Ruby put a hand on his chest. "She's just trying to get your goat, big guy."
"This is a nice shirt." Jack turned from Ruby to Beth. "This is a nice shirt!"
Beth threw up her hands. "Sure, sure. You're very handsome, dad!"
"Thank you."
"And insecure," Beth said under her breath.
"Whatsat?"
"I said you look like a young Troy McClure."
Ruby laughed.
"Who's that?"
"It's a Simpsons character." She turned to Beth, trying to be serious. "And he does not look like Troy McClure!"
"I swear to god, I'll get a babysitter."
That made both of them laugh. Jack got the keys from the bowl.
"Let's go, honey."
"Byeeeeeeee," Beth said from the couch, nose in her phone.
Jack opened the door on their way out, grabbed one of Roscoe's toys from the umbrella stand, hurled it at Beth, as he and Ruby rushed through the door.
~ * ~
The Sandbar. Maplewood, New Jersey
Evan stopped with his beer halfway to his mouth. "So Fairleigh. Gymnastics scholarship. That's insane."
"It's cool." Mia rolled the bottom of her glass over the wood grain of the table.
"You're not too excited, sounds like?"
"No, no, I am!" Just not about gymnastics or even Fairleigh, she added without saying it out loud. "And you?"
"I'm supposed to be going to Columbia. I got in."
"Nice! Congrats!"
They clinked glasses, smiled.
This place didn't check IDs. That was a piece of news that had spread far and wide. Rapidly. And Mia liked it well enough too. String lights outside, warm low light, lamps on tables and walls, no overheads. A single brick wall, otherwise all glass. Stay here on the second floor and watch the sunset clouds, drink in hand - what's not to like?
"So you're going from Columbia..."
Evan put his head in his hands, pained expression on his face. "To Columbia, yes."
Mia chuckled. Evan was actually very cute. Sitting across from her, his back against the brick wall, the whole upper floor of the venue behind her, plenty of people in the place, but his eyes on her.
"Well, shit, man, I'll get you a Columbia brand Columbia University sweater for graduation."
"With a little thing on the back like a tramp stamp: 'Columbia HS grad'"
"CHS all rights reserved, yeah." She laughed. Relaxing onto her elbows on the table then. "Seriously, though, congrats, that's really something."
"Thanks!" He looked down at his glass. "But to be completely honest with you, I'm not sure I'll go to Columbia."
"Oh? How come?"
"I dunno. Doesn't feel right. Feels like I should be doing something... more?"
He grimaced at his own word.
"Or different?" he said. "Not more, even, just something else maybe. Is that stupid?"
"No, I don't think so." Mia looked at his lips. She chose not to share her own similar dilemma.
"That drink's looking a little empty." Evan pointed.
"I could do with a refill." Mia smiled at him. A little coy. Letting him know she's alright with the night continuing past the first drink.
"Be right back."
It was their first date. He'd shown up early. He went to a different school and they didn't have a ton of friends in common, which was refreshing. And he seemed polite and funny. And easy on the eyes.
Waiting for him to come back, she checked her phone, just a reflex. Nothing new there but the screensaver was a pic from a few years back. At a lake. Selfie, Beth and her, but in the background, face obscured by the time, was Jack, moving a cast iron pan over a grill like it was a spoon.
"One IPA, for the lady." The boy was back.
And looking at him now. "Thanks!" Mia felt shortchanged.
"So aside from gymnastics, anything else you're into? Any embarrassing hobbies?"
"Hey, do you wanna maybe get out of here?" she asked.
Evan tried and failed to hide his excitement. At least he didn't scream.
"Sure, yeah."
She thought it would have been kinda fun to hear the scream, actually.
~ * ~
"At the risk of ruining what's so far been a great night," Jack said as the waiter left with the menus. "Can I ask that we talk about Mia for a bit?"
"Yeah, let's talk."
"OK." Jack rubbed his thumb through the condensation on his beer glass.
"Anything specific?"
Jack laughed. "I guess not?"
Ruby laughed back.
"Sorry, I guess maybe I should have put some words to the thoughts?" Jack said.
"It's OK, your gender is not suited to navigating emotions, that's lady business."
