Anchor Line

by Dawne Walters

  Nathan quickly pointed to Addie on his right

  “Babe?” Conrad’s voice softened instantly as he suddenly saw her standing at the end of the bed poised again to strike him with the other travel mug. The hand that held the coffee mug lowered, and he focused totally now on Addie. She looked pissed beyond belief and…hurt. So hurt. But he had no clue as to why she would be so pissed off as to retaliate like this.

  “Don’t babe me you fucking jerk! How could you?” She lowered the other mug, and shifted it to her left hand as she pointed to Amy, who was now standing on the other side of the bed wearing a Steelers t-shirt. “Knowing that I was waiting for you at my apartment…you slept with her!” She stared at Conrad now, who started to rub his forehead, on which a bump was now forming.

  “I wanted so badly to say last night, ‘no Conrad, don’t go.’ ‘Stay with me instead.’ But nooo…I said that I trusted you and told you to go. What do I find when I get here? Another woman wearing the Steelers t-shirt that I got you. I knew this was going to happen. I knew it!” She screamed the last sentence. “I wanted to show you that I trusted you and look what happens.”

  Conrad looked at Amy, “Who the fuck are you?” When Amy just fish-mouthed, he looked back at Addie. “Babe, I didn’t sleep with anyone. I mean…we didn’t have sex.” Conrad looked from Addie to Nathan who just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. “Baby, please believe me.”

  “Yeah and what about the stripper that just literally fell out of your bed? Am I supposed to believe that that didn’t just happen?” Addie asked, then turned to leave but saw that the doorway was blocked with Nathan and his girl. So she turned back around and took in Amy with a look that would desecrate her. “Get that fucking shirt off your back!”

  Amy had the decency to look scared. “I didn’t know you guys were together or anything.” She whispered as she pulled the t-shirt off and placed it on the bed, then bent down to pick up her own shirt off the floor and pulled it on. “I’m so sorry. I was just cold.”

  Addie cocked her head at Amy first, then looked at Conrad and pursed her lips. After a few minutes she spoke in a voice so calm, it belied the rage that she was really feeling, then looked back at Amy.

  “Honey, we aren’t together anymore. So you’re in luck…he’s all yours. I’m done with him.” With that said, Addie turned again with a death grip on the mug in her hand and walked past Nathan as he held Amanda to him by the shoulders giving Addie room to walk by.

  “Addie…” Conrad started, as he stepped toward her, setting the mug on the dresser. “Babe, please.” Conrad pleaded with her, still naked as he too brushed past Nathan and Amanda. “I got drunk last night. I was pissed off about being there and not with you. There is no one else I’d rather be with than you. I don’t remember…”

  “You don’t remember.” Addie interrupted turning around. “Really Conrad? That is soooo not what I want to hear right now. I don’t want to hear that you don’t remember.” She started walking toward the front door as Nathan came to a stop a step behind Conrad in the living room.

  “Addie, honey.” Conrad started again as Addie got to the front door with one hand on the knob.

  She’d had enough. She turned around to face Conrad with such rage in her eyes, it made Conrad take a step back and he bumped into Nathan.

  “Here’s your fucking coffee asshole.” She yelled and launched the other travel mug in her hand straight at Conrad. He caught it and hot coffee sloshed out and splashed on his chest, but he didn’t flinch from the temperature. “The other one your stripper girlfriend can drink. Keep the mugs.”

  Yanking the door open, she stated sternly, “Don’t talk to me! Again! Ever!” Then walked out pulling the door shut firmly behind her.

  Conrad stood there shocked.

  “What the fuck!” He yelled throwing the metal mug across the room to the wall by the front door where it hit with a thunk as it dented the wall and then a clang as it hit the tile, coffee spraying out of it as the top popped off. His hands went to his hair like he was ready to pull it out. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath for a few seconds. Then he turned around and brushed past Nathan as he walked into his room and stared at Amy and her friend as they were talking in low voices standing at the foot of his bed.

  “We didn’t did we.” He stated more than asked her. He knew the answer, but had to ask anyway.

