“I’d love that,” he said, resting his arm on the open door. She flashed a smile.
“Let me see your phone. I’ll put my number in it for you.” He handed it to her, and she added herself as a contact. “See you soon I hope,” she said, getting out of the car and tossing her brown wavy hair back in what she hoped was a sexy swoop.
“You have a good day now, Madison.” George got into the car, and she watched as he drove away.
Back inside, her mom and dad were washing the coffee cups. “Meant to ask you, did Gary have any work for you?” her father asked.
“No, unfortunately not,” Madison said, leaning against the countertop. Her mind returned to George for a moment. She grinned. “But I got a backup plan.”
7
laura
ROB AND JANET’S house still reeked of mildew from Hurricane Sebastian, a Category 5 that had passed through with a vengeance a year before. The new tile floors shone with polish, but otherwise, the place hadn’t changed much since Laura first started dating Brian in eighth grade. The pictures and trophies had only grown more cluttered over the years.
In the hallway leading to Brian’s side of the house, an eight-by-ten prom photo hung beside their wedding picture. Laura was the same age in both, and thanks to that updo tutorial in Seventeen magazine, she had the same hairstyle. If only someone had told her to get rid of those curly tendrils. Though she was only a year older now, she felt much more sophisticated—probably a result of living in the big city.
The rest of the pictures were a shrine to Brian: Brian as a baby in a tiny version of his uncle Bradley’s jersey, Brian as a peewee football player, Brian as a middle school football player, Brian as a high school football player. Framed news clippings: “Landry Named MVP at Toulouse,” “Landry Leads Toulouse to State Victory,” “Toulouse Football Players Share Their Favorite Recipes.” That last one always made Laura laugh. The Toulouse Town Talk, a newspaper created and edited by a bunch of bored local housewives, asked some of the players to participate, and Brian had shared Janet’s recipe for crawfish soup. It had more cream cheese than tails in it, but he loved that stuff. Laura had attempted to make it last winter for him, but after using milk instead of cream (“They’re basically the same thing, right?”), he had politely suggested that maybe it should just be his mom’s thing.
“Now, do you hang these or put them in a drawer?” Janet was currently standing at the foot of Brian’s bed, holding up a pair of his khakis. He lay sprawled on the blue plaid comforter.
“Hang,” he responded, and immediately returned to text messaging.
“Brian, you are one lazy boy if you’re gonna make your mama unpack for you,” Laura declared as she entered the room.
“Oh hush. I wanna do this for my baby.” Janet waved her away. “Besides, he can hardly do anything with that brace.”
Laura blushed. If she only knew what he was capable of doing with that brace two nights ago. . . .
“You really don’t have to do that,” Laura said, walking over to the suitcase and grabbing a polo shirt to put away.
“Stop it right this second, Laura!” Janet said with a steely look in her eyes. “This is my home, and I’m gonna take care of my boy.”
Laura recoiled and glanced over at Brian, desperate for some sort of reaction from him, but he was still looking down at his phone. She let go of the polo shirt and walked out of the room. She’d made it into the kitchen before her eyes began welling up with tears of frustration. So much for feeling like an adult, she thought.
Rob looked up from the copy of Garden & Gun he was flipping through at the kitchen table. “I was just gonna go outside. Join me, sweet girl.”
She knew her eyes were wet and her face was probably red, but she nodded and walked onto the porch with him.
“You did the right thing,” he said as the two of them settled into the padded porch chairs. “I know comin’ back here wasn’t in the plan, but life ain’t always perfectly mapped out, ya know?” Chewing tobacco was wedged under his lower lip and he spit into his infamous Styrofoam cup. “Twenty years ago, I thought for sure I’d be playing ball too at LSU, but instead I got Brian. Best thing that ever happened to me, don’t get me wrong, but definitely didn’t see that comin’.” His right cheek bulged from the wad of dip. He spit again. “Whatever happens, you’ll be all right.”