"How very sexist of you."
Ruby winked. After a moment Jack had come up with a question.
"Do you still want to?"
"Do you?"
"Come on." Jack didn't like questions being answered with more questions.
"Yeah, I do. Do you?"
"Yeah."
They sipped in silence, looking at each other. White wine for Ruby, beer for Jack.
"So where does that leave us?" Jack asked, "Like, specifically. Do we have a plan or something?"
Ruby inhaled, looking away, over Jack, up at the chandelier. With the exhale she looked at Jack and said, "No."
Jack had hoped Ruby would have a strategy or, really, even that she'd changed her mind. Not knowing what to do next was uncomfortable for him.
"We have time to figure it out," Ruby said.
"But don't you think we should... I don't know, Ruby, it's like this thing I keep thinking about and worrying about. You know I'm not good with unresolved things."
“Jack! Ruby! Looking good, you two.” Councilman Henry something-or-other stopped by. Firm handshake, Jack stood to return it.
"Councilman Weathers, hello," Ruby said.
"Henry, how are ya," Jack said.
"Keeping well, Jack. Mikey still talks about you saving his ass with that sewer line."
"Ah, yeah, no. Wasn't anything."
"Humble." Weathers looked at Jack the way politicians did. Made Jack uncomfortable. That much eye contact. Councilman turned it to Ruby. "You got a good one here."
"Don't I know it." Ruby raised her glass.
The councilman moved on to shake a couple more hands at another table.
"See?" Ruby crossed her hands. "Told you it was worth helping his buddy."
"Yeah, I guess." Jack had sat down and drank from his water. "No offense, he seems like a nice enough guy, but I don't have much need for council members knowing my name."
"That might change."
"Mm."
"OK, never mind all that," Ruby said, getting up.
Ruby must have scoped the ladies' room behind him, counting heads like cards, while they ate and talked. She told Jack to follow her in there about ten seconds after her.
Councilman Weathers caught Jack's eye as he tried not to look like he was hurrying toward the ladies' room. Weathers smiled. Jack gave him a polite nod back. Ew.
Now they were both in one of the stalls. She sat down on the closed toilet and took Jack's cock out. It disappeared in her mouth, still mostly soft, but getting harder fast.
Once it got hard, she let his cock drop, after sucking saliva off it to not get anything on their clothes.
"Don't worry about me cumming, just fuck me, baby, alright?"
Jack grabbed his wife's face, pulling her up, giving her a rough, wet kiss.
"God, I love you!"
"I love you too, baby!" Ruby exhaled, eyes closed, cheek brushing against his.
They kissed and Ruby turned around, putting one foot on the lid. It was one of those fancy restaurant bathrooms, so it was clean, smelled nice and there was soft jazz music and weird paintings.
Jack pulled Ruby's underwear to the side, used his fingers to move saliva from his mouth to her pussy, realizing then she didn't need it.
He pushed his cock inside.
Ruby pushed herself back onto his cock. Jack stayed deep inside her and grabbed whatever he could. Her waist, ass, tits, throat, hair. He wanted to have her. FUCKING HAVE HER.
~ * ~
They took a cab to Evan's parents' second apartment. Nice building, fourth floor. Clear no one lived there day to day, by the specific kind of clean and tidy it was.
He kissed her in the hallway. She kissed him back. He was lean and smooth and smelled like nice cologne and just a hint of beer. He took her into a room that seemed like it was meant to be the master bedroom, weird paintings on the walls, some kind of abstract stuff?
She let him undress her. She'd skipped a bra that night and had on a pair of expensive, but sporty, underwear. Mia had not counted on having sex. Good for Evan.
He was nervous, which she appreciated. They stood up by the bed, his hands moving everywhere, fast, like she'd take it away from him if he didn't hurry the fuck up. She had to tell herself not to laugh at the idea.
"Slow down," she said, grabbing his hands, leaning into his ear.
"Yes, ma'am."
Evan leaned in and kissed her.
His blue Oxford shirt unbuttoned, showing his hairless, muscular chest. She slid her hands under the shirt and moved it off his shoulders, letting it fall.
