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“I don’t blame you. You and Marty have had a rough twelve hours—”
“Taylor, I want to stay in bed because I want to make love to you every way humanly possible and some ways that may not be humanly possible,” Derrick said and watched as once again Taylor turned the color of beets. “I don’t want to embarrass you—it’s just how I feel,” he said, throwing the covers back. He stood, grabbed the pajama pants Taylor had brought him the night before, and put them on. He was beyond pleased when he turned and saw Taylor intently checking out his body.
“What happened to your tattoo?” she questioned him as she squinted at his left side.
“I had it removed,” Derrick said defensively.
“I knew it was gone from your neck, but you had the whole thing removed?” she asked, trailing his body with her eyes where his tat had been.
“Not all of it,” Derrick admitted.
“Did it hurt?’
“Like a motherfucker,” he said, and Taylor laughed. “Getting the fucker hurt way less, but I was also way drunk,” Derrick remembered.
“Where is the part you kept?”
“Uh, it’s—” Derrick stopped and felt instantly sick when he saw a small spot of blood on the white sheet. Taylor followed his gaze and quickly covered it with her hand.
“It’s nothing, Derrick,” Taylor said, casting her eyes down.
“Tell me the truth, Taylor. Did I hurt you?”
“No!” Taylor denied and then rolled her eyes. “Okay, well, it hurt at first, but—”
“Oh God.”
“Oh, Derrick, take a pill,” Taylor said, annoyed, which took away her embarrassment. “I had never, uh, I hadn’t done it before, and I was tense …”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Taylor nodded. “Please go and check on Marty.”
Derrick nodded, kissed her, and threw on a shirt. He took one last look at his wife and reluctantly left.
* * *
Marty answeredafter the fourth ring. “Hello?”
“Hey,” he said softly.
“Hey,” she said back. “So you and Taylor, is that like totally for real?”
“That’s what she said. Officially married, just missing rings.”
“Well, congrats big man, you finally got the girl,” she said, and Derrick heard a little humor in her voice.
“Yeah, it definitely wasn’t the wedding I had in mind, but it was perfect anyway.”
“Listen to you all soft and sentimental,” Marty chided him.
“Yeah, yeah,” Derrick said. “So, this sucks,” he said, taking a seat on a stool at his island.
Marty was silent for a while. “Yup,” was all she got out.
“Talk to me,” Derrick said.
Marty sighed deeply and dramatically. “What do you want me to say, Derrick? That I know it’s for the best, and he was suffering, and now he is in a better place? Well, Iknowthat’s true, but it is still a shitty situation because really all I want is my daddy, okay? Is that what you want me to get off my chest, huh? I want my daddy,” she said again and her voice cracked this time.