Tina Horsy

The wounds over his eyelids and scalp had healed to light pink scars in two month’s time. Tina said he looked like he was wearing purple eye shadow. She was concerned about the damage as any mother would be, but he kept the explanation of his injuries to a minimum. He served up the condensed version that he’d given Detective Williams, keeping everything damning a secret. He visited Tina every Thursday after he recouped. They frequented Half-Time now that Craig and Willis had made up, and that was where they were now sitting during happy hour. Fifty cent beer draws. Tina was on her sixth. Craig had just downed his eighth. Willis was busy with the happy hour crowd. Joey, his brother, was pouring three shots across the bar for a pair of men in business suits.

Craig watched Willis and Joey. Their faces would randomly smolder and blacken to the skeleton beneath. Sometimes in his everyday life, he couldn’t shrug Dr. Krone’s drummed-up scenarios. Nobody can forget something like this, so try and deal with it the best you can.

Trying to distract himself from the horrible visions, he talked to his mom again. “You look a lot younger than you used to. You dyed the gray out of your hair. You got a facial. One of those mud treatments at Club La Feminist too.”

“Club La Femme, you idiot.” She rolled her eyes, speaking to him as much a friend as a mother. “I don’t want men checking out my ass when I’m working out. You’re asking for unwanted attention.”

Willis stepped up to them. “You two want another draw?”

Tina clapped her hands. “Yeah, yeah. Two more, barkeep.”

Craig studied the man’s scar above his temple. It was shaped like a sideways “U”. Willis sensed an apology coming. “And I forgive you. Again. You’re receiving help. Let’s move on and drink and be jolly, okay? Forget about the past.”

Willis delivered the draws moments later and toured the rest of the bar and its patrons. Alone with their drinks, this was Craig’s chance to bring up Brandon. He wanted to talk about his dad for a time, among other things Dr. Krone had opened up. He had to know what was true and what was a manipulation.

He blurted out, “Dad was an asshole.”

“Craig Ryan Horsy, you watch your mouth.”

She was stern. The fun expression on her face had been erased.

“I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.”

She hiccupped. “I know!” Tina busted out laughing. “He really was, and it took forever to realize it.”

“He was an abusive creep. He cheated on you so many times. What a bastard. He couldn’t be happy with a wonderful woman such as yourself.”

“He had a little man complex. A lot changed between now and say thirty years ago. Women were subpar to men in every category, and now we make more money than them and we don’t really need them. We’re independent, and some men couldn’t handle that change, such as your father. It’s old-fashioned bullshit. He kept me down by cheating on me, and other things.”

“And that stupid basement and his nudie posters. That was his room, don’t interfere with the business he’s conducting, and dear God, don’t interrupt his special time in his special room.”

“Macho machismo asshole.” She sipped on her draw. “A part of me misses him, you know, the part of him that loved me without his complexes and hang-ups. Deep down, he wanted to be a good man.”

“You shouldn’t have stayed with him. Not for me, not for him, but for yourself. You should’ve jumped the shark. You should’ve jumped Jaws.”

“Live and learn. But I’ve lived a good life. I have you. I lost you for a while after Katie. I never got to really console her death with you.” She touched his arm. “I’m so sorry, Craig.”

He smiled. “Console me with fun now.”

Craig raised his glass, and they toasted each other.

He couldn’t resist bringing up another piece of information that could be true or not. “Did you ever cheat on Dad?”

Tina kept a straight face, but the side of her lip twitched. She contained the lying smile. “No.”

“Are you certain?”

She pushed him. “Craig, what kind of a son are you by asking me these questions?”

“I’m a son after the truth. Hey, I went to those court-appointed psychiatrist visits. Dr. Herbert has introspected me to death. ‘How do you feel?’ ‘What does that mean to you?’ ‘Did that hurt you?’ ‘How are you, emotionally?’ Psycho-babble hokey-pokey bullshit. I’ve always suspected you had a man on the side.” He stared her down. “Am I wrong? You can tell me. I won’t judge you. And I already know who it is.”

Tina played with her coaster, spinning it back and forth. After fighting herself for thirty long seconds, it burst out of her like a confession, “Parker Stevens, okay? Man, that felt good! I’ve held that in for so long. Not even my sisters know about him.”

“Do you still talk to him?”

“I broke it off so long ago,” she confessed. “It felt wrong. Maybe it was revenge for me, and maybe I cared about Parker, but I couldn’t distinguish between the two feelings. It wasn’t fair to him and it wasn’t fair to me.”

“So you slept with him?”

A hard elbow to the ribs. “Craig Ryan Horsy, you’re full of questions today—and juicy ones too. That’s between a man and a woman and God.”

“That’s sounds like something Parker would say. I imagine out of everybody in the history of the world, God has heard every private story and juicy secret. I’d kill to have a drunk conversation with God. I’d hear some stories.” He let the issue dwindle. “What’s Parker up to these days?”

“You didn’t hear?” She was excited to disclose the nugget of truth. She always enjoyed fresh gossip. It was a prerequisite for any receptionist and part-time manicurist such as herself. “He had a falling out of faith. He renounced the church, and now, he works as a zookeeper in Florida. I think his father forced the church on him from such an early age, he couldn’t decide between personal faith and his family’s faith. I haven’t heard from him in a long time. But I miss him. He helped me through some hard times.”

“He even tried to bless me without Dad knowing. That was scary.”

Tina checked her watch, ready to move on from the talk of her philandering. “Are you up for a movie?”

“We’re stinking drunk.”

“So?—the theater’s just down the street.”

“You’re right, why not?” He finished his drink. “Let’s saddle up and hit the road.”

Tina looked him in the eyes. “I have to ask you something. I really kept that a secret, you know, my affair with Parker.” She came in close. “How did you find out about Parker and me? Seriously?”