Evan moved Mia closer to the bed and when the edge of the bed touched the backs of her knees, he gently pushed her hips further. She sat down. Evan was still standing and she put her hands on his stomach, moving down to his pants.
He stopped her. Instead, he leaned down and lifted her legs. Mia gently rolled back onto the bed. Evan pulled off her underwear.
She stayed there, looking up at him.
He bent down. Kissed around her pussy, his hair felt nice in her hands. She could feel her pussy dripping and the sensations in her stomach left her feeling like she was clinging on to a buoy in rough waters.
Evan stopped kissing around it then.
"Oh, my god!" Mia moaned, quiet.
Evan's hot wet tongue licked steady up and down, right on her clit. And she was almost there, already. She grabbed his hair. He grabbed her thighs tighter. She ground her pussy on his tongue and came.
Evan looked up. "Whoa."
Mia was still shaking, but she managed to get out a quick "Shut up and fuck me!"
She was going to use this sweet, hot, pretty boy to fuck the thoughts of Jack out of her. Maybe this would finally get this stupid thing - this phase - out of her system.
~ * ~
Jack fucked his wife. Long strokes, hard. Ruby's hands held the wall as if to stop it from coming down.
The sound of the door opening. Heels on tile. Two female voices.
"-told her, I said Jen, if you don't use the gift card just give it to me-"
"She's not even gonna go? After all that?"
Ruby looked back at Jack, eyes wide. He stopped.
"She changes her mind three times before wiping, who knows what she's gonna do when. Or why."
Water running. Paper towels.
"Derek's sister posted that thing. Did you see it? The one with the-"
"Oh my god, yes."
Jack slid one hand over Ruby's stomach. Pulled her in closer to him. The other hand over her mouth. Pulling her head back, his face next to hers.
He didn't make a sound. He could hear and feel the air rushing from Ruby's nose as he held her tight and fucked her in complete silence. Long, hard, fast strokes, trying to make it as hard on her to keep quiet as possible.
"-wasn't bad enough to go through all that, fucking Craig texts me-"
"Craig?"
"Yeah, you heard me."
Ruby's eyes wide. Hands going back frantically, searching for Jack. Finding him, grabbing him.
"-fine and everything, she says, but I'm like-"
Jack felt Ruby's pussy tightening around his cock, her body responding. He knew he could make her cum, if only he could stop himself from cumming now.
"Should we get dessert? I saw a crème brûlée."
"Khrechm bhrughlyee!"
"KHRECHM BHRUGHLYEEE! Absolutely. Also, more wine."
Fuck it. He grabbed his wife even tighter, her body feeling light and fragile in his hands. His cock having to be pushed inside her now, not just sliding, her pussy squeezing it. Ruby's stomach was pushing in and out, legs trembling.
God. The perfect permission. He was already cumming when Ruby grabbed his balls, reaching down between her legs.
He stopped and his cock pulsed cum inside Ruby as she massaged his balls and shaft.
"Ready?"
A purse snapping shut. "Yeah."
The door opened and closed.
Ruby looked back at him and they both laughed, heads leaned against each other, both catching their breaths.
~ * ~
She lay there not moving. In Evan's bed. Well, this bed, not his. The apartment cold and echo-y. He'd fallen asleep, peaceful, one arm still across her stomach. She looked at his face. Pretty.
She slid out from under his arm and got dressed in the dark. Bag, phone. Check for keys. Good. She let herself out quietly.
~ * ~
"How was your night, miss?" the Uber driver asked.
"Great, thanks. And you?"
"Oh, yeah, busy, but good."
Her phone pinged.
Beth: "hows the date"
Another God damned image of the two happy fucking families behind the notification. Christmas. Beth, Ruby and Roscoe front and center, Joan and Ron to one side smiling, Jack and Ruby to the other, Ruby play choking Jack, him smiling, making kissy faces at her. She has to change the stupid screensavers. Put up a sunset or something, fuck.
"Good, good. Busy is good."
~ * ~
They practically tumbled out of the restaurant. Not drunk, just relaxed and full and, well, maybe a little drunk, OK.
"One more drink somewhere dirty?" Ruby said.
Jack put a hand on her arm. "Aww, for me?"
