Denise Hallowell was brushing her long brunette hair in the front hallway mirror. Her friend Jessie was chastising her as they looked at each other in the reflective glass.
"Denise, you are such a bitch!" Jess Crawford, Denise's best friend, shook her head disapprovingly. "You know your dad's still hurting. Why do you say things like that?"
"It wasn't so bad, Jess." In a backhanded sort of way, Denise agreed with Jess. "But just the thought of that cu... bitch! She fuckin pisses me off. What she did to us." Denise was getting tears in her eyes, and she angrily tried blinking them away. "I mean, she's been gone a year and dad still keeps her stuff. She told us she wasn't coming back. Fuck! Now I'm going to have to fix my makeup!" She really started crying now.
The tears refused to stop and Jess wrapped her arms around her friend in a hug, as Denise's sobs consumed her. Denise usually had herself under control, but once in a while her cool reserve crumbled. Even though Jill, Denise's mother and Earl's wife had been an abusive alcoholic, compulsive gambler and, as Denise later came to know the town tramp she was, deep down, still Nat's mommy.
"Sshhh. That's OK, baby. Let it out." Jess stroked her hair as Nat sobbed. Jess was the only one to ever see Denise this way. Jess was a nice girl, always something good to say about people while Denise was a tough, scrappy girl, hardened by her ordeal. Their friendship baffled many observers. "I know it hurts." Jess whispered. "Just think how much it hurts your dad, too, eh? He hurts as much you do. And he's trying to stay nice, for you." Jess's hands stroked Denise's hair and her back. She said no more, letting her few words possibly sink in.
Jess knew a little of the anguish Denise was feeling. Her parents had separated for almost a year when Jess was in middle school. The funny thing was, Jess's dad had been sleeping with Denise's mom. Her parents had reconciled, but the turmoil had given Jess an inkling of Denise's pain. Jess recognized that Earl Hallowell was a good, decent man, just as her own mother had been. While her dad had seen the stupidity of his actions, and realized what he was throwing away, Jill Hallowell hadn't, and had moved on to the next thrill. Jess felt sorry for Earl, especially since he seemed to have everything a girl could want in a man.
Denise's sobs died down to sniffles and she returned to looking in the mirror. She caught Jess's eye as she straightened her hair. "Thanks Jess. I love you."
"I know, sweetheart. I love you too." Jess kissed Denise on the cheek and started her own preening.
"Fuck! Look at me." Denise laughed. "I look like a fuckin raccoon." With her eye makeup smudged all over from her tears she did indeed look like a raccoon. "I'm going to the bathroom to fix it. Be right back." Natalie hurried off to fix herself so she and Jess could get going. They were supposed to be going out to a club to celebrate Denise's birthday. It was a bittersweet celebration since it was on Denise's eighteenth birthday, a year earlier, when her mother abandoned the family.
Jess had her short, dirty blonde hair fixed in moments and went back in the kitchen with Earl. He was still sitting there, obviously upset at Denise's callous comment, and staring out the window. Jess grazed her hand across the back of Earl's shoulder as she passed him to take a seat facing him. "Hey." She said, softly.
"Hey, back." Earl repeated. It was a thing of theirs, this greeting. Although Denise didn't realize it, Jess was helping Earl through this also.
"She didn't really mean that." Jess prodded Earl. "She's just upset, the day and all."
"Yeah," Earl sighed. "she did mean it. But she's right. I know Jill's not coming back. In fact I know exactly where she is, and it serves her right. She was in such a hurry to get a divorce so she could marry Jimmy Abbott. She must've had rocks in her head if she thought he was gonna leave his wife for her. Now she's stuck living in that dive downtown, panhandling for booze money."
"I can't believe she'd give up a guy like you." Jess stroked the back of his hand.
Earl chortled. "Huh! A guy like me. Women aren't exactly knocking down my door." He gestured towards his body. "Hell, I'm over forty, half grey, overweight." He snorted again.
"You are not overweight. You're perfect." Jess paused a second and looked down, surprised at her own outburst. "Well," Jess brushed her hair back. "you'll probably find someone in the most unlikely place."
Jess got up as Denise came bounding down the stairs. Jess quickly gave Earl a kiss on the cheek as she moved out to the front hall. A thrill ran through her, as that was the first time she'd touched him with her lips. The feeling of stubble on her lips lingered, and the faint smell of Old Spice, coffee, and cigarettes. Denise also gave her dad a kiss and apologized for her comment. She seemed to be in better spirits and the girls got caught up in their plans for the night.
Earl sat there thinking about what the evening had brought. Last year at this time he and Jill had been having a tremendous fight. He'd spent three hours at the bank trying to convince them not to take the house because Jill had once again blown their mortgage payment at the casino. Then he came home and watched his wife for twenty minutes while she fucked the Samway salesman. He let it go on that long because he had actually debated with himself as to whether she was worth keeping. He couldn't figure out why she was fucking that guy. He was fat, sweaty, and his dick was only just over four inches long. If she'd been fat, it wouldn't have been long enough to fuck her. Finally having enough, he had gone out and slashed the guys tires. Then he came back in the house, making a lot of noise, and glimpsed the tail end of the guy running out the back door. He never gave chase, but he thought he would've liked to have seen the guy drive off with four flat tires.
The worst part of the night was when Denise walked in just as Jill was walking out the door. "You and the brat can fuck off for all I care." Jill had said to both of them. "I'm fuckin done." Denise stood there in shock as Jill walked out. Earl had rushed over to hug her and console her but she just shrugged him off.
"I don't care. She's not my mother." She turned around and left, heading to a friend's house. Just like that Denise, his beautiful baby girl Denise, had turned a dark corner. Earl had gone looking for her when she never came home that night. He found her three days later, passed out in front of a hotel downtown. He never said a word as he took her home and cleaned her up. She never woke up as he bathed her, cleaning the dried cum and urine from her body, and tended the scrapes she had accumulated. He had waited to say something, but there never seemed a right time, and thankfully she never took another drink as far as he knew.
Earl had had a word with Jess about tonight, to call him if Denise needed help, but she didn't think she would. Denise's earlier comment had cut him though. He remembered it distinctly, "Dad, you got to get out there. Don't be so pathetic, she's never coming back. You gotta take care of yourself now." He thought about what she said and admitted she was right, he was pathetic. He decided on the spur of the moment to follow her advice. He showered, dressed in a clean shirt and pants, and headed to the local country bar. It wasn't really his genre, but they were so popular these days, you couldn't find a normal bar.
When Earl walked in he felt like he was in a fishbowl. Or he was a puppy in a window. Everyone looked over at him and eyed him up and down. The girls were checking out the fresh meat and the guys were checking out the competition. By the end of the night he was pigeonholed. He'd talked to the few girls that came up to him, but he couldn't seem to carry a conversation. And he wasn't a threat to the guys for the same reason. By the end of the night his only option left was a fifty-something, bleach blonde, barfly. She was forty pounds too heavy for her outfit and the stench of booze on her was so bad she reminded him of Jill. He left alone.
When he got home he sat in front of the TV drinking and waiting for the girls. He almost thought of Jess as one of his girls because she was there all the time now. In fact, he realized she'd been a godsend this past year, helping both him and Denise.
"Jess? What?" Earl looked up to see her smiling face looking down at him. He must've fallen asleep because the lights were off and he'd left them on. He smelled booze and realized he'd dropped his glass of scotch on the carpet. He sat up quickly, looking around. "Denise? Where's Deni?"
