Good Wood (Carved Hearts)

by L. G. Pace III

“So explain it to us.” Mac looked at me as if I’d turned his world on its side.

  “I love her.” It spilled from my mouth like the most obvious truth I’d ever spoken. Mac’s jaw dropped open and Mason stopped and did the slow turn normally reserved for villains in horror movies. For a minute I stood there, the words ringing in my head. They rolled across my mind like the tide, washing away years of smoke and pain.

  I love her. I love Molly.

  “What the fuck?” Mac wore an odd expression, part horror, part astonishment. “You have to give me a minute here man. It’s hard for me to change gears from the train wreck you have been for the last few years to even thinking I would want you to date my sister.”

  “This is bullshit,” Mason roared from behind him and body checked Mac out of the way. Without slowing he pulled back his fist to hit me in the face. I saw it coming from a mile away. Mason was never much of a fighter, he always telegraphed a punch way too much. I could have blocked it. I could have stepped aside. But he needed to get it out of his system. I had broken the code, for better or worse, and the reasons didn’t matter. I deserved whatever I got. So, I took the punch.

  My vision exploded in a kaleidoscope of light and I ended up on my ass. Shaking my head I cleared my vision in time to see Mac shoving Mason back. They scuffled for a minute and then Mac roared in full voice.

  “What the hell? All of a sudden you think you’re a bad ass? Joe could kick your butt down the block if he wanted to.”

  Mason glared down at me. “Why should we believe a word he says?”

  I stood up and brushed off my pants and gingerly touching my jaw. I opened and closed my mouth, testing its function. A little blood but nothing broken and no teeth loose.

  “Because you’re my best friend, Mason. If I wanted to lie, I could come up with something better than this.”

  Mason’s face let me know that the joke was not appreciated.

  “You’re trying to tell me that you and Molly are a couple?” The scorn in Mason’s voice was painful to hear, but the time had come for this shit to end. We all might be friends, but I would be damned if they were going to insinuate anything bad about Molly.

  “Frankly, I don’t give a damn what you think. The bare truth is that I’m with Molly and if you don’t like it I invite you to step up. Both of you can kick my ass; or at least you can try. It won’t keep me away from her.”

  Mac stood firm, scrutinizing my face.

  “You really love her?” His voice was still quiet but I heard emotion creeping into it. I looked at him and nodded because the lump in my throat was making it hard to talk.

  “Yeah, man. I know I have screwed up royally. I have no way to convince you that I am telling the truth. No disrespect, but it’s not you two that I need to prove this to.”

  Mason looked back and forth between me and Mac for a moment and then threw his hands up with a grunt of disgust. Mac met my eyes for a moment and then drew Mason off to the side.

  The conversation that they had was pretty animated, but quiet enough that I couldn’t hear it. When they finished, Mason stalked over to his truck and drove away. Mac slowly strode back to me lighting up a cigarette along the way. He stood beside me as he finished smoking it, then he turned to me.

  “Mason’s pissed. I can’t say I feel much better about this. This is not a road I expected you to ever go down. All that code of honor bullshit aside, Draven fucking Cirone did a real number on that little shit. I doubt she’ told you all of it, but he was very bad news. He’d better hope he never meets me in a dark alley. But Molly’s a big girl now. And she’s made it pretty clear to us how she feels about us interfering with her love life.”

  He started to walk toward his car and then turned back to me. “I want to believe you, buddy. For the sake of our friendship I hope you’re being straight with us.”

  “Honest to God, Mac. Have I ever lied to you?” He gave me a hard look and then slowly shook his head.

  “Nope. And now isn’t the time to start. Because if you are lying, or if you do hurt my little sister, we’re going to learn the answer to the age old question”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  He turned and walked toward his car. On the far side of the parking lot, I saw Graham’s vehicle pull out onto the street. It was pretty obvious that he had been watching us. Mac reached his car and climbed behind the wheel. He started the engine and rolled down the window. Pulling out he stopped next to me.

  “Which one of us would win?”

  I nodded.

  Returning it with a nod of his own, he slowly pulled away.