"No, baby boy." She squeezed his ass. "For us."
They walked. Down Bloomfield, past restaurants and closed store windows still lit up, talking about nothing in particular.
Jack felt they were particularly not mentioning Mia. And he knew why. It'd ruin the mood, likely.
Fuck it. It's a good night, he thought.
~ * ~
Mia: "just got back"
Mia took off what little makeup she'd had on and got in bed.
Beth: "how was it"
Mia: "aight"
Beth: "did you..."
Mia: "get my tits sucked?"
Beth: "EW!"
Mia: "get my world rocked?"
Mia: "get my insides rearranged?"
Beth: "the worst"
Mia: "forgot my name, can't walk"
Beth: "bye"
Mia: "luh ya"
Beth: "love u too moron"
Evan was fun and sweet and perfectly fine.
Jack would have asked whether she got home safe.
Oh, no, wait, he might not even know she was gone yet. She'd snuck out. What the hell was wrong with her? She didn't just sleep with guys after a little small talk and sneak out after.
It was all Jack.
But they were just thoughts, right? Her own private little inside life.
Nothing would ever happen, of course.
Her phone pinged.
Evan CHS: "get home alright?"
Mia: "yep, thanks, you?"
Evan CHS: "yurp"
Evan CHS: "can I see you again?"
Mia: "sure"
~ * ~
"You happy?" Ruby asked one foot hooked around the rung of his barstool, knee against his. Turning her head to him after.
"Right now?" Jack said.
The place was narrow and dark, old show flyers stapled around the bar, a little stage in the back corner. Amps humming.
"Generally," Ruby said.
"What kind of question is that?"
"Answer it, maggot!"
Jack laughed. "Yes, sir. I'm happy, sir."
"Good." She put her head on his shoulder, hand on his leg, squeezing and patting.
Jack smelled her hair. "You?"
She shrugged, still leaning on him. "Eh."
"Is that right?" he chuckled.
"I don't know if I can drink like we used to, bud," Ruby said.
"Feeling it, are ya?"
Ruby put up her thumb and index fingers close together to her eye, looking through them at Jack.
"Maybe you shouldn't mix wine and beer?"
"Maybe you..." Ruby's eyebrows up, "should shut up and get me another beer, handsome."
"Ooh, boy, alright. Barkeep?" Jack waited for him to come over, the place was pretty lively and he was pretty sure a band was about to start playing. "Hi! Sorry to call you over like that."
The bartender smiled. "No worries, man."
"Could I get another one of these, please and thanks?" Pointing to Ruby's bottle. "And another one of these, please?" Pointing at his beer glass with a goose on it.
"And one for yourself, cutie!" Ruby chimed in.
"Whoa!" Jack put a hand over her mouth. "Sorry, she's not well. We're taking her back to the institution at dawn."
"Alright." Bartender chuckled, going to get the drinks, giving Ruby another look.
"Pack it in, buddy," Jack said to Ruby, as she turned to him and kissed him.
Jack knew she wasn't drunk. Tipsy, bordering on drunk-ish, maybe. Toying with a guy.
He couldn't help but laugh.
Jack didn't much believe in soulmates. He could have met another woman with whom his life would have been just as good. Better, even.
"I love you, lady!"
The loud crash of drums filled the room as the lights dimmed and people shouted.
"How much you love me?"
"Not enough for that."
"Oh, come on!"
"I'm not dancing!"
~ * ~
In bed Mia scrolled the photos again, this time on purpose.
The lake trip. She paused on a group shot. All four parents, her and Beth in front. Ruby's arm around Jack, his hand resting on Ruby's hip. She looked at Jack first, then Ruby, then the two of them together.
She locked the phone and closed her eyes.
~ * ~
Thursday, April 30, 2026 (two weeks later). Maplewood, New Jersey.
-- 5:26 am
Five twenty-something. No alarm.
Jack got dressed downstairs.
Before leaving, he sipped a half-cup of coffee at the kitchen island, wondering if he was the only one browsing Mia's Instagram at this hour.
~ * ~
Alarm. School day.
Mia washed up, dressed. Scramble. Coffee. Out the door.
"You leaving?" Ron asked from the kitchen.
