C4 antho - Chamber Four

~268~ The Chamber Four Fiction Anthology
Darla got up and said, “OK, OK.”
Jon had once told Darla he didn’t think Trevor’s marriage
would last more than five years. Now they were in year
four. Mandy’s mother had died of cervical cancer not long
before they met, and ever since Mandy had clung to him. At
the wedding, Trevor had teared up, said he was so grateful he
found her, so happy he’d stopped by that chain ribs-restaurant
that night and caught her attention, so glad he’d come
back the next afternoon and nervously asked her out, ecstatic
when she’d said, “Sure, I guess.” At the reception afterwards,
Jon told Darla much later, Trevor had tried steering him to a
tall redhead because she was so hot.
“Did you even bring your swimsuit?” Jon said.
“No,” Darla said. “It’s OK.”
Trevor said, “You could borrow one of Mandy’s. She
wouldn’t mind.”
“It’s OK. I can sit it out,” Darla said, sitting on a gray
wooden bench that splintered near the bolts. She leaned back
and looked at the chain link gate on the fence, the patches of
dirt where the dogs had tried to tunnel out. The neighbors
had a hummingbird feeder hanging from a tree and a panel
of cardboard on the side window where the glass was out.
Mandy came outside with a king-size bag of potato chips.
She didn’t lift her flip flops all the way when she walked. She
took the baby from Trevor. “How’s my girl?” she said, putting
her face right up to the baby’s, touching noses, probably
breathing out potato chip breath. “Anyone have a towel?”
Trevor threw her one with sailboats on it. He said, “Darla
wants to swim but didn’t bring a suit.”
Darla waved her hand. “Oh no, I’m fine.” She felt the hot
pavement with her feet, the comfort of it.
Mandy kept her face at the baby’s. “We have extras.
Don’t be shy.”