“I know,” Laura said, trying not to think about what was in that cup. “Thanks for taking us in.”
“Our pleasure, darlin’. Just be careful. Janet’s not gonna want to let y’all go.” Laura could feel the truth of that statement weighing down on her, suffocating her.
It’s only temporary, she reminded herself for the thousandth time.
“Babe,” Brian shouted from the back door. “Kenny’s here. We’re goin’ out. See ya later!”
The door slammed shut before she could even form words. Was he really going to leave her alone with his parents? Anger festered in her stomach.
She looked back over at her father-in-law. Spit.
• • •
“I JUST DON’T know if I can do this,” Laura whined to Madison, Claire, and Gabby as she dipped her greasy french fries in ketchup. The girls were at Meryl’s Diner, a small fifties-themed restaurant on the outskirts of Toulouse that made its waitresses dress like they were at a sock hop. “I mean, they’re so nice for letting us stay, but I’m already losing it. Janet hogged the TV all day to watch a Southern Kitchen marathon. And Rob. He’s so sweet, but oh my god—I picked up his dip cup thinking it was my tea, and wanted to die.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Claire said sympathetically. Claire, out of anyone, could most understand what Laura was going through, having to balance in-laws with her own family life. It was part of why Laura loved being around her. Getting advice from Claire was almost like getting advice from a future version of herself.
“I mean, what if you guys weren’t around tonight?” Laura pointed her fries at her friends. “Was he just gonna leave me alone with Dip and Doo Da?”
“Oh, please tell me you call them that to their faces,” Madison said with a wicked grin.
Laura rolled her eyes and dipped the soggy fries in ketchup again. “Did I make a mistake, y’all?”
“Hell no,” Gabby chimed in. “First off, we get you back, so there’s that. Second, this is something you needed to do. And girl, you know Brian is worth it.”
Laura nodded. Gabby was right—she and Brian had spent years fantasizing about their future together. They had to get that surgery for him. They just had to.
“So, did you get your old job back from Ricky?” Claire asked.
Laura sighed and pushed the empty fry basket away from her. “Yeah, he has me working four nights a week right now. Luckily he had just fired a waiter for giving free boudin balls to all his friends. I start on Friday.”
“You’ll still give us free food though, right?” Madison grinned.
“Ha.” Laura leaned her head back on the vinyl booth. When she worked at the Sea Shack in high school, she constantly gave her friends free appetizers and Cokes. How did I keep that job for a whole year? Regardless, she was gonna have to be more careful this time. As strange as it sounded, her future—and her husband’s—depended on it.
Madison nudged her arm. “So, what are you gonna do during the days? Doesn’t Janet stay at home?”
“Seriously, Mads, how is it that you always know the worst thing to say at any given time?” Laura joked, throwing her crumpled-up straw wrapper at her friend.
“Years of practice.” She smirked. “But for real, what are you gonna do?”
Laura shrugged. She liked Janet . . . in small doses. But the idea of hanging out with her on a regular basis filled her with overwhelming dread.
“You’ll find something to keep you busy. You know”—Claire paused, as if an idea was suddenly occurring to her—“you could always go back to school and finish your senior year.”
Laura sat up. In truth, the idea of going back to Toulo
use High had crossed her mind, but she hadn’t entertained it seriously. After all, she couldn’t very well return to the school that she’d acted so high and mighty about leaving . . . could she? “That’d be weird, right?”
“Why?” Claire asked, her blue eyes focusing in on Laura’s face.
“I don’t know.” She squirmed in her seat. “It’d just be strange to be back there and not be with Brian.” All of her best high school memories were tied to Brian: cheering for him at the football games, walking together hand in hand down the halls, sneaking into closets in between classes to make out.
“You’re still with Brian,” Gabby reminded her.
Laura rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“Oh, I think it’d be fun!” Claire said with cheery excitement. “You never experienced high school without him right there next to you. It’d be good for you. Besides, don’t you want to finish? What if . . .” Her voice trailed off.
