When Life Happened by Jewel E. Ann
Chapter Eight
As predicted, severe weather rolled in that night knocking out power and claiming the lives of a few trees. Gus awoke a little after midnight to an empty spot beside him and incessant barking outside.
“Rags …” Gus groaned knowing the dog outside arguing with Mother Nature couldn’t hear him. “Stupid dog.” He pulled on a pair of shorts and hurried downstairs, shoving his bare feet into his work boots at the last second before throwing open the back door. “Rags!”
The rain stopped but the wind continued to rustle the trees. The heavy branches of the old oak tree on Parker’s side of the fence whined with each gust like an elderly man getting out of bed. Someone’s crazy dog jumped against the gate and barked—over and over.
“Rags!”
“Rags!”
Gus stopped at the bottom of the deck stairs and listened.
Did someone else yell “Rags” too or was it an echo?
Something moved on the other side of the fence. Rags stopped barking. Squinting his eyes, Gus trudged through the marshy yard. “Rags?” He drew out his name with a softer voice, trying to listen at the same time.
Nothing.
The dog vanished, leaving Gus alone in the footprint of the storm. A lone light, half a football field away, disappeared as well, like a wish had been made and it was time to cut the cake. He didn’t need another reason for Sabrina to be angry with him, so he unlatched the gate and sloshed that fifty yards to Parker’s house.
After knocking and waiting several minutes, he took a chance on the doorbell. The porch light above him illuminated a second before the door eased open. A single, wide eye appeared and a couple feet lower a wet, black nose wedged in the crack.
“Gus?”
“Parker.”
She opened the door the rest of the way and scratched her head. A soaked, oversized T-shirt clung to her body.
“Rags.” Gus dropped his gaze to the naughty dog, anything to keep from staring at the peaks and valleys of the younger woman who was not his wife.
“He doesn’t seem to like storms.”
Gus nodded. “It would seem. Yet every time it storms, he runs outside and barks like he can chase it away.”
Parker peeled the blue shirt away from her skin. Gus made a quick inspection to make sure the peaks were hidden before he made eye contact.
She crossed her legs and kept the wet shirt pinched between her fingers, holding it away from her body. “I thought maybe you didn’t hear him. When I opened the gate, he practically knocked me over in a mad dash to my door.”
Her eyes moved along his body, and at that moment he remembered the inappropriateness of his own attire for visiting his half-dressed neighbor in the middle of the night.
“I’d invite you in, but …” Parker stared at his wet boots covered in clumps of mud and grass.
“No. Sorry, I’m a muddy mess, I just—”
“So was Rags.” She gestured to her T-shirt, tugging the damp cotton. “I had to carry him up to the tub to wash his paws and in the process, I got a little wet.”
August would not have been a man had he not imagined her peeling off that shirt, revealing her curvy body and taut nipples. He’d already seen their outline; it didn’t take much to imagine them completely bared to him. And August would not have been married had he been the man who did anything more than imagine.
He crossed his hands over his crotch as his neglected cock made an attempt to set up camp right there on Parker’s front porch. “Thank you for doing that. I’m so sorry he woke you. If it ever happens again, just call me.” Gus jerked his head. “Rags, let’s go.”
The dog took two steps backward and heeled.
“Rags.” Gus frowned.
Like flipping Gus the bird, Rags eased to all fours and ran up the stairs.
“Rags!”
Parker bit her lips together for a few seconds then snorted a laugh.
“You think this is funny?”
She covered her mouth with her hand as she shook her head, eyes wide and unblinking.
“Then why are you laughing?” Gus crossed his arms.
Her eyes homed in on his arms and then a bit lower, widening even more.
“Just …” He turned sideways and shifted his weight to obscure her view of his erection. His mind knew he was married, happily or not, but he possessed an indiscernible dick when it came to a half-naked woman in a T-shirt. “Go get him, please.”
It didn’t matter how many attempts she made to keep her shirt from clinging to her body, he’d seen it and neither his analytical brain or rogue dick could un-see it. The more she messed with it, the harder he got.
“How am I supposed to make him go with you?”
“Parker! Jesus, woman! Just go get the damn dog so I can get to bed.”
And lose the fucking erection.
“Okay.” She held her hands up and backed up slowly. “I’m going.”
On a sigh, he dropped his head with a slight shake. “I’m sorry, I—”
Thunder echoed in the distance.
“It’s fine. I get it.”
“I don’t think you do.”
Parker started up the stairs. “No, no, I think I do.” Something in the tone of her voice confirmed that she did get it.
Gus grumbled and adjusted himself. Before he could fully ease the tension with thoughts of dirty baby diapers or colonoscopies, Parker returned in navy sweatpants and a dry T-shirt—no Rags.
“Sorry.” Her nose wrinkled. “He won’t come, and I’m too exhausted to wrestle him down the stairs. So unless you’re going to take off your muddy boots and go get him yourself, I suggest we just let him stay here for the night.”
“Fine.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Thanks and … I’m sorry—”
“Gus, stop. It’s no big deal. Guys can’t control that.” She shrugged.