  I pressed my hand to my aching jaw and picked up my tool belt. I saw Francis pushing his stolen shopping cart toward me.

  “You okay?” He called.

  “Yeah.” I called in return and climbed into my truck. I started the engine and saw him come closer. I rolled down my widow curiously.

  “Is she worth it?” His expression seemed to imply he knew what my response would be.

  I smiled even though it hurt like a bitch. “Oh yeah.”

  “Good answer, young man.” He called with an approving grin.

  When I turned onto my street, I saw Molly’s car parked in front of the building. Like Pavlov’s dog just seeing it had me aching to touch her, and I practically took two steps at a time. Unlocking the door, I was surprised to see the lights were off. The TV was on, but the sound was turned down low. By the flicker of the screen, I saw Molly’s dark hair spread across a pillow. She was curled with her back to me asleep on my couch. I quietly closed the door and found a Marye’s Gourmet Pizza box on the table next to a couple of rented DVD’s.

  The pizza hadn’t even been opened and was still warm to the touch. I took two plates from the cupboard and swung open the refrigerator door for a beer. My jaw was beginning to throb and my throat was still scratchy. Molly had obviously shopped because the fridge was stuffed full of food. I grabbed a half empty six pack, the pizza, and plates and went out into the living room I slid all of it onto the coffee table. Then I ditched my jacket and dropping onto the floor, I crawled over to her.

  “Hey, baby girl, you hungry?” I whispered, and as she stirred, I kissed her temple and frowned when I felt how warm she was.

  “Hey.” Her voice was soft and rough. “Sorry I didn’t cook. After shopping I was really tired. I hope pizza’s okay.”

  “It’s great. You want some?”

  “No. I’d better go home. I don’t feel so well.” Her eyes blinked open, but it looked like her eyelids were too heavy for her to support them for long.

  “You’re not going anywhere. I think Tamryn’s gave me the plague and I gave it to you.”

  “Mama always warned me that boys had cooties.” She sniffed and it sounded like she couldn’t breathe through her nose. “Wait…why aren’t you sick?”

  I brushed her hair out of her face to feel her forehead again. “My throat hurts a little. But unlike you, I tend to sleep at night and I eat my vegetables.”

  Her weak smile appeared and she managed to open her eyes. “Slim Jims don’t count as a vegetable, Joe.”

  “Alright, that’s it. I’m tucking you in.” I picked her up blanket and all and carried her toward my bedroom.

  “Now we’re talkin’.” She drawled dryly.

  “Nice try, Typhoid Mary. I’m cutting you off. You’re going back to sleep and I’m running to the store to get you some medicine.”

  She pouted until I crawled into bed with her, but she was out in less than three minutes. Once she’d fallen back asleep, I ran to the nearest pharmacy and rushed down the aisle, throwing everything I could think of into the cart. Tissues, cough drops, three different kinds of over the counter medicine. Being the eternal optimist that I am, I tossed in couple of boxes of condoms for good measure.

  I walked through the door to my building and stopped in my tracks. Mason’s wife Robin stood with her hand raised to knock on the door of the empty apartment across from mine. She had a covered dish
in her hand.

  “What is it with Hildebrandt women and their compulsive need to feed me?” I croaked. Though my throat didn’t hurt any worse, it sounded like I was going to lose my voice.

  “I’m sure my delivery will be anticlimactic after Molly-girl’s.” She teased.

  “Robin…” I started in with my this-really-isn’t-a-good-time voice.

  “Jesus, Joe. Look at your face! Have you iced it?” Her eyes bugged out as she gaped at my swollen cheek.

  “No…” I admitted.

  “Well, I came to bring cheesecake and apologies.” She smiled sheepishly. “At least let me patch you up.”

  I sighed tiredly. My day was catching up with me and I hadn’t eaten yet.

  “I insist.” Her voice was firm and bossy, probably from years of working in the ER. I nodded reluctantly and unlocked the door. “Where’s Molly? I saw her car out front.”

