“She’s separated, supposedly.” Even when I’m trying to defend Morgan, it comes out wrong.
“But don’t you think she owes it to her marriage to make it work before running off with someone else? Marriage is hard work.”
“I don’t know, Charlie. I’m so angry. She told me she has issues with the kid. Apparently, it’s her stepson, and he’s special or something. I just don’t know. I was so angry and not really comprehending or listening to what she was telling me.”
A gust of wind sweeps through the patio, warm and calming my anxious nerves. The view from the back of the house is stunning, stretching into the darkness of the mountains. It’s quite serene, and I understand now why Charlie and Lex love this propert
y even though it’s a fair distance into town.
“Kids can be finicky,” she informs me. “If her stepson has special needs, then I can understand that a marriage breakdown could be difficult for her family. Again, I don’t know her circumstances. Why don’t you try to sit down with her and discuss it more openly?”
“Because I’m too angry, Charlie. I don’t understand why she can’t just walk away. It’s not even her son.”
“Well, Lex and Haden think that your problem would be better solved by some girl-on-girl mud wrestling.”
I laugh again. The boys know me well, though I play coy. “I’m not sure it’s exactly what I want to see right now.”
“That’s what I said, but what do I know?” she voices with frustration.
I rest my head on her shoulder, thankful that at times like this, I have family around. Even though Charlie and I have drifted apart over the years, she was and always will be my older cousin, the girl who can take anyone down.
The back door opens, and Lex is dressed in his jeans and a black polo shirt followed by Kate behind him. “So, boys’ night out?” he asks, hopeful.
“I think you need to take him out,” Charlie agrees with a smile.
“Wait, is my wife actually agreeing with me?”
“Show him some tits and ass. He needs to get his mind off things.”
Lex looks stunned, and Charlie brushes it off like it’s nothing. But she’s a woman, and I know her feminist side is rocking itself in the corner, demanding him not to go.
“I think I have the best wife in the world,” he says, gushing, wrapping his arms around her waist and planting a kiss on her neck.
Charlie smiles happily as if nothing else in the world matters. “Just take care of him like he’s my brother,” she tells Lex before winking back at me and walking inside the house.
Kate is still standing on the porch, watching me with a mixed expression.
“What do you think?” I ask, waiting for her incessant rant on women being objects to men. “You think I’ll survive a boys’ night out?”
“I think you’re going to be just fine, Noah,” she reassures me with her easing smile. “Just fine.”
***
“Fuck, look at her ass,” Haden comments. He has a tub of popcorn and a beer, watching the wrestling like a crazed fan.
The two ladies are wrestling it out, drenched in mud, wearing the smallest of bikinis. The one with the big ass—Haden’s favorite—has fallen to her knees, exposing a very muddy crack.
“Damn!” he yells out, much to Lex’s and my amusement.
“I’ve never really decided whether I’m an ass or tits man. It’s been confirmed, I’m an ass man,” I yell over the noise.
“I’ve always been an ass man,” Lex follows, drinking his beer.
“Nope, you’re not allowed to talk about anything ass-related because somewhere in your brain, it leads to Charlie, and my brain senses those vibes, and everything about that image is very wrong.”
“Is it wrong that I desire your cousin?” he asks, taking a dig at me.
“Desire sounds dirty and old-man like.”