Unbridaled

"Hey." She seemed to be in an extra-special good mood tonight.

"Hey yourself. Sounds like you had a good day."

"We did. Ernie lost another client. We're going to be handling all their retail and office properties starting in June."

"That's good. See, we knew you'd get it down."

"I had a lot of help. I brought the wine to celebrate."

"Thanks. You're the one who did the work though so you should get most of the credit."

She gave me a hard one-armed hug. "Thank you, Ronnie. You always know what to say to make me feel good."

"Yeah, it's what I do."

Sherry grew quiet. She stayed quiet even through making dinner, when she usually took advantage of every opportunity to give me hell over my lack of cooking skills.

She didn't initiate a conversation until after we had eaten and cleaned up. We were in what passed for the living area of my little apartment, she was trying to find something to watch on TV. Her question caught me off guard.

"How long has it been since you were on a date?" Sherry's side glance was quick but not quick enough to avoid me seeing it.

"A while." I didn't want to talk about it, honestly. Sherry stopped by often enough that I didn't feel lonely, I didn't have to perform because she was bored, and she was happy just relaxing with a beer or glass of wine after dinner. I just simply preferred her company.

"I'm not holding you back from seeing anybody, am I?" She still wouldn't look at me directly.

"No. Why would you think that?"

"Because I'm here more nights than I'm not. I can't remember the last time you went out. Mom keeps bugging me about getting out and socializing instead of hanging out here. She thinks you need to be doing that, too."

"If you're not ready to go peopling, don't. I deal with people all day. I like the quiet. I like hanging out with you because you're not demanding. It's hard for people who like being around other people to understand that sometimes people like us don't."

"If I'm over here too much, you'd tell me?"

"Yeah." I considered myself lucky. I don't think a day didn't go by where somebody mentioned trouble they were having with their family, whether it was siblings, parents, or even extended family. I simply didn't have that problem. As far as I was concerned, she could move in and it still wouldn't be too much. I kind of missed having her around when she wasn't here.

I got the impression she was relieved to hear my answer. Mom could be a little overbearing sometimes when she went on one of her kicks. She was a very social person, a natural seller as it were, and I think the fact that her children weren't very social bothered her. Sherry loved working in real estate, she liked the long-term business relationships she was developing. She just didn't care for the superficial shit that was required to get there.

As was our custom, I let her take my bed since she had had a little too much wine to be driving. I didn't mind the floor for one night. I threw some clean sheets on the bed for her, stole my favorite pillow to sleep on, and we went to bed around midnight.

Around two-thirty, a phone chirped, waking me up. At first, I didn't recognize the tone and I thought it might have been Sherry's. Then it chirped again, next to my head, and I remembered whose tone that was. Ernie's.

I checked the texts. "Hey," and "Hey, you up?"

I answered back. "Am now."

"Can we talk? Arroyo Park, noon. Alone."

"K."

I wouldn't have taken Sherry under threat of death anyway. I knew the park pretty well, it was a popular place so I shouldn't be tempted to beat his ass to death there. Too many witnesses, especially on a beautiful Saturday.

I set an alarm for eleven, using my regular work text tone as the alarm sound. If Sherry was still here, I could use the excuse that I had to go in to handle some unspecified emergency. Even though this was my weekend off, it wasn't unheard of that I had to go in to take care of something.

I didn't go back to sleep. I was still more than a little pissed off at Ernie to begin with. My mind started going over what he could possibly use as an excuse, which just made me even more pissed off because either he was cheating on her or he never loved her and had just been leading her on. If it was both, not even the lobby of the police station would be safe for him.

Sherry was up around nine and left about ten-thirty to go home. I didn't say anything about meeting Ernie, I was afraid she would want to go. I wasn't sure she was ready to meet him face to face yet. I tried to be as normal as possible but I think she sensed I wasn't in a good mood, even though I went out of my way to be nice to her. Maybe that's what gave it away, I don't know.

I hopped in the shower right after Sherry left. By the time the alarm went off, I was already on my way there. His truck was already in the parking lot when I pulled in at ten minutes to twelve. I found a spot not far from his truck and parked.

