Prison Break
Sarah was supposed to be working on a legal document, but she still couldn’t get over what had happened last week. He had left her. Her husband whom she still loved, dammit! was leaving her because…well now wasn’t that the thing? He had said it was because he wanted her to be happy, but wasn’t she happy before? He wanted to give her a chance at real love. But what was tearing her apart inside if it wasn’t real love?!
She had thought that maybe Michael and his sister in law V were having an affair, but no, V was too happy with Linc, and it was all in her imagination. And her jealousy. She knew they were close; growing up together in the same building, almost next door. That Vee had always been around Linc & Michael and even acted like his mother at times. That they shared memories she never would know. Maybe that was the crux of it? She couldn’t tell.
So wasn’t it more natural Michael, who was still Mikey to V and Linc, to be more playful and relaxed with her than even his own wife? What should that matter? Still, there was a doubt. There was something there. Something she couldn’t place a finger on.
Oh she shushed it and told it to go away, it couldn’t be possible. But she noticed every time V was around Mikey was … somehow more relaxed. More … not inside his own walls, in his own head, lost in his work.
Sometimes, she thought, he wore his work around the in apartment like a cape. And she wanted to remove that cape, and see his wide smile and feel him relax beside her on the sofa watching tv… joking with her over dinner. Like he did with V and Linc.
She wanted to do that to him, for him…. to bring Michael out of his thoughts and show him the world, or her world, or her. Whatever.
It wasn’t as if they treated her badly when they all got together. No, they all three seemed happy to know her. They spent most nights together doing family things. They treated her as a close dear friend, if not family. Just not as family as the three were to each other. And that was nothing to be jealous over, right? After all, life long friends were…well, close. Right?
She was missing something and it was a wall between her and Michael. It wasn’t like her to not figure out a problem. To suss out who was doing what to whom. It’s what made her a good lawyer.
She started to watch Linc, to see if he felt it too, felt V breathe a little too soft toward his little brother. But he seemed, well, she didn’t honestly know because she had never seen Linc without V or Mike, so who was she to know how Linc acted? But jealousy didn’t seem to be it.
She had no idea what possessed her to show up at the dock where Linc worked one day and tell his boss she had an appointment to have lunch with him. She was too dressed. Too proper. Too fragile among the rough men. She felt out of place waiting on Linc to come up to the office. She declined the offer to sit and waited for Linc by the door.
When Linc came in the office he glanced at her, told his boss a quick “be back after” and he stepped out onto the street with her. It seemed as if he had been expecting her. As if he knew all along she would some day come to him. Wanting answers to questions she wondered if she dare ask. Wondered if she really wanted answers.
Amid the whistles and cat calls Linc just threw up a finger and kept walking beside her. He kept his face down and his eyes hooded. He opened the door and eased her into the booth. She had no idea what to do with her hands and since there was no menu on the table, she grabbed a napkin and twisted it between her delicate fingers.
Linc didn’t seem to need a menu. It seemed as if Linc knew he wanted and this meeting wasn’t on that list.
He ordered for them both and sat back to watch her. He never asked why she came by. He just ate his burger in silence. Linc is a quiet man, she knew, but he was quieter even than she had ever heard, if that made any since. She felt him study her as she picked at her salad.
After the lunch Linc and V didn’t come over as much. They didn’t go downtown to see them either. No one said anything. It was if her lunch with Linc had broken something. Something without her saying a word. The double dates were gone as if they never existed. The family-ness of movie night together at Linc’s & V’s place was gone without a trace.
Days and nights melted away. Michael took her to dinner and a few plays and even a work party he said he couldn’t get out of. He sat around the apartment they shared in his tie more often and talked with her about anything she brought up, except Linc and V. He would always get a tight line around his mouth and say they were fine, he had only spoke to them earlier that day from work and they were busy.
She knew she had stepped on something; broken something between them but she didn’t know what or how to fix it. It wasn’t as if she meant to send Linc and V away. Did she?
She just wanted to know Linc better is all. Why is that so wrong?!
How many times had he eaten with just V while Linc was at work before she came along?
The three of then had lived together for years after Michael got out of college. They had to have eaten without Linc, right? So just what was wrong with her eating with just Linc? Isn’t that what in-laws did?
~~~~~~
Later that night she sat on her nice plush sofa and drank expensive wine and watched the rain.
