Page 42

“They would have, but they also would have talked my ear off and told me that Shane would come back, that he was a good guy, that we were meant to be together and so forth,” she said. “I didn’t want to hear any of that. I feel like shit and I don’t need to feel shittier.”

“What do you want right now?” I asked.

Tenley thought about that for a few moments.

“I want to scream, and I want to get drunk and then pass out,” she said.

I nodded. “I think we can handle that.”

* * *

First, I gave her a pillow to scream into as long as she wanted, then I got out a bottle of wine because I didn’t seem to have anything else in the house. She said that was fine, as long as I had another bottle, and I did.

Not wanting her to drink alone, I poured a glass for myself and held it up.

“To forgetting?” I asked.

“Definitely,” she said, and we tapped our glasses together.

Tenley downed her first glass without even taking a breath and held it out to me to fill up again.

“Okay, then,” I said, handing it to her when it was full. She chugged that one too and held it out again.

“Before you have another one, let’s have some water,” I said and she frowned at me but didn’t protest.

I poured her a glass of water and made her down it before she went for that third glass of wine. The bottle was just about empty, so I was going to have to open another, but she needed to pace herself.

“Fuck Shane!” Tenley said. Good. I’d been hoping she was moving toward the anger stage. Being mad at him was good. He deserved it. I hadn’t fantasized about beating someone else up since high school, but if I saw Shane? I might not be able to stop myself from giving him several kicks in the family jewels.

“Fuck Shane,” I agreed.

“His balls always smelled,” she said, and it was a good thing I hadn’t been drinking or else I would have sprayed liquid everywhere.

“Jesus, Tenley. I didn’t need to know that,” I said, cringing. I didn’t want to know anything about any part of Shane’s anatomy.

“Sometimes I’d get in the shower with him and like, wash them for him,” she continued as if I hadn’t said anything. The wine seemed to be having an effect.

“Tenley, I am begging you. Please stop talking about Shane’s balls.”

“He hates oral sex too. Well, doing it on me. But he needs a blow job every day or else he doesn’t feel like ‘himself.’” She used air quotes around the last word.

“Jesus Fucking Christ, Tenley, I don’t need to know this! Stop talking about it!” I put my hands over my ears like a child, but I didn’t know what else to do.

Tenley started cackling and I knew the wine had absolutely kicked in.

Now that Tenley was talking about Shane, it was like when she got talking about books.

I learned a lot of things about Shane from Tenley. So much more than I ever wanted or needed to. By the time she finally slowed down, I was exhausted.

Tenley snuggled into the couch and sighed.

“Can I stay here?” she asked.

“Yeah, you can stay here,” I said. “Do you want a change of clothes or anything?”

Tenley closed her eyes for a second. “I would love a shower.”

“Sure, go for it. I can grab you some pajamas and a fresh towel,” I said, getting up. Tenley reached out and grabbed my hand.