Thou Shalt Not(68)

She was wearing sandals and lifted her feet up. I could see where the glass had cut her. They weren’t deep cuts, and the blood had already dried.

“April—” I said, rubbing a hand over my face. I was trying hard not to lose it.

“I yelled at him. And then he told me to keep my voice down. Then I got angry.”

“What did you do?”

“I asked him what the hell his problem was. Then I asked him why he was such an asshole.”

“I imagine he didn’t take that well,” I said.

She breathed in deeply.

“No. He said I was stupid and didn’t know what I was talking about. Said I didn’t have a fucking clue what he was going through. I told him I saw what he did, and I was tired of him embarrassing his family like that, told him he was just a kid throwing a tantrum every time things didn’t go his way.”

“Is that when he hit you?”

“No. He told me to shut the fuck up. And I antagonized him. I shouldn’t have, but I did. I asked him if he was going to throw a baseball at my head like he did to the guy from Baltimore. Or if he was going to pick up a water cooler and throw it at me like he did to the manager.”

“God.”

“Then he told me if I knew what was best for me I would shut up, or he would make sure I shut up.”

She paused.

“What did you say?”

“Honestly?”

“Yes.”

She sighed.

“I told him to take the bottle of tequila he was holding and go fuck himself with it.”

I had to fight down a smile. I was impressed with her bravery to go toe-to-toe with him. But, maybe it was more that she had reached the end of her rope and was over it all.

“And that’s when he hit you?”

“That’s when he hit me.”

“Has he ever hit you before?” I asked.

“No. Never. I didn’t think he would. That’s what surprised me. I was scared when he did.”

“That’s when you left?”

“Yeah. I fell backwards when he hit me and I landed on the ground. He backed away because I think he took himself by surprise. I called him a motherfucker and he got angry again, said next time I won’t be talking. Then he lunged at me as I was getting up. Thankfully he was drunk and missed. I grabbed my keys and ran out the door.”

“What about the kids? You don’t think he would hurt them?”

“God, no. He won’t lay a finger on them. He won’t even spank them when they get in trouble. If I thought he would have harmed them, I would have gotten them and left.”

She lifted her head off my shoulder and pulled my hand off of hers, taking the ice pack with it.

I took her chin into my left hand and gently pulled it toward me, letting me see the swelling.

“He definitely left a mark,” I said. “But the ice seems to be helping.”

“Thank God this didn’t happen on a school night,” she said.

I was tempted to laugh. The fact that in her condition she had even thought to say that was probably a good sign, and also a good indicator of her personality.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” I asked.

“Water,” she said.

I had placed my cell phone on the kitchen counter when I had walked in with her, and as I filled a glass of water for April I noticed I had gotten a message.

Holly.

God, she was going to be here in an hour. What was I going to do? I certainly wasn’t going to kick April out and send her back to her insane husband. “My fuck buddy is coming over” didn’t seem like an acceptable reason to send a battered woman back onto the streets. But, what was I going to tell Holly? “My beautiful coworker just got beat up and threatened by her husband and her first thought was to call me so I invited her over and now she’s here and I am holding her on the couch…” That wasn’t going to fly either. Fuck.

I took the water over to her, and she took it with her left hand, the one not holding the ice pack. She took a few sips and then handed it back to me.

“Can I use your restroom?” she asked. “I really want to wash my face.”

“Of course,” I said, pointing her toward the bathroom.

I took the glass from her and set it down on the counter, picking my phone up.

Can’t wait to see you tonight, the text from Holly read. I am wet just thinking about you.

Oh my god. I had to think of a lie. And fast.

This is perfect, I thought myself.

April was out of the bathroom rather quickly, her face looking clean and her cheek somehow looking less puffy.

I slipped my phone into my pocket and excused myself to the bathroom, telling her I had too much water at the game.

Considering how closely my face had been to hers earlier, and how she was in the general vicinity of my breath, I decided brushing my teeth wouldn’t be a bad idea either. I brushed quickly and then pulled out the phone.