  Amy shook her head slowly. “No.” She said in a low voice. “I was cold, and the sofa didn’t have a blanket. But nothing…”

  “Get out!” He yelled. “Get the fuck out!”

  Conrad didn’t stick around to hear the girl finish her explanation as he turned for his bathroom, throwing the door closed. He cranked on the water, then pulled the shower curtain closed as he started to scrub off the stale smoke and alcohol smell from last night. Dear Lord, how did he find himself in these situations when things with Addie were going so well? He stood under the hot spray of water for a few more moments, then turned the knob and reached over for his towel. Dried off, he came out of his bathroom and found that he was alone, his door was closed. He walked over to the dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans and put them on, and a t-shirt, then his socks and Nike’s. He went over into the closet and pulled out a red paper bag from next to his winter Army gear and pulled out the little box leaving the bag on the shelf, grabbed his phone and shoved his wallet in his back pocket and headed out of his room and down the hall where he ran into a freshly showered Nathan.

  “Hey man…” Nathan started.

  Conrad didn’t turn around to face his friend. “Not now Nathan.”

  “Conrad. I’m sorry…”

  “No, man. It’s cool.” Conrad paused. “We’re good.”

  He swiped his keys off the counter and opened the front door noticing that the coffee mess was cleaned up. As he opened the door, he looked over at Addie’s apartment and shook his head rubbing his forehead. He ran down the stairs and across the parking lot, then back up the stairs to Addie’s apartment. He tried the door and obviously, it was locked. He picked the key she had given him from his key chain and unlocked the deadbolt. Opening the door cautiously, looking through it for flying mugs of coffee or anything else that would suddenly be airlifted towards him. With none in sight, he walked through and closed the door quietly. He walked down the hallway into the living room and still no sight of Addie.

  He set his keys and phone on the bar in the kitchen, then walked back to Addie’s bedroom. He didn’t see her on the bed that was made perfectly, but heard sobbing coming from the bathroom. He looked in his right hand looking at the box that he still held. It was now or never. First he had to get her to calm down and believe him. He put the little black box down on the edge of the dresser and pushed the bathroom door the rest of the way open to see her sitting on the edge of the tub with a box of tissues in one hand and a tissue in her other.

  “Addie.” He said so softly as he walked forward to her and got down on his knees in front of her. He put his hands on her knees, rubbing them softly as she continued to cry. He laid his head on her legs and wrapped his arms around her waist and they sat like this for several minutes.

  She went to wipe more tears from her eyes but Conrad was faster. He sat up and took his finger and gently took the tears on his finger. “Aw honey.” He started. “Babe, don’t cry. Please.” He wasn’t sure how to continue.

  He didn’t do anything wrong so he wasn’t really sure how to proceed. So he stated simply that, “We didn’t do anything. She said that she was cold and the sofa didn’t have a blanket, so she slept on the bed with me. That’s it.” He took a tissue from the box and wiped her tears as they continued to fall. He loved her more than anything he loved in the whole world. It was tearing his heart out that she was crying because she was hurt by him. He looked up into her teary hazel eyes with his and the care and love and concern for her shown through.

  “Hey sugar tits.” He said smiling up at her as he brushed her tears gently.

  “Conrad,
please don’t.” Addie lightly brushed his hands off her and stood up. “I need some time to sort this out.” She tossed the tissue box on the counter by the sink and walked out of the bathroom.

  He got up and followed her out to the kitchen where she started making a cup of coffee from what was left in the pot. Conrad propped up against the doorjamb watching her. God, this was Italy all over again he thought. He remembered how he had to deal with the aftermath after Olivia had phoned while Addie was coming out of the bathroom her first night there and then it blew up. Once they had hashed everything out, he and Addie had ended up having sex. Now, here he was. Only, he was in Addie’s kitchen and on the defensive again. And like last time, the evidence was pretty damning. And this time, it was a woman in his bed. He was naked, she may as well have been.

  “How much time do you need babe?” He asked.

