“We aren’t the only ones who are happy,” Carla says with a smile in her voice, interrupting my thoughts.
“Oh really? Who else is happy?”
“Becca and Jason. Did you know that they’re already talking about marriage? That’s just way too fast for me, but I guess if it works for them. Just yesterday, Becca was looking at houses…”
She continues on, but I’ll admit, I didn’t hear anything else that she said. Goddammit, Jason! Leaving me to always clean up his messes. I really ought to punch him more often, just to keep him in check. I feel myself tensing up. Carla is going to take this about as well as a hole in the head, but if Jason is really telling Becca that...
“Carla, baby,” I break in gently, and she stops, shimmying her head on my shoulder so she can look up into my face.
“What?”
I pause, trying to find the right words, and now she’s tensing up too. She knows there’s something wrong. I only wish I could tell her something else. Anything else.
“Jason is married already. He has a wife and two kids in Oklahoma City. Another on the way. He’s not marrying Becca.”
I held my breath, waiting for the explosion.
Carla didn’t disappoint.
“WHHHAAATTTTT?” she yells, jackknifing up in bed. “What do you mean, he’s already married?”
She swings around and glares at me, mental bullets whizzing at my head.
Have I mentioned yet that Carla is scary when she’s mad? ‘Cause she is.
“Well, he got married about eight years ago,” I say, trying to answer her question. “I was a best man at their wedding, you know. Real nice gal – pretty as can be on their wedding day—”
“I KNOW WHAT A WEDDING IS!” she hollers, grabbing her pillow and whacking me about the head with it. “BUT HOW THE FUCK IS JASON ALREADY MARRIED?”
I instinctively raise my arms to shield my face and torso from her blows.
“Annnddddd…” more hits with the pillow – damn, she’s strong – “why is Jason talking about marrying someone when he’s already married? Did he think no one would notice he’s a goddamn bigamist?”
“I—”
Whack
“don’t think—”
Whack
“that he thinks—”
Whack
“that they’ll get married.”
Whack
Finally, she stops hitting me long enough to spit out, “So he’s just playing with her, like a cat with a mouse?”
“It’s just what he does,” I say with a helpless shrug. “Although, he doesn’t normally talk about marriage with the girl. Usually, he just fucks ‘em and leaves ‘em. It’s what he does at every rodeo. I think he’s broken more hearts than Tim McGraw.”
Unfortunately, Carla isn’t hitting me anymore, because she’s busy getting dressed. Regretfully, I watch her shove her feet into her shoes and wiggle her way into her skirt. At least I get to see the jiggling, right?
“You motherfucking goddamn assholes,” she grinds out, “both of you. You didn’t think to say anything? You didn’t think to try to save Becca’s heart from heartbreak?”
Honestly, I hadn’t realized that Jason had taken it this far with her, but I keep my trap shut. Carla doesn’t seem like she’s in a listening mood.