  “Sleeping. She’s sick.” I sat down my grocery bag and crossed to the couch. Plopping down, I reached for a beer and a slice of pizza. I wasn’t sure what Molly had ordered exactly, but even lukewarm the flavor combinations were unreal. Chewing made me wince. Robin rid herself of her coat and pulled a bag of frozen corn out of my freezer.

  “Here, loverboy. It’ll help with the swelling.” She sat down next to me and assessed the wound before pressing the bag to my face. ‘Who knew my husband could hit so hard?”

  “No one. He’s too damn slow to ever connect with his target.” I mumbled before taking another bite of pizza.

  “You aren’t gonna press charges, are ya?” Her eyes pleaded with me. “My kids don’t need a jailbird for a dad.”

  I looked down and shook my head “Don’t sweat it. I took the punch because I had it coming. Mason normally wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

  “That’s what Mac said.” She snorted. She grabbed one of my beers and popped it open with a sigh. “Joe I came over to try to translate from Neanderthal into English. Are you willing to hear me out or should I just save my breath?”

  I heaved a sigh and downed the rest of my beer. “Say your piece, Robin.”

  “A lot of this business has nothing to do with you, Joseph. Don’t get me wrong, your antics over the past few years haven’t exactly made you Most Eligible Bachelor, but it took a whole lot more to get Mac and Mason’s panties in that big of a bunch.” She paused, picking at her beer label as if trying to decide how to proceed.

  “Go on.” I took a second piece of pizza and grabbed another beer. Kicking my feet up on the coffee table, I downed the beer and popped open a second. I enjoyed the way the alcohol rushed into my bloodstream. I felt the ache in my face abate just slightly and was relieved.. I’d scaled back my drinking enough recently that on a nearly empty stomach, I actually got the benefit from a single beer.

  “I think you need to understand just how bad things were in Molly and Draven’s marriage. Hell, I’m not even sure I fully understand it myself, but I saw some things no one else saw firsthand.

  Mac’s ex and I went out to visit Molly in Seattle. It was after the twins went on one of their deep sea fishing trips and we said ‘dammit, we’re taking a girl’s trip’. She was so excited when I called and told her we were coming.. She took a few days off from work to show us around.

  We met up with her friend Dan at the Sky Needle. He’s the loveliest man you’ll ever meet. He worked as the wine expert at her restaurant…I can’t remember how to pronounce it.”

  “Sommelier.”

  “Right. Wow, Joe. I’m impressed.”

  “Don’t be. I grew up in a household full of pretention. My mom had one on speed dial.”

  “Anyway…Molly and Dan took us to the usual sights, a ferry ride, shopping. It was a great day, but Molly seemed a lot more…I don’t know…shy than I remembered. She had a wrist brace on her right hand and kept popping pain pills. I asked her what happened and she said it was just tendonitis.

  When we stopped for lunch, Molly went to the restroom and Princess Patron went to the bar for another noon shot, I asked Dan if everything was okay with her…ya know…like ‘she seems off’. He went a little pale. He said he didn’t want to gossip, but he asked if he could get my number so we could chat later. I gave it to him, and Molly was back before he had a chance to explain anything.

  When we got to her house I was floored by how odd the place was. It was outside of Seattle in some suburb on a lake. Waterfront property. Ultra-modern, one of those big glass cubes…all windows. As far from Molly’s style as anything I could have dreamed up. Don’t misunderstand, it was posh, expensive as hell…but it wasn’t something I can imagine her picking out in a million years.

  Draven was there when we came in. I’d met him once before…when Molly brought him home to meet the family. He was all welcoming and suave…all we could talk about was how handsome he was. He reminded me of a modern day Frank Sinatra with his little New York accent and his shaken martinis. He was all over Molly, always touching her, calling her Doll. But it was Molly that started to make me uneasy. She looked like a deer in headlights while he was around. As the night went on, my nursing intuition kicked in and I wondered if he was beating her.”

  “Was he?” My adrenaline spiked and I was suddenly painfully sober. I cracked my knuckles without realizing I was doing it.”

  “Calm down, cowboy.” She shot back, looking slightly uncomfortable with my tone. “If he beat her, she never talked about it. But he did get…physical at least once. I’ll get to that in a minute.