Ernie was sitting on a bench facing the exercise area. Personally, I wouldn't have picked a seat with my back to the parking lot when I knew somebody wanted a piece of me. He apparently heard me coming, as he stood up and turned to face me.

"Hey, Ronnie." He had his hands to his sides, his palms facing out and slightly away from his body. He wasn't here to fight.

"Why?" My hands were next to my sides and balled into fists. He may not have wanted to fight but I was damn sure ready to throw some hands.

"I wanted to, man. I love Sherry. The problem? She might have loved me but there's somebody else she loves more. I thought I could live in that shadow but that morning, I knew I couldn't."

"That's bullshit, dude. She's never loved anybody but you. Where the fuck do you get off, saying she loves somebody else? There isn't anybody else, never has been. Now, you -- you took almost no time at all finding another 'business' partner. Took what, two weeks? Three?"

"That's not what you think --" His voice was pleading.

"It's not what I think? Are you fucking serious?" There was something about having my intelligence insulted that caused me to snap. As I stepped in to swing, a huge guy grabbed me from behind in a half-Nelson and somebody else stepped in between us.

"Easy, bro. Cálmate. There's kids, man. Be smart." I stopped struggling because the guy could easily separate both my shoulders and not even strain. "Why you fighting?"

Ernie spoke up, "I was going to marry his sister but called it off. I thought he should know why."

"¡No mames! You got a death wish, bro?" The other guy between us just shook his head in disbelief.

"He's my best friend --"

"Was, motherfucker!" I tried to kick Ernie in the balls but he was too far away.

The big guy shook me like a ragdoll. "Quitaté, dumbass." Speaking to Ernie, he lowered his voice, "If I were you, I'd haul ass out of here, bro. Now. I gotta let this guy go before somebody calls the cops and you don't want to be here when I do that. If you did that shit to my sister, I'd smoke your ass, no question. Shit, I'm tempted to hold you myself until he's done but I got my family here and I'm not about to go back to jail. Get the fuck out of here, pinche mamón."

The big guy held onto me until Ernie pulled out into traffic. The second man stood between us until he let me go. "You Anglos are fucking crazy, bro. You take care of that shit in private, not out here."

"He tried to blame her for it, saying she was in love with somebody else. He's a fucking coward, I think he was fucking with somebody else instead." I was still pissed.

"I don't know. He had to know you'd come at him and he still showed up. Not saying he's right, just saying he must think it's true." The guy was even bigger than I imagined. Between the size of his muscles and his tattoos, I had no problem believing he had been in jail. Over his shoulder, I recognized the woman with two small children standing there watching us as one of my team members. She gave an embarrassed little wave and I waved back. That wasn't good.

"I wouldn't have gotten involved but Alicia says you're an all right supervisor. I don't need my kids seeing shit like that, either."

"I appreciate it. Blaming my sister just set me off, she's not like that. Thank you both."

The smaller guy that stood between us spoke up. "Next time you see him, bro? Walk the other way. You don't want to go to jail, not for him. Wait 'til you get him in private and then beat his ass."

The big guy spoke again, just barely loud enough for me to hear, "It's good to take care of family, bro, but you gotta be smart about it. This wasn't smart. You do this shit in front of my family again, I'm going to be the one who fucks you up." I nodded.

I apologized and thanked them again, and shook hands before they walked off. I felt self-conscious as I walked back to my truck. There were a lot of onlookers, standing in small groups, watching the show we just put on. The only person I recognized was Alicia, though. My shoulders were a little sore where he had restrained my arms but it wasn't too bad. Fortunately, nobody had called the police. As it was, Monday was probably going to be a bad day at work if the story got around. It would be really bad if management found out about it.

I went back to my apartment. After cleaning up and doing laundry, I decided to take a nap. I hadn't slept since receiving Ernie's text, the adrenaline from the confrontation had worn off, and my anger at Ernie's claim that Sherry had feelings for someone else had also lessened. I was dog tired by the time I had finished folding and hanging things up.

It felt like my head had no sooner hit the pillow when the apartment door slammed. "Where are you?" Sherry's voice and she was pissed.

"In here." It was a small one-bedroom place. If she couldn't see me from the door, I had to be in the bedroom or the bathroom.