"Not forever. That's after the robbery."
"Have a good day, kid!" the joke going over his head and hitting the wall.
"Love you!"
~ * ~
Jack stopped at a red light on Springfield. Phone. Album 'Christmas 2025'. Mia so pretty even in an ugly sweater.
~ * ~
Lights on at the shop, coffee on, pullups. One set down. Phone out. Only while catching his breath, he thought. A few months back, Mia in a winter coat, cheeks red, laughing.
"Hola bossman!" Jack heard Louis' voice inside the office. "Where you at?"
"Out here, just finishing up."
Jack put the phone away and went inside.
~ * ~
“Fairleigh, right?” Vivian asked Mia, between periods.
Some version of this question. For the hundredth time.
“Yep,” Mia said.
Viv pointed to Beth. "And you too, right?"
Beth nodded.
“That's so fucking cool.”
“Yeah.” Mia smiled and nodded. "What about you?"
Everybody kept asking what she was doing next, as though next was one thing. She kept asking the same out of politeness and never really catching the answer.
~ * ~
Louis calling. Jack picked it up.
"Yep," Jack said.
"Petrocelli called."
"OK."
"Says check's Thursday."
"Today is Thursday."
"He says next Thursday."
Jack chuckled and threw up a hand. "Of course he does."
Then Ricky asked for Monday off.
Turned out the truck meant to haul the mini to the Summit drainage job Monday was growling from the right front on anything above thirty, needed a wheel bearing, probably. Jack pulled it off Monday's schedule.
The homeowner on the Short Hills retaining-wall job wanted an updated schedule and a number for the extra footing.
The list of shit. It never ends. Jack still loved it, though. Even on days he wanted to lie down under the excavator tracks and be done with it. Go figure.
~ * ~
"Taylor," Christian said to Mia, after giving Beth a hug and a kiss, still one hand around her.
"Christian," Mia said.
"When you say my name, it kinda feels like an insult?"
Mia made a face. "Why would I insult you?"
"Please don't start, you two." Beth put a hand on Christian's stomach.
"Methinks the young sir doth protesteth too mucheth," Mia said.
"Whatever that means," Christian laughed and grabbed Beth and tickled her and kissed her.
Mia watched Beth giggle and relax around him. That's the important thing, right?
"Oh, Taylor!" Christian said. "My buddy Tyler wants to go out with you."
"Tell Tyler thanks but no thanks."
"Just like that?"
"Yuuuup."
~ * ~
Jack got home around ten. Late for him. Work had kept him. He kicked off his shoes, made his way upstairs, said hi to Beth in her room - still up, working on something.
"Go get some sleep, kid, alright?"
"Alright, will do." She waved, face in the laptop.
Jack couldn't make out the contents, but it was a spreadsheet, color coded, looked like some bolded totals toward the bottom. This kid, he thought.
"Love you!"
"Love you too, dad."
She still didn't look at him. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a half-eaten pack of candy and threw it underhand in an arc, landing it on the keyboard in front of her.
"Oh my god, will you quit throwing shit at-" she saw what it was. "Oooooh! Starbursts!" She looked at him. "Thanks! Good night."
"Night!"
In their bedroom, Ruby was asleep. One earbud still in, a video of what looked like a lecture of some sort running on the phone. Jack was disappointed - he really wanted to fuck.
Shower, water on, door closed. As the hot water ran, making soothing white noise and releasing steam, he sat naked on the chair beside the bath tub. He wasn't sure what he was thinking about. He sat there and just sort of... looked at his cock. Hanging down, the tip touching the seat of the chair. It started getting harder, bigger.
He spit in his hand and took his cock. Somehow looking at it made the whole thing more real. Present. He imagined Mia's slender frame in front of him, her back toward him. He imagined her sitting down, taking his cock and sliding it inside her, rubbing his balls as she did.
Jack imagined grabbing her by her hips, his fingers almost touching around her. Slamming her down on his cock. Again and again.
Then he imagined Mia leaning back against him, her feet on his thighs, head on his shoulder. Ruby on her knees in front of them. Licking his balls. Then his shaft, the tiny part of it not inside Mia. Then Mia's clit.