  “Your bachelor ways are always going to get in the way aren’t they? Strange women in your bed, women phoning you…stuff like that.” She couldn’t look at him as she spoke, so she concentrated on the milk mixing in with the black coffee as she turned the spoon.

  “What do you mean Addie? What bachelor ways? What are you getting at?” His eyebrows crossed as he stared at her. “Do you think I’ll regret being with you? Do you think I’m having second thoughts about moving in with you? You think, I staged that whole debacle?”

  “I’m talking about…” Addie turned her head to look at him. “…the stripper. In your bed. But hey, I get it, you’re virile. And while we are on the topic of moving in. You were the one that wanted to wait until Nathan’s buddy got stationed here in three months. Then, you said you’d move out. Whatever.”

  “Addie, you are so infuriating. What is it going to take for you to realize that nothing happened with her? Do you remember me saying that I’d never sleep with a stripper? Because I distinctly remember telling you that.” He stood up straight from the doorjamb and crossed his arms over his chest. “And just to prove to you that I’m not afraid of moving in with you, I’ll go get my shit right now. I’ll fucking move in right now.”

  “Oh really? Do I look fucking retarded to you?”

  “Addie, if I had fucked that girl, trust me…she’d have been naked. Just like you are every time I fuck you. You know I’m not a quick one. And trust me, with as much as I drank last night, there was no way I was fucking anyone. Including you.” He pointed at her. “If I was worried about fucking anyone else in my bed I wouldn’t have given you a key to my apartment.” He was being a dick, but he had to get through to her.

  “Oh I know just what you are capable of doing and for how long. I know I enjoy it, I don’t have to ask her if she did.”

  “And I didn’t fuck her!” He yelled frustrated as he slapped a palm against the wall in frustration.

  Addie’s mouth opened to say something, but when nothing came out, Conrad just stared at her.

  Waiting.

  Stalemate.

  Minutes just ticked by with them staring at each other.

  Not knowing what else to do, she turned to take a sip of her coffee. How do you dismiss an almost naked girl in your boyfriend’s bed? Maybe he was right and nothing happened. But she wasn’t going to get hurt again.

  Conrad turned away from her and walked to her bedroom to pick up the box from the dresser. He walked back to the kitchen to find that she hadn’t moved.

  “Here you go sugar.” He said harshly on purpose and tossed her the little box. She caught it with one hand. He just stood in the doorway as before. “Go ahead and open it.”

  When Addie didn’t, he continued from the kitchen doorway. “There is your night out that was planned for last night ironically before I had to change it to tonight because Nathan called in his marker. There is your romantic dinner and bubble bath and hours of making love. And just when we are both at the peak of exhaustion from loving each other’s bodies…this is where I pull that out and tell you that I love you and we make love all over again. You’re a smart girl. You can figure out the rest.” He turned away from her, grabbing his keys and phone off the bar where he left them and walked toward the door slowly.

  Addie opened the box and saw the biggest, most beautiful round blue topaz ring surrounded in diamonds set in a platinum setting. Easily five carats, the topaz sparkled at her from the box. In the slot above it was a matching band, a little thicker with little diamonds all over it. Above that was a very masculine platinum band for him. Her legs suddenly felt wobbly. She felt dizzy. He loved her. He meant to ask her to marry him. Holy shit! She looked up at him with total surprise on her face.

  He turned around in the hallway and met her gaze. “It reminded of a parachute of sorts. The engagement ring a parachute, the band it’s anchor. I was going to tell you last night that I wanted to move in here with you.”

  She looked back down at the opened box when he continued.

  “Is that real enough for you? That’s my commitment to you Addie. If I wanted any other woman, I wouldn’t have gotten that for you. It’s engraved, so you can’t return it and I won’t give it to anyone else. But I don’t want to hold onto it any more. I bought it before I left Italy.”

  When she still didn’t say anything, he shook his head.

  “Yeah. So fuck you Addie Marshall. You wreck me woman. I’m like a drunk man behind the controls of a 747 when it comes to you. And the only way it’ll end without you beside me is catastrophic. When you’re ready to forgive me for something I didn’t do…you know where I’m at. And by all means…take all the time you need. But I’m not waiting forever.”

