Play Along

She shakes her head. “No way in Hell would I have imagined being happy here, living the way I do.”

“Are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Happy?” I frown, because I can’t imagine that she could be.

She smiles broadly. “I have never been so happy.”

I fall back and face the sun as her words roll around in my head.

“Once I let go of my childhood aspirations and let myself live in the moment, I stopped being disappointed with everything.”

I glance over at her. “What do you mean?” I ask.

She shrugs. “I thought to be happy I had to have the three kids and the white picket fence in the suburbs with the perfect husband.”

“That’s how I feel,” I murmur.

“It’s all fucking bullshit. All of it.”

I think for a moment. “I just don’t get…” I stop myself, knowing this is none of my business and I really shouldn’t comment.

“How I’m with two men?” she asks.

I bring my hand up to shield my face from the sun. “I guess.”

“Neither could I for a long time. I never meant for it to turn out like this and I still remember the night I met them. It was about four in the morning and they were walking down the street after coming out of a nightclub. My boyfriend had just beat me up pretty bad and I had a bleeding lip and was running as I tried to get away from him.”

I watch her as I imagine the scenario in my mind.

“Jack grabbed me and I was screaming hysterically.” She pauses for a moment.

“Who, your ex?” I ask.

“Yes. He went ballistic that Jack had me in his arms and kicked me hard from behind.”

“Fuck,” I whisper. “Sounds hectic.”

“It was. Rick went crazy and they started having a fist fight.” She pauses as she thinks for a moment. “He was a nasty bit of gear my ex.”

“What happened then?”

“Jack made sure I was safe and then he helped Rick fight him off.”

“God.” I watch her for a moment. I can’t imagine being bashed by a boyfriend. How horrible?

“Anyway, to cut a long story short, I didn’t want to go home because I knew he would come there looking for me. They offered to put me up for the night.”

I smile.

She glances over at me. “What?”

“So you came back to the boat and fucked them both?” I laugh as I shake my head.

“No, nothing like that.” She smiles broadly. “We went back to Jack’s house and I slept in the spare room.”

I smile as I imagine it.