“What if what?” Laura’s skin prickled. Claire had always been the voice of reason, almost to a fault. Her honesty was sometimes as hurtful as it was helpful.
Claire took a deep breath. “All I’m saying is that Brian might not be able to support you the way you always thought. What if he can’t play football again?”
Heat rushed through Laura’s veins. “He’ll be able to play again,” she said coolly. “That’s why we’re here, so he can get the surgery.”
“I’m just sayin’ . . . nothing bad can come from getting your diploma.”
Claire’s tone reminded Laura of her mother’s, when she had tried to convince her not to marry Brian just yet. “I’m just sayin’ . . . nothing bad will happen if you wait,” she had said. But then Laura reminded her that Brian could meet someone new at college, break up with her, and live the dream life—the one she’d worked so hard to help him get—with some other girl on his arm.
Laura tapped her phone and saw that it was after ten. “I gotta go, you guys.”
“Look, I’m sorry. Forget what I said,” Claire begged.
“Seriously, I’m not mad at you.” She shook her head and pulled out her wallet, throwing some dollar bills on the table. “I’m fine. I just really need to go. Brian’s gonna be home soon.”
The girls all looked concerned as they watched her stand up and swing her bag over her shoulder.
“We love you,” Gabby said softly as Laura waved good-bye.
Laura paused and smiled tightly. “I love y’all, too.”
• • •
AS SHE PULLED into the driveway, Laura noticed Brian’s bedroom light was on. Either Brian was home or Janet was in the process of doing a turn-down service and leaving chocolates on their pillows. Laura wouldn’t put it past her. When she got inside, she saw her husband lying on the bed, texting.
“Hey, babe! How was your night?” She greeted him with a kiss on his lips. He tasted like liquor. When he didn’t answer, Laura sat on the edge of the bed. “What did y’all do?”
He looked up from his phone with bloodshot eyes. “Drank too much.”
“Was it just you and Kenny?” She finger-combed his messy locks and pushed them away from his eyes.
Silence. Groping. Kissing.
“Oh, someone’s feelin’ good,” Laura said as he moved her onto the bed. He unbuttoned her jeans and began lifting up her shirt. “Wait,” she said. “I’ll be right back.” She hated to stop him, but she’d drunk two Cokes at the diner and needed to go to the bathroom before they did anything more. She hurried down the hall; when Brian drank like this, there was a fine line between amazing sex potential and well, nothing. He was either a lion in bed . . . or passed out like a kitten.
Unfortunately, this time he was the latter. She returned to find him face-planted on the bed, snoring. “Good night, babe,” Laura said, kissing his forehead and turning out the light.
• • •
EARLY-MORNING SUN PEEKED in through the blinds. Brian was sprawled out on top of the comforter, wearing nothing but his boxers. His stomach was looking a little softer than it usually did, Laura noticed; he hadn’t worked out since the injury, and it was starting to show. Perhaps a result of too many Natty Lights. Low calorie, my ass, she thought. At least the black graphic tattoo he’d gotten when he was sixteen still wrapped snugly around his arm muscle, hugging one of her favorite parts of his body. Her other favorite part of his body was just waking up. She decided to kiss it. That’ll get him movin’, she thought. Brian continued to snore as she leaned into him. He woke up immediately as she gently tugged on his boxers, pulling them down.
“Oh, hello,” Brian said in his scratchy, sexy morning voice.
“We didn’t get to play last night,” Laura said with a purr.
Even though he was sluggish, he wasted no time lifting up her tank top and kissing her breasts. His rough hands glided down her smooth skin, waking up each part of her body. He began kissing her neck, then moved to her stomach. She always felt self-conscious about that area, but it felt way too good to worry about right now. His kisses moved south, stopping at the inside of her thighs.
“I want you,” she called out, clutching his arms tightly. She rolled him over and positioned herself on top. The buildup was so intense, she wanted nothing more than to have him inside her, right that second.
