“Oh my. This is delicious. And did you really just ask me when you’ve ever had a bad idea? What about that time you made me go skinny dipping in Fligner’s Pond? Or when you stuffed my bra with your dad’s rolled-up gym socks?”
I laugh when she takes another huge gulp, lifting my legs up onto the couch next to her, and then taking a drink from my own glass.
After the doctor finally showed up and discharged her, I got Emma Jo’s car out of the parking garage, picked her up at the front door, and off we went. With a stop at a hardware store in Louisville and another at a liquor store, I drove her home and spent the rest of the afternoon changing her locks while she took a shower and got comfortable. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get Emma Jo to let me take her to the sheriff’s office to file a complaint and a restraining order against Jed.
While she was in the shower, I called and left a message and told them to send someone over as soon as they could. I’m hoping if I can get her to drink enough of this wine, she won’t be mad at me by the time they show up. If they show up. It’s now after six o’clock, and if someone doesn’t get here soon, I’ll march down there and raise hell. I guess there’s no better way to let Bald Knob know I’m home than by making a scene in the middle of the sheriff’s office.
“I think I’ll have some more, please,” Emma Jo says softly. “And then we can talk about all the bad ideas you came up with over the years.”
I shake myself out of my thoughts to see her holding her empty wine glass out toward me with a smile. Grabbing the bottle, I refill her glass and top off my own, setting it back down on the coffee table.
“First of all, I had no idea Fligner’s Pond was infested with leaches and that a stray dog would come up and shit on our clothes while we were swimming,” I explain. “If I recall correctly, when Sheriff Cooper caught us running naked in between houses, you did quite well telling him we were hiding behind the bushes of Mr. Landry’s house and refused to come out because we’d started a Neighborhood Watch and we weren’t allowed to leave our post.”
Emma Jo rolls her eyes, taking another drink of her wine, and I continue.
“Second, how was I supposed to know that when you changed into your white t-shirt at gym everyone would be able to see the red stripes of my dad’s socks through the material? You brought that one on yourself.”
It doesn’t take long before we’ve finished two bottles of wine while laughing and reminiscing about all the stupid stuff I convinced her to do growing up. She asks about the shop and about Benjamin, already knowing almost everything about both because my mother calls her mother two seconds after we hang up the phone. I want to ask her more about Jed and why she’s put up with his abuse for twelve years instead of talking about Benjamin, but I’d rather see the smile on her face right now than the sadness from earlier in the hospital. I open another bottle of wine and I tell her all about Liquid Crack’s franchising and Benjamin’s refusal to take no for an answer.
“Your mom showed me a picture of him one time. He’s really good looking,” Emma Jo states, swaying to the side and sloshing some wine on her yoga pants.
“Not as good looking as Hot Guy in the hospital. You should have touched his chest. It was all chesty and muscly and pretty.”
She giggles, clinking her glass to mine.
“I’m so proud of you, Payton. You got out of this town and you made something of yourself. You got out, and I just sat here and did nothing. I sat here, and I didn’t go skinny dipping, and I didn’t stuff my bra, and I didn’t drink wine, and I just let him order me around and I let him hit me. Over and over, I let him do it. Why did I let him do it?” she whispers, sniffling and bringing the wine glass up to her mouth and drinking quickly to stop herself from crying.
“Rule numero uno of wine drinking – there is no crying in wine drinking. Rule number B…I don’t know, just drink more wine and don’t cry. I’m not going anywhere until I know you’re okay so drink more wine and don’t cry,” I demand, the wine buzz strong with this one.
Setting my glass down on the coffee table, I decide it might be time for me to stop drinking if I want to make good on my promise to Emma Jo. I won’t be able to make sure either one of us is okay if I pass out on the couch. We sit in silence for a few minutes as I look around the living room. After I made the phone call to the sheriff’s office, I took the rest of the time Emma Jo was in the shower to wander the house. To an outsider, it’s the perfect home for a happily married mayor and his wife. It’s an older home, just like all the houses in Bald Knob, but every room in the house has been updated and upgraded, filled with nothing but the best carpet, furniture, appliances, and home entertainment systems. On every table, across the fireplace mantle, and hung on every wall are pictures of Emma Jo and Jed, documenting everything from when they were dating, to their wedding, to buying their first home, and each one of Jed’s mayoral induction ceremonies.