The Rent Is Due
So make it a point to
say you miss me
and tell all of your friends
of the boy from which your accent comes
oh wont you hold it, against me
for knowing the words
what you say to make your heartbeat stop
"So that's it huh? You’re just going to leave?" Munch was sitting on the bed watching the fourth Mrs. John Munch pack the last of her things into a suitcase. Every other time a woman had left him he had usually stormed out in flurry of anathemas and a biting comment right before slamming the door but this time he had forced himself to stay. A part of him wanted to be able to say he had seen the entire process through from beginning to end but another part secretly wished that if he was there that maybe he could convince her to stay.
"Yeah John," she wore a cool superior sort of smile as she looked up from the sweater she was folding "I've had it. You just aren’t the same lately."
"Oh really?" he said a slight smile playing upon his lips. Munch folded his hands behind his head and allowed himself to fall back on a stack of Billie Lou's clothes still on hangers. "You have sufficiently piqued my interest. Go on."
Billie Lou placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head, "So you really want to play this game?"
"I do, hit me with your best shot."
“The drinking, the moodiness, the antisocial behavior, the sarcasm. Do you want me to continue? You just aren’t the man I married."
Munch shot up from his reclining position to face Billie Lou. "I'm exactly the man you married," he scoffed. "What part of that wasn’t me?"
"I don’t want to talk about it John." she turned to walk out of the room. Munch launched himself off the bed and grabbed her arm. She tried to yank it back but he held on tightly. Billie Lou glared at him with a disdain usually reserved for one of her ex husbands but then again he was dangerously close to becoming one.
"You may not want to talk about it but I do." he said calmly. Billie Lou was all of 5'2' but she stared Munch down with the intensity of someone twice her size. "You say I've changed but in reality I think you just got bored. This was all a game to you. You strung Gharty around but when you found out he was married it took all the fun out of it so you moved on to me. Now you've got me but I'm no fun without the badge. So tell me Billie Lou, who are you going to sink your claws into now? Meldrick? G? Falsone?"
She smiled wickedly "Maybe. I'm sure anyone of them would at least be able to get...it...up." She punctuated each word with a sharp jab to his chest.
Munch let go of her arm, all sense of good will suddenly gone.
"I've got to go; my sister is probably here by now. I'll send for the rest of my things later." Her accent was distinctly Billie Lou, a slow lilting southern drawl indicative of the Billytown upbringing she tried so hard to forget. There was no trace of the Yankee affect she had adopted soon after meeting him. It was beautiful. She was so beautiful when she wasn’t being fake. "Goodbye John."
Billie Lou bent down and picked up her suitcase. She made her way toward the front door and this time Munch didn’t try to stop her, instead he just walked quietly behind her. She unlocked to door and walked away without looking back. She was halfway down the hallway when Munch surprised himself and called after her, "Louise!"
She whipped her head around and for a fleeting second he thought he saw the corners of her mouth curl up into a smile. They held each other's gaze for an eternity before finally she turned back, rounded the corner toward the stairwell and disappeared.