He flinched. “What? No. I meant Rags, not …” Gus rested his hands on his hips and dropped his head again. “Dammit! This shouldn’t be so hard.”
Parker cleared her throat. “It’s still, um … hard?”
“Not my…” he turned his back to her “ …what I mean is I wasn’t talking about me. This conversation shouldn’t be so difficult. That’s the word I meant—difficult.” Gus moved one muddy boot in front of the other and didn’t look back. “Good night, Parker.”
“Good night, Gus.”
*
Aside from sometree limbs and a few pieces of siding, the storm did far less damage than Gus’s encounter with Parker. His marriage had survived its first five years without a fight that lasted longer than a few hours, and those minor fights ended in long nights of incredible sex. He loved his wife. Temptation may have lurked in the distance, but it always stayed in his blind spot.
Until Sabrina found success in a career that seemed to take precedence over their marriage.
Until sex became a chore she did before leaving town, like checking off a task on her list.
Until “don’t forget to walk the dog” replaced “I love you.”
Until she made more money than he did.
Until a young, blue-eyed woman with dark hair and an infinity of perfect curves walked half-naked into his life.
Temptation no longer resided in his blind spot. She lived a hundred yards away.
“Rags! Slow down! I need to wipe your muddy paw—aw fuck …” Parker’s voice faded into defeat as Rags bolted through the doggie door along with chunks of mud and grass stuck to his paws.
Instead of stopping him, Gus made his own mad dash to the back door, throwing his work gloves and stainless steel water bottle in the passenger seat of his van as he hopped in and shut the door. Dreaming of doing ungentlemanly things to the innocent neighbor girl made morning chitchat an equally bad thing.
“Gus?”
He backed out of the garage as she waved at him—a stop wave, not a goodbye wave. Unfortunately, vivid memories of her smell, her taste, and her warm flesh molded to his in his all-too-real dream meant anything she needed from him that day would have to come in the form of a text.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?” She jogged a few yards down the driveway as he stepped on the gas without looking back.
He rolled up his window, giving a quick wave before it completely shut. “I’m going to work where guys who burp and fart can keep my mind out of your pants, Parker.”
As he pulled into the driveway of his first job, a new construction project, he welcomed the sight of only one other vehicle—Abe’s truck. They both were accepted into the same apprenticeship program after electrician school. Abe lacked the funds to start his own business, so he went to work for Gus. They became close friends.
“Good morning, sunshine,” Abe greeted as the twang of country music played in the background from an old radio with a bent antenna.
Gus rolled his eyes. “Always so fucking perky.” He took a sip of his coffee that he grabbed on the way and stepped over the coiled wire and a pile of sawdust mixed with a few nails, empty chip bags, and a crushed water bottle.
“Just like your wife.” Abe gave shit as good as anyone, and he could get away with saying things to Gus that would land any other guy on his ass.
“I’ll take your word on that one.”
Abe set a roll of wire on the dust-covered subflooring. “Uh oh, someone’s not getting laid. Someone else banging your wife?”
Gus fastened his tool belt. “Yeah, her job.” The high-pitched grind of a saw and methodic thudding of a nail gun sounded from next door. It was the symphony of Gus’s days.
“Can’t help ya there. Denise is a teacher. Doesn’t make shit.” He laughed. “But I suppose that means she’s getting fucked by her job too.”
“Can I ask you a question?” Gus stared at the floor plans, not wanting to look too distressed.
“Shoot.”
“Your first wife.”
“The bitch?”
Gus nodded. “The bitch. What made you cheat on her?”
“She was a bitch. Weren’t you listening?”
Gus rolled up the plans and smacked Abe on the head. “Yes, I was listening. But I’m serious. When you’re not being an ass, you’re a good guy. I know you have morals. So at what point did you decide to have an affair with Denise? Did you know your marriage was over? Was it just too painful to keep your dick in your pants? Was it revenge? How did you rationalize it in your mind?”
Abe narrowed his eyes. “We discuss the Cubs and where we’re going for lunch. What’s with all these crazy questions? Is your vision okay? Have you looked at your wife lately? I don’t mean any disrespect, and I love Denise, but I’ve sure as hell looked at your wife. It’s impossible not to so what’s your problem?”
Gus ran wire, searching for words that made sense. “She feels like a trophy on my fireplace mantel. It wasn’t like this before her new job. We had a marriage. We were a team, and I loved the game. Now it feels like we’re just married. The game is over. And Sabrina is nothing more than …”
“A trophy on your mantel?”
Keeping his hands busy and his back to Abe, Gus nodded.
“Did you just have this epiphany or have you found a new trophy?”
With a grunt, Gus shook his head. “I don’t want a trophy.”
“I see,” Abe chuckled, “only not really. But if we stick with the sports scenario, would it be safe to say you’ve found a new game?”
The image of Parker from the night before popped into Gus’s mind. More accurately, it never left. “Forget I said anything. I’m just … off. When Sabrina gets home, I’m going to book us a vacation and not take no for an answer.”