It had been happenstance that she met Michael at all. She had forgotten her umbrella the one day it decided to flood and he shared a cab with her. It was love at first sight, for her, at least. She pressed her business card into his hand before giving him a peck on the cheek and leaving the cab that day.
It had been two weeks afterwards when he finally called, she had almost forgotten him altogether, except she hadn’t. He had occupied her night and even her days to the point her friend at work warned her to pay attention or that lech Bagwell was gonna corner her in the stairwell one evening. That snapped her to reality quick, only Michael called that evening. He was out of sorts, she could tell. He voice was warm, but tight. He wanted to know if she would join him for drinks. She jumped at the chance, and felt foolish for being so quick to say yes after two weeks on nothing. She stammered out the name of a bar on the corner of a classy business block and he agreed to be there in 30 minutes. She was there in fifteen.
The wedding was modest, he didn’t have much family and neither did she. Well, her family lived mostly a state away while Michael said his only family was his older brother Linc and his wife V. Bagwell showed up, as did her friend from work and her boss. She was glad Michael or Linc was always nearby because she never like the way Bagwell looked at her with lust, and now hardness in his eyes. Her friend was happy for her and admitted a bit jealous of her too. Her boss wished her well and went to get a drink from the bar.
The honeymoon was nice, but Michael spent some time on the phone with Linc and or V much of the time the first day or so. Until Linc, apparently, told him to go enjoy his honeymoon, and stop being a jerk. Michael was sorry, he just had never been away from Linc & V, except for college, which he went to there in the city, so not really ever. She thought that was sweet.
Now she wondered how she could have been so naive. Maybe Michael had always loved V, and he married her to prove he didn’t? No, that didn’t seem right. Michael didn’t seem like that kind of man. But he was a man who loved his sister in law a little too much? How could she think that of him? Sweet, tender Michael. Who made love to her slowly and tenderly and made sure she was happy above himself every time. How could she doubt him?
Still she thought she should have been better prepared when she came home one afternoon and Michael was standing in the entryway of their apartment with his old gym bag at his feet. She didn’t realize he still had the old thing, but there it sat, apparently full and waiting to leave and take Michael with it. The thought made her want to kick the dirty old gray thing, but she didn’t.
She had just looked sadly at Mikey and kissed his cheek good bye.
She had thought that maybe Michael and his sister in law V were having an affair, but no, V was too happy with Linc, and it was all in her imagination. And her jealousy. She knew they were close; growing up together in the same building, almost next door. That Vee had always been around Linc & Michael and even acted like his mother at times. That they shared memories she never would know. Maybe that was the crux of it? She couldn’t tell.
So wasn’t it more natural Michael, who was still Mikey to V and Linc, to be more playful and relaxed with her than even his own wife? What should that matter? Still, there was a doubt. There was something there. Something she couldn’t place a finger on.
Oh she shushed it and told it to go away, it couldn’t be possible. But she noticed every time V was around Mikey was … somehow more relaxed. More … not inside his own walls, in his own head, lost in his work.
Sometimes, she thought, he wore his work around the in apartment like a cape. And she wanted to remove that cape, and see his wide smile and feel him relax beside her on the sofa watching tv… joking with her over dinner. Like he did with V and Linc.
She wanted to do that to him, for him…. to bring Michael out of his thoughts and show him the world, or her world, or her. Whatever.
It wasn’t as if they treated her badly when they all got together. No, they all three seemed happy to know her. They spent most nights together doing family things. They treated her as a close dear friend, if not family. Just not as family as the three were to each other. And that was nothing to be jealous over, right? After all, life long friends were…well, close. Right?
She was missing something and it was a wall between her and Michael. It wasn’t like her to not figure out a problem. To suss out who was doing what to whom. It’s what made her a good lawyer.
She started to watch Linc, to see if he felt it too, felt V breathe a little too soft toward his little brother. But he seemed, well, she didn’t honestly know because she had never seen Linc without V or Mike, so who was she to know how Linc acted? But jealousy didn’t seem to be it.
She had no idea what possessed her to show up at the dock where Linc worked one day and tell his boss she had an appointment to have lunch with him. She was too dressed. Too proper. Too fragile among the rough men. She felt out of place waiting on Linc to come up to the office. She declined the offer to sit and waited for Linc by the door.