Sherry stopped in the doorway as I swung into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. "Why didn't you tell me?" Yeah, she was beyond pissed, actually.

"Tell you what?" I was trying to buy time to wake up. She wasn't having it.

"Ernie. What did he say?"

"He tried to blame you. It was bullshit."

"He said you went after him."

"Did you talk to him?" That was what I didn't want, Ernie trying to gaslight Sherry into believing it was her fault he was a piece of shit.

"He called Bob and Gina. They said he wouldn't tell them why, just that he couldn't. He told them the guy that stopped you looked pretty pissed off and he wanted to make sure you were all right. What fucking happened, Ronnie?"

"I lost my temper and tried to swing on him. One of my team was at the park with her family and the guy kept me from doing something dumb."

"What did he say?"

"Who?" I still wasn't awake enough to think straight.

I was looking down at the floor when her foot came into my field of vision. As I looked up, her open palm caught my cheek, spinning me sideways onto the bed. I could taste blood and the entire side of my face felt numb.

"What. Did. He. Say." She said it slowly and menacingly. There were tears running down her cheeks and she was visibly trembling.

I quickly assessed my options. "He said that he wanted to get married but you loved someone else more than him. I pretty much called him a liar. I asked him about his new partner and he said it wasn't like that and I lost it."

I could still taste blood but now my face was starting to sting. "You've never loved anybody more than him. Never. I thought I knew him. Guess not."

A strange look crossed Sherry's face as she stood there in front of me. She looked down at her hand, then at me, and whispered "I'm sorry." She slowly turned and walked out. I heard the apartment door open and close quietly.

I just sat there, trying to process everything that just happened. Now that I was awake, I wished I wasn't.

I warmed something up for dinner and ate it without actually tasting it. I was torn between hunting Ernie down and going over to make sure Sherry was okay. Neither one was really a great idea, I knew that, but it seemed like I should be doing something to fix this instead of nothing.

Mom called at nine. Bob and Gina had told her as well when she arrived home from a seminar. Of course, she demanded to know what I was thinking, trying to go after Ernie like that. Then she had to ask why.

For the first time today, I did the smart thing. "I can't."

"Why not?" I understood why she wasn't happy with that answer but Sherry didn't need her getting involved in her business right now. She could tell Mom when she felt up to it.

"That's something the two of them need to work out. It's not my place to say."

"Yes --"

"No. It is not. The only people you or anybody should hear it from is Ernie or Sherry." There was something about Sherry's reaction that I didn't quite understand. It wasn't anger at being accused of infidelity. It wasn't guilt at being caught. "I'm not sure I understand now what happened to change his mind. They need to figure it out between them."

"I want to know what's going on, Ronnie. Your sister won't tell me, Bob and Gina don't know because Ernie won't tell them, and you're the only one the two of them are talking to."

"I don't fucking know, okay? I thought I did but I really don't. They are the only ones that do and until they start talking, I know about as much as you do." I hated swearing at Mom, I tried to monitor my language around her, but I was beginning to get the feeling that I really didn't know what was going on and I didn't like it.

"There's no need for that, Ronnie." Mom never approved of swearing at all and especially that word.

"Sorry, Mom. I'm just as frustrated as everyone else. It's something they need to work out." I did feel bad for losing my temper again, especially with her because I knew she cared about Sherry and she wanted to help.

"It's not a good look, Ronnie." If this got her off Ernie and Sherry, I would take that ass chewing gladly. I didn't bother to point out that my bosses engaged in profanity even more than I did.

"No, ma'am. It isn't. Like I said, I'm just as upset as everybody else at not knowing what's going on."

"Try to be a little more mindful of where you are and who you're talking to. It's okay with your friends but not me and certainly not the people you answer to at work. Do you want people thinking your mother never taught you any manners?" That's it, Mom, guilt me.

"No, I don't. I'll try to be more careful."

"Please. Make sure to check in on your sister every so often. She's been really quiet tonight."

"Okay, Mom. Will do. I'll talk to you later."

"Goodnight, Ronnie." We disconnected and I was relieved that she hadn't tried to put me on the spot with a request to tell her whatever Sherry or Ernie told me. Not that I was in any hurry to talk to Ernie right now. If Sherry didn't want to tell her anything, I didn't think it was my place to do it. That would be the quickest way to get her to stop talking to me at all.