He came.
~ * ~
Mia was bent over the kitchen table. She didn't think she'd be back in this weird empty apartment. But she needed this. Whatever this was. Better than going through pictures on her phone and imagining Jack doing that porn thing to her where he lifts her up against a wall and eats her out.
A boy her age. A normal situation.
Evan fucked her nice and slow. And it was really, just... so nice. So perfectly nice. His cock was lovely. His manners - splendid.
She could see a future with Evan. An apartment like this or a house maybe.
"Fuck me!"
"I thought I was." Evan laughed.
"Pull my hair and fuck me faster!"
She felt safe and in control.
She came. Then he came.
He cleaned her off and made them tea.
~ * ~
Saturday, June 6, 2026 (a month later). Maplewood, New Jersey.
-- 10:21 am
"Maybe I ask Beth if she wants Mia to come over?"
Jack looked at Ruby.
"No, I don't mean-" Ruby leaning in, "I don't mean it like, that."
"Oh."
"Just for Beth, to have a friend around, with the break up - or whatever it is that's happening there with Christian."
"Right."
Ruby gave him a look and a shrug. "But, you know..."
"Oh, boy." He stretched his arms up and over his head out of sheer anxiety.
~ * ~
Mia had a coffee date with Gavin planned for that day. She didn't have much else going on. That was a good enough reason, she figured.
She hadn't texted Evan and to her surprise he hadn't texted her either. So that solved itself.
She stood in front of the closet. For Gavin she picked jeans and a top that was nice but not trying too hard.
Beth: coming over for dinner later?
Mia: hell yeah, sure
Mia: date first tho
Mia: how you holding up?
Beth: WHO
Mia: ur mom
Beth: WHO?!
Mia: ill report back don't worry haha
~ * ~
The Sandbar. Maplewood, New Jersey.
"I thought we were having a coffee date?" Mia said, as Gavin put down two beers in front of her. She'd already had a coffee, Gavin had finished a beer. The boy getting more loose and talkative.
"Gotta be five o'clock somewhere, right?"
Mia nodded. "Mhmm. Right."
They cheers-ed and Mia put down the beer.
Gavin had called the place a hidden gem. She'd been here before, but not during the day.
Her date with Evan had been here, as a matter of fact.
Different during the day, though. Hidden gem? Nah. The front was all glass on three sides, a warmed-up little box, surrounded by outdoor tables, a wakeboarding cable, with a bar along one wall and a second patio squeezed between the building and the parking lot. Sunlight made the amateurish window cleaning job shine - streaks and splotches. It also showed the split vinyl on the chairs, the gray rag under one table leg, sticky spots on the floor that made sounds as the soles of your shoes came unstuck.
The door behind the bar opened and Gavin sat up straight.
"Oh, shit. That's the owner."
"Good for him?"
"No, this guy's hilarious."
The owner came out wearing orange tinted glasses and a black shirt open far enough to show most of his chest. Thirty, maybe? Maybe older. His face looked tired but the rest of him moved too fast. He slapped the bar, said something to the bartender, then noticed Gavin.
"My man!"
Gavin lit up. "What's good?" His eyes darted to Mia, then back to the guy. Like this was supposed to, what, buy him something from her?
The owner came to their table and took Gavin's hand, pulling him halfway out of his chair for a hug. Mia watched the performance happen between them. Gavin dropped his voice. The owner widened his stance. Two men showing each other they had nothing to prove.
"Who's your friend?" the owner asked.
Gavin introduced Mia. Mia said hi, waved, not standing up, smiled politely.
"Beautiful name," he said.
"Thanks."
"Everything good? You need something?"
"We're good, man, thanks!" Gavin said. "Fucking love this place, man."
The owner put one hand on the back of the empty chair beside Mia and leaned in. There was booze on his breath under something sharp and medicinal. His jaw kept moving.
"You kids staying tonight? It gets fun later."
"We might," Gavin said.
"I have plans, actually," Mia said to Gavin.
"Stay. I'll take care of you."
Mia gave him a tight-lipped smile that used nothing above the cheekbones and turned away. She looked at the streaked window, at the wakeboard cable swaying outside. Anywhere except at the fucking creep.