  He turned and walked the five feet down the hallway to the front door and pulled it open and walked out pulling it closed with a soft click.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  She still couldn’t move from where she stood in the kitchen. It seemed like forever since Conrad had left when a knock on the door pulled her out of her stupor. She walked over to it, still holding the open ring box in her hand. She pulled the door open and saw the girl that had fallen out of Conrad’s bed earlier, at her doorstep. She snapped the box shut and stared at the girl with an uninterested look on her face.

  “I ah…nobody asked me to…” Amy stammered out, clearly nervous. “Nobody asked me to come over. I asked…where you lived.”

  “And?” Addie crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Well, I ah…just wanted to say that when a guy follows you down the hallway naked to tell you that…nothing happened, then nothing happened.” Amy shifted her feet looking down and then back up at Addie.

  Addie just stood there. Waiting. Saying nothing.

  “Nothing happened honest to God. I was cold. There was no blanket on the sofa. Your…your boyfriend was walking over here when I ah…I tripped and fell last night. I was drunk. Amanda’s date asked him to help me.”

  “So,” Addie curled her hand around the box and propped it on her hip. “That’s it?”

  Amy looked at Addie with a dumbfounded look on her face. Clearly, she had to spell it out. “We…we didn’t do anything. I have a boyfriend I’m crazy about. I may have been drunk, but I remember everything. He…he was out cold when I, when I slid under the sheet. He didn’t touch me.” There was a very long uncomfortable pause.

  “Anyway. I thought you should…know.”

  Amy brought up her hand as a halfhearted wave, then turned and walked down the stairs to her friend’s waiting car barefoot. Addie watched the beat up gold colored Corolla drive slowly away.

  Closing the door, she leaned up against it, the cool metal on her back seemed to soothe her hot skin and opened the box again. It was engraved he’d said. She pulled out the topaz and looked at the band but didn’t see anything so she put it back in the slot. Then she pulled out the diamond studded band and looked at it.

  Anchor Line.

  That declaration glared at her from the small silver band. The date was there too. He’d told her that in Pittsburgh. She looked at it again. ‘ANCHOR LINE’ it read. Her fingers wrapped around th
e ring and she clutched it to her chest as she slid down the door to sit on the floor as tears slid down her cheeks silently.

  “Well?” Nathan asked, turning around in the kitchen as Conrad came through the front door. “What did she say?”

  And damn it didn’t he look hopeful as the front door opened. But as Conrad slid onto one of the bar stools and tossed his keys up on the bar, Nathan’s smile dropped. He watched as Conrad looked at his phone checking to see if anyone had called and then set it too on the bar top.

  “I need a beer. No…I need rum.” Conrad said slowly rubbing his face with his hands. He went to get up when Nathan started moving quickly.

  “You stay right there. I got it. With or without DP?”

  “Without. I need to feel the burn.”

  “Fuck.” Was all Nathan could say as he pulled the Captain Morgan’s Rum off the counter by the stove and pulled a squat glass from the cabinet and poured a couple fingers full and set it in front of his friend. Conrad downed it and slapped the counter again with his other hand as the rum burned down his throat, and held the glass out for another refill. So Nathan poured again and this time Conrad only downed half.

  Conrad looked at the time on the microwave above the stove and sighed. It was only ten twenty-three in the morning. Ten twenty fucking three. This wasn’t the start to the day he was planning on certainly. But what the fuck right? He’d laid it all out for Addie. He loved her, he wanted to marry her. And she just stood there saying nothing. Nothing at all.

  “More?” Nathan asked.

  “Nah, I think I’m going to go to the gym and maybe the batting cages. Beat the shit out of myself for a while. Or what’s left anyway.” Conrad downed the rest of the rum and set the glass down slowly. Then he got off the stool and went to change into his shorts and a muscle shirt. He came out of his bedroom and Nathan was dressed and ready to go to the gym as well.

  “I’m driving.” Was all Nathan said as the two of them made their way to his car outside and off to the gym on post.