Before going to bed, I texted Sherry, asking how she was doing. I didn't expect an answer and I wasn't disappointed in that respect. I was still puzzled about her reaction, though. It had always taken her a while to get over being that mad.

I managed to get some sleep, I was still mulling Sherry's behavior as I fell asleep. She hadn't answered my text, either. I left her alone all day Sunday. I found myself hoping several times during the day she would text or stop by, but that didn't happen.

The only people I spoke to at all were Bob and Gina. Ernie had only called them to talk and since I had seen him, they wanted to know how he looked. I apologized for losing my temper after telling them a condensed version of our conversation.

According to his parents, he had been sorry for what happened but he felt that it was for the best. He hadn't mentioned anything about Sherry being in love with someone else. I didn't say anything, either. I told both Bob and Gina that he had said pretty much the same thing to me, too.

After I got off the phone with the Halsteads, I found myself wondering about Ernie's behavior, too. He hadn't been angry or accusatory, he acted like he was simply stating facts. He wasn't the jealous type or insecure, if he had suspected actual infidelity, I thought he would have walked away long before the wedding. He didn't act like a jilted lover.

He didn't even complain about it to his parents or attempt to defend himself. That was the part that confused me the most.

Monday felt like a long day. More often than not, Sherry would stop by. Not tonight. She didn't swing by on Tuesday or any other night during the week. Texts asking if she was okay were answered using the fewest words possible.

I stopped by Mom's, only to find that Sherry had gone out for the evening and she had just signed a lease on an apartment. Mom was disappointed to learn I knew nothing about any of it.

When she pressed me for details about our last full conversation, I left out the part about Ernie's accusation and her reaction to it. I just explained that she had been upset that I had gone to see him, that we had almost come to blows, and that I hadn't said anything to her about it.

The more I thought about it, I realized how much I didn't understand. One of them would have to explain it to her because I didn't have a clue.

I didn't hear from her over the weekend, either. I offered to help her move and she politely declined, her friend had a truck and he would help her move. It took three tries before it finally sank in. She was seeing somebody. I was equal parts happy for her and sad.

Of course, Mom wanted chapter and verse on the guy. I didn't have it. Sherry called him Dale, he was polite and so not her type, according to Mom.

Two weeks later, she was seeing some guy named Armando. The week after that, Luis. She wouldn't discuss it with Mom at all, complaining that Mom couldn't urge her to go out more and then question who she went out with.

When asked why she wasn't talking to me, she told Mom she was still upset with what I did and she wasn't ready to have that conversation yet. That was more than I got out of her, even after apologizing for fifteen minutes to her voicemail.

Work continued to go on, Alicia kept her silence about the incident in the park, and nobody else seemed to have a clue anything had happened.

As spring flowed into summer, the revolving door continued for both Ernie and Sherry. He went through assistants at almost the same rate as Sherry went through dates.

Ernie had managed to somewhat mend his relationship with Mom and his parents. He deferred any questions about the whats and whys, saying he and Sherry hadn't had the chance to talk about it first. He accepted the blame and responsibility for the canceled wedding, and he paid back most of the costs out of his own pocket.

The three of us avoided each other like they had the plague. My texts to Sherry dropped from daily to weekly. Sometimes she answered, sometimes she didn't.

The company had given us a three day weekend for Memorial Day, which was customary for them. Our production had been above estimates so they had sprung for a company event the Saturday before. Attendance for the line employees was voluntary but for supervisors, it was mandatory.

You might think that being surrounded by a bunch of people you know and generally get along with was a good thing. It really wasn't. Ever since my last actual conversation with Sherry, I hadn't seen her more than twice in passing or talked to her on the phone more than a dozen times. I missed having her around at night. All the company cookout managed to do was make me feel even lonelier.

Mom kept pushing me to go out more. I wasn't much of a party person and loud bars and clubs gave me a headache. The company had a strict policy against supervisors dating line employees. They didn't like coworkers dating at all. I wasn't about to date someone who worked for Mom or any of her friends' daughters. That didn't leave many options.