He and Gavin kept talking, but even without looking at the owner she could feel his attention on her.
"I'm ready to go," she said.
Gavin looked surprised. "Already?"
"Yeah."
"Come on, I just got another round."
"I'm leaving."
She stood and picked up her bag. The owner moved aside, still smiling.
"Hey, sweetheart, don't be like that. I didn't mean to offend you."
Mia walked past him. He caught her hand, not hard, just enough to stop it moving.
Her heart kicked hard. She could swear the bartender had stopped what he was doing.
She looked down at the guy's hand, then up at his glasses. "Are you going to stop me from leaving?"
Her heart was trying to break out through her ribs. She kept her face still. If he pulled her back, she would bite whatever part of him she could get her teeth on. She prayed he would let go.
He did.
"Jesus." The owner laughed and raised both hands. "So dramatic, you kids. Why don't you find a better place then, huh?"
Mia walked out.
"Maybe the fucking mall?" the guy said louder, behind her, laughing.
She crossed the patio, pushed through the little gate and kept going across the parking lot.
Gavin caught up with her near his car. "Mia. Hey."
She passed it.
"Are you going to walk?" Gavin asked, having to raise his voice, distance growing between them. "What the hell happened?"
Fuck him.
~ * ~
"Have you seen my charger?" Beth asked through the open screen door to the backyard.
"I don't-" Jack, standing on a ladder at the back corner of the house, answered but she was already gone by the time he turned his head to her.
He backed out the last two screws and pulled the downspout off the wall. A five-gallon bucket underneath filled with black leaf rot. When he was done, he put away the tools and washed his hands. Carefully, even getting to the crusted sludge under his fingernails.
Then he showered, which was not typical for him, in the middle of the day.
Upstairs he put on a shirt. He looked at himself in the mirror on the closet door. Then he took the shirt off and put the old one back on.
~ * ~
The walk home was forty minutes. Mia did it in about thirty.
Nobody home.
Phone pinged.
Beth: still coming?
God fucking damn it. She'd have to change. The shirt and jeans she had on felt all dirty and gross now. She needed a shower as well. She'd been sweating, not from the walk, but from anger. Or was it disappointment. Or what's that David Attenborough shit? Fight or flight? God fucking damn it, she wanted to ram her head through a wall.
She got undressed and stepped into the shower. The cool water helped. She thought about Gavin and was disgusted. She thought about Evan and felt nothing. She thought about the creepy guy from The Sandbar.
She turned the water to cold, all the way. The shock pushed the air from her lungs and made her gasp. Made her want to flee, but she knew it would go away.
Deep breath in... Let it go...
Her skin hurt and every nerve was twitching to get out. She focused on the pain. There was only pain.
She focused on the cold until it stopped being pain. Just sensation.
She got straight out the shower after a few minutes, not toweling off, and walked to the closet in her room, leaving wet footprints on the wood floors all the way there.
The floral dark red dress was the first thing she saw. She took it off the rack and stood with it in front of her, looking at herself in the standing mirror in the corner of the room.
Phone. On the bed, screen lit up. The notification showed a message.
Beth: hello???
Beth: ur still coming, right?
Behind it was yet another rotating screen saver. Why didn't she just change them? A picture of the Taylors and the Dauwalters on yet another trip. Roscoe jumping on Ruby, Jack laughing, his hands on her.
She threw the dress on the bed, picked up the phone. She stood naked and dripping as she tapped at it.
Mia: "yeah, ofc, see you around 7"
~ * ~
-- After the dinner
"Are you gonna want the rest of the casserole?"
"Huh?" Beth was gone inside her phone.
Ruby carried on, looking at her, as she did. Beth looked up.
"Sorry, what?"
"The food. You want it?"
"No, thanks."
Beth went back to the phone. Ruby looked at her for a bit. Still, scrolling, visibly zoned out. Ruby watched her scroll. Beth looked like she was trying not to cry again. Ruby couldn't decide whether to leave her alone or hover.
Fuck it.
"Let me get in here." She pushed into the spot next to Beth on the couch.
"Jeez." Beth rearranged, having already filled the couch mold with her body and now having to adjust.