  Dan finally called me when I was at the airport waiting for the plane home. He was concerned for Molly. He claimed Draven was emotionally abusing her. He told me two or three stories about what he’d personally witnessed and he begged me to talk her into leaving him and coming home.”

  “What did he say?’ I drank the rest of my beer in preparation for what I knew might keep me up all night plotting Draven’s demise.

  “Two days before we got into town, Draven told Molly she couldn’t have the time off while we were there because her sous chef’s needed to be off instead.”

  “The slut he was screwing on the side?” I interjected, feeling the tension build in my shoulders.

  Robin gawked at me. “Molly found out who it was? I hadn’t heard.”

  “Yeah. They just got married and had a baby.”

  “What a bitch. I guess that makes a lot of sense. Anyway, Molly was livid. She’d been planning for us to come for six weeks. Dan said she snapped at Draven in front of the kitchen staff and threatened to quit. He lost it. He grabbed her by the throat and shoved her into the walk-in freezer. She stumbled and fell down. Draven told her to cool off and then he locked her in. The kitchen staff was in shock and Draven proceeded to rail at them for the next three minutes about how no one disrespects him and how lucky they all were to have a job. Then he stormed out with the sous chef trailing behind him trying to talk him down. Dan immediately went to let Molly out. Her teeth were chattering and she was holding her right arm. She’d sprained her wrist trying to block the fall. It turns out Draven had to give her the time off after all, because the doctor told her she couldn’t use it for a couple of weeks.”

  I couldn’t even speak I was so pissed. The thought of that asshole laying hands on Molly had me seriously considering a quick trip to Seattle. Taking a breath I used one of Dr. Greene’s techniques to control and channel my anger. Succeeding only marginally, I cracked open my third beer with shaking hands.

  “Dan went on to say that Draven constantly accused Molly of cheating on him. He insisted on handling all of their finances and went over the phone bills and credit cards with a fine tooth comb. If she stopped at Starbucks for a coffee, he wanted to know why. She said he’d keep her up into the wee hours of the morning questioning her about different charges. Then he’d want to keep her up for make-up sex afterward. She’d started taking medication for anxiety so that she could turn her brain off to get some sleep.”

  I thought about how Molly was almost always up hours b
efore me and wondered if something I did made her anxious. It was suddenly hard for me to breathe, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the virus I was battling or the stories Robin was telling me.

  “She rarely went out with friends or socialized at all. Not even with Dan, and he’s openly gay. If she did, the questions and accusations were so pervasive that it was easier just not to bother. She was always such a social girl. Can you imagine her sitting home alone while he was out fucking around on her! It makes me want to poison the son of a bitch.”

  I nodded my agreement, barely containing my anger. I felt for a minute like the pizza in my stomach was going to come back up. I forced down my rage with slow breaths. What she was telling me was important and I needed to hear it.

  “I’ve got another story for you. Molly told me this one herself when she first moved back home. When Draven first took her to meet his family, it was disastrous. His parents were rude to her. They weren’t thrilled that she wasn’t Italian…or Catholic. The whole family spoke Italian in front of her the entire time she was around. Draven did too…and he never bothered to translate for her. She could pick up about one word an hour. They had tickets to some Broadway show and Molly didn’t know what to wear. She asked Draven’s opinion and after he looked over what she’d packed, he told her she needed a new dress. On her way out to look for one she heard his brother speak English for the first time He called her ‘Texas White Trash’ and he and Draven both had a good laugh about it.”

  My head was throbbing and my blood pressure had to have been through the roof. What kind of man would treat his wife like that?

  Robin continued with tears gleaming unshed in her eyes. “Sorry…I got off track with that one. It just makes my blood boil. Back to my original story after I got off the phone with Dan, I tried to call Molly but she didn’t pick up. We were back in Texas when she finally reached me. She laughed the whole thing off and claimed Dan was exaggerating. I didn’t know what to believe. She was really convincing, Joe. After talking to her, I decided not to say anything to anyone. Molly has always been so confident, so tough. If she said it wasn’t a problem, I figured she meant it.