Knock, knock. “Morning, kiddos!” Janet yelled from outside the closed bedroom door.
“Shittttt,” Brian whispered, whimpering with frustration.
“I’ve got beignets and coffee ready. Come ‘n’ get it!” The sound of footsteps drifted off in the distance.
Laura glared at the door. “Did that just happen?” she asked as her body slowly lost all the heat they had just created.
“Forget about it. Let’s do this,” Brian said, pulling her close.
“No way,” she said angrily. “I’ve completely lost the mood.” She got off of him and put her tank top back on. She didn’t know who to be mad at—Janet for not giving them their space, or Brian for putting them in this situation.
“Are you kidding me?” He glared at her.
“I can’t do this, Brian. We are married. We should be able to have sex anytime we want without your mom interrupting.” She got out of bed and put her pajama pants on. “I don’t want to be here. I don’t wanna be stuck with your parents while you go off and get drunk with your friends. I don’t wanna stay at home all day with your mom. This wasn’t the plan. This wasn’t how I pictured our first year of marriage.”
“And you think I did?” Brian asked, his voice raised. “Do you seriously think I wanted this? I’m the one who this affects the most. I’m the one who can’t do what I love right now.”
She paused in the middle of the room. “And you think I love working at the Sea Shack?”
“How is that any different from what you were doing at Magnolia?” He was still sitting in bed naked, making it harder to take him seriously.
“Well, for one, when I was off from Magnolia, I didn’t have a forty-year-old woman force-feeding me breakfast and hoggin’ the TV.” She grabbed her paddle brush and started stroking her hair with it furiously.
“You’re being a bitch.”
“Excuse me?” Laura fumed. He had never called her that before.
“My parents are giving us a place rent-free right now. They’re paying for all our food. Why can’t you just suck it up for now?”
“We may be saving money, but I swear I’m gonna lose my sanity.” She threw her brush on the desk.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Brian said, finally putting his clothes back on. “Suck it up. This is our life right now.”
Laura didn’t want to be under the same roof as him—or Janet—at that moment. But there was nowhere else for her to go. Or was there? She glanced at the framed picture of Claire and the girls on the desk, remembering the conversation they’d had the night before. She contemplated it for a moment more.
“I’m going to get some breakfast,” Brian said.
She turned aroun
d and looked at him. “And I’m going to go back to school.”
8
claire
MRS. DEBORAH, THE church’s sweet silver-haired secretary, had brought in a homemade praline pie so rich that one tiny sliver had to have been about a thousand calories. But Claire brushed that thought aside as she took bite after bite of the decadent dessert that was quickly turning into her lunch. She had been in the church library all morning working with Beau, one of their youth group members and their current media intern, to develop a reel of Gavin’s best sermons for the church’s website. Now it was almost two o’clock, and the video was finally turning into something they were both excited about.
“Oh, this would be a great place to put that part where he talks about being forgiven for sins,” she said, pointing at the computer screen.
Beau nodded and dragged the clip across the screen, inserting it between the sections on “feeling blessed even in difficult times” and “the importance of forgiving others.”
“I feel like this is it,” she said, taking a deep breath, proud of what they had accomplished. “Send me the video, and I’ll add it to the website.” She stood to leave and grabbed the half-full pie tin. “You don’t want this, right?” Beau shook his head.
As she made her way back to her office down the hall, she felt inspired. Gavin’s sermons always had a way of making her feel like she had just come from counseling. And given how quickly their congregation was growing, she wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Gavin’s dad had started the church in the nineties and had gathered about three hundred loyal followers from the surrounding area, but when Gavin joined him two years ago and began preaching, they soon ran out of pews for congregants.
One newspaper called him a visionary. People around town buzzed about his fresh ideas and commanding stage presence. His dad even admitted Gavin was better than him, stepping aside to allow his son to take the spotlight. This was no surprise to Claire—from the moment they’d met, she’d been drawn in by his devotion to God and ability to inspire others.
The Young Wives Club Page 5