Ruby pushed and nudged and kicked and pulled her daughter much more than she needed to. Beth complained but didn't stop it.
"So." Ruby squeezed her daughter, head next to hers, looking at the phone in Beth's hands, rested over the blanket and pillow in her lap. "What's the algo serving up?"
"Oh, you know..."
They sat there and consumed the shortform brain rot.
Beaver dragging a branch across a Canadian highway.
A photographer edited cold weather black and white shots of his wife and son on the beach. To an emotional, dreamy song.
"Cute! Send me." Ruby asked and Beth's fingers did it so quick she almost missed it. Her own phone pinging on the kitchen island in response.
Next.
Two elderly fedora-donning fellas doing a synchronized dance in what looked like a brewery.
"Send me that one, I'm gonna show Frank." Ruby got a little nose-snort from Beth on that one.
That red crab from that SpongeBob cartoon, making a face like he's trying not to say something. Caption saying:
Parents: "back in our day we didn't go to therapy"
Me, fighting the urge to say: "It shows"
An elderly lady narrating her morning routine with her husband, looked like they live somewhere in Italy, or Spain? Ruby imagined her and Jack and it looked pretty good.
Beth sniffled. Ruby saw a tear. She put her head against her daughter's. They said nothing.
Beth sniffed hard, pulled a long breath in through her nose. "Fuck this! Next!" swiping up on the screen.
Bodycam reel, from cops in Utah County.
"This the Lego kid?" Ruby asked.
"That's not the guy himself, but it's the same story."
"Wild."
"Mmhmm. Look, they brought out the dog on this kid. One of the cops even said he was trying to scare him." Beth rubbed her forehead. "You'd think they'd... I don't know, fear the wrath of god or something?"
"Not as much as they fear the wrath of their friends and neighbors, I guess."
"Meaning what?" Beth asked.
"Meaning, never trust a man who unironically curls his mustache."
"Seriously, though."
"I'm not kidding, that's one. And two." Ruby pressed her lips together. "People protect the group that gives them their friends, jobs, family, whatever. Doesn't need to be a conspiracy. Half the time nobody even has to tell anybody what to do."
Beth frowned. “But Mormons?”
"Why not Mormons? Big enough group, long enough time, they make their own rules. Then somebody important enough fucks up and protecting him naturally feels like protecting the group. Your friends, family."
"And the person that fucked up uses the group to fight their battle for them."
"Instead of taking the beating like a man or god forbid admit he fucked up," Ruby said.
"Didn't work though, huh?"
"I don't know, let's see. Corporate tucking tail is just PR. We're in New Jersey talking about it. Imagine if nobody was watching.”
"Ugh, I shouldn't get into this. I have enough on my plate."
"Yeah." Ruby gave Beth a kiss on the head. "Enough scrolling for me, too." As she got up and out of the depths of the couch, she turned back. "And I'm serious, Beth."
"Huh?"
"Never trust a man who curls his mustache."
"Noted." Beth went back to the phone, one side of her mouth smiling a little.
Ruby went back to doing dishes. The casserole dish needed scrubbing before it went in the dishwasher.
As she did, she wondered about Jack. He'd been away for a while. Traffic? No. Not now. Got carried away talking with Mia, maybe? That'd be... good, right? Yeah, fuck, that'd be perfect.
She felt weird about switching so rapidly from Beth to this. But now that she started, she couldn't stop.
She thought about what they would actually do if Jack and Mia...
The door opened and Jack came in.
“OK, ladies, the party is over, the day is done, my Ubering shift is over. I am entitled to a beer and some me time, yes or yes?”
He looked pleased with himself. And nervous.
~ * ~
"Hello?"
Mia listened for an answer, having closed the door behind her.
She exhaled in relief when no one answered.
She didn't move. Nothing seemed like it warranted the energy or attention. Shower? Take the shoes off? Except maybe some water. OK.
Tap, glass, fill it. She drank it standing up. It felt good going down. Where, she imagined, Jack's cum was being washed away. She wanted to touch herself again. Just the thought of Jack.
"No fucking way," she whispered into the glass.
She'd done it. It had happened.
What now?
Can't text Beth about it.