When Linc came in the office he glanced at her, told his boss a quick “be back after” and he stepped out onto the street with her. It seemed as if he had been expecting her. As if he knew all along she would some day come to him. Wanting answers to questions she wondered if she dare ask. Wondered if she really wanted answers.
Amid the whistles and cat calls Linc just threw up a finger and kept walking beside her. He kept his face down and his eyes hooded. He opened the door and eased her into the booth. She had no idea what to do with her hands and since there was no menu on the table, she grabbed a napkin and twisted it between her delicate fingers.
Linc didn’t seem to need a menu. It seemed as if Linc knew he wanted and this meeting wasn’t on that list.
He ordered for them both and sat back to watch her. He never asked why she came by. He just ate his burger in silence. Linc is a quiet man, she knew, but he was quieter even than she had ever heard, if that made any since. She felt him study her as she picked at her salad.
After the lunch Linc and V didn’t come over as much. They didn’t go downtown to see them either. No one said anything. It was if her lunch with Linc had broken something. Something without her saying a word. The double dates were gone as if they never existed. The family-ness of movie night together at Linc’s & V’s place was gone without a trace.
Days and nights melted away. Michael took her to dinner and a few plays and even a work party he said he couldn’t get out of. He sat around the apartment they shared in his tie more often and talked with her about anything she brought up, except Linc and V. He would always get a tight line around his mouth and say they were fine, he had only spoke to them earlier that day from work and they were busy.
She knew she had stepped on something; broken something between them but she didn’t know what or how to fix it. It wasn’t as if she meant to send Linc and V away. Did she?
She just wanted to know Linc better is all. Why is that so wrong?!
How many times had he eaten with just V while Linc was at work before she came along?
The three of then had lived together for years after Michael got out of college. They had to have eaten without Linc, right? So just what was wrong with her eating with just Linc? Isn’t that what in-laws did?
~~~~~~
Later that night she sat on her nice plush sofa and drank expensive wine and watched the rain.
It had been happenstance that she met Michael at all. She had forgotten her umbrella the one day it decided to flood and he shared a cab with her. It was love at first sight, for her, at least. She pressed her business card into his hand before giving him a peck on the cheek and leaving the cab that day.
It had been two weeks afterwards when he finally called, she had almost forgotten him altogether, except she hadn’t. He had occupied her night and even her days to the point her friend at work warned her to pay attention or that lech Bagwell was gonna corner her in the stairwell one evening. That snapped her to reality quick, only Michael called that evening. He was out of sorts, she could tell. He voice was warm, but tight. He wanted to know if she would join him for drinks. She jumped at the chance, and felt foolish for being so quick to say yes after two weeks on nothing. She stammered out the name of a bar on the corner of a classy business block and he agreed to be there in 30 minutes. She was there in fifteen.
The wedding was modest, he didn’t have much family and neither did she. Well, her family lived mostly a state away while Michael said his only family was his older brother Linc and his wife V. Bagwell showed up, as did her friend from work and her boss. She was glad Michael or Linc was always nearby because she never like the way Bagwell looked at her with lust, and now hardness in his eyes. Her friend was happy for her and admitted a bit jealous of her too. Her boss wished her well and went to get a drink from the bar.
The honeymoon was nice, but Michael spent some time on the phone with Linc and or V much of the time the first day or so. Until Linc, apparently, told him to go enjoy his honeymoon, and stop being a jerk. Michael was sorry, he just had never been away from Linc & V, except for college, which he went to there in the city, so not really ever. She thought that was sweet.
Now she wondered how she could have been so naive. Maybe Michael had always loved V, and he married her to prove he didn’t? No, that didn’t seem right. Michael didn’t seem like that kind of man. But he was a man who loved his sister in law a little too much? How could she think that of him? Sweet, tender Michael. Who made love to her slowly and tenderly and made sure she was happy above himself every time. How could she doubt him?
Still she thought she should have been better prepared when she came home one afternoon and Michael was standing in the entryway of their apartment with his old gym bag at his feet. She didn’t realize he still had the old thing, but there it sat, apparently full and waiting to leave and take Michael with it. The thought made her want to kick the dirty old gray thing, but she didn’t.
She had just looked sadly at Mikey and kissed his cheek good bye.