"Way up there in the bad part of Cow Town,
Somebody done treated you real mean.
I'm here to take care of you, you wouldn't be scared
If you'd seen half the things that I've seen."
-Cornell Hurd Band,
"I Don't Care What It Is That You Did When You Lived In Ft. Worth"
"I'm very sorry about that, Susan," Troy said as he refilled my coffee cup and took his seat at the table. "I promise you I'm not angry and you haven't done anything wrong. It's just that we need to go somewhere and talk before anything else can happen."
I HAD jumped a little when he did that, and maybe for half a second, I was Sue again, now I was just wishing he'd make it up to Susan right here on the table. But if it was that important to him, I could wait. "Ok. Go somewhere?" I asked as I sipped my coffee. It wasn't anything fancy, something out of a can with hazelnut creamer. The kind of coffee my parents would've had when they were alive; more about the comfort than where it came from and how it was picked.
Troy nodded and sipped as well. "There's a reason we both wanted you to stay after Claire left. It's nothing against anyone. I sensed something special about you from the beginning, Susan, and I was right. It's something we need to talk about, and depending on how that talk goes, everyone should benefit, however, this isn't the right place. We need to have this talk somewhere else."
Well, in less than 24 hours, he'd made me see how strong Susan could be and given me the fuck of my life over and over, it only made sense to keep going along with things. We finished the coffee and got ready to go. Troy wore the same clothes he had on yesterday so I wouldn't feel like I was "walk of shaming" my way out, and we got in his car and left. I had the same thought I'd had on the way here of touching myself and giving Troy and anyone else who might be looking a show. I kept the thought down, though. Wherever we were going was clearly important to him. Susan could keep control, no matter how boring it sounded.
We arrived at a big park, too late for the serious jogging crowd, but one of the old men playing boccie nudged his friend as I got out of the car. Troy bought us ice cream from a vendor's wagon, then found us a bench by the duck pond. I sat next to him, wishing I'd worn a much shorter skirt so I could give passersby a glimpse of my panties, or take them off and give them something to tell their friends later. DAMN, why were so many people looking so sexy today? It was like I'd just noticed them now. Then I remembered that on the rare occasions that Chad brought me someplace public, he usually had his arm around my waist and I was looking down most of the time. Showing any interest in another person would have gotten Sue hit when we got home, so it was best to avoid looking at anyone.