Free Repo Madness by W. Bruce Cameron Page B

chastised.
    â€œOh. He stayed with Kermit and Becky last night, and he’s with Kermit right now. This isn’t … We’re not ending the relationship. It’s just a break; we’re taking a break. The place in East Jordan is literally half a block from my job. It’s nice. I walked to work this morning.”
    â€œIs there somebody…?”
    â€œNo, Ruddy. I haven’t met anybody else,” she assured me firmly.
    â€œThen don’t do this,” I grated.
    Katie stood up. “I’m really sorry, but I need to go. I’m going to be late.”
    â€œYou can’t go . We need to talk about this!” I insisted.
    â€œLet her leave, Ruddy. She’s feeling trapped, and this isn’t helping,” Alan advised.
    Katie was shrugging on her coat. “We will talk more about it, Ruddy. Just not right now. I need time, I told you. That’s all this is about. Honest. Please.”
    I sat up in the hospital bed, feeling ridiculous in the lightweight gown I was wearing. “I’ll go with you.”
    â€œWhat? No, Ruddy, you can’t.” She checked her watch. “I’m meeting my new landlord. I’m sorry. But we will talk, I promise.”
    â€œDammit, Katie!”
    â€œOh, that’s great. Yell at her,” Alan jeered.
    With a look that held far more sadness and regret than I thought was appropriate for a “break” where we were “not breaking up,” Katie grabbed her purse and rushed out the door, checking her watch again in the hallway.
    â€œDon’t say anything right now, Alan,” I warned him.
    And, to his credit, he didn’t.
    *   *   *
    They kept me another night just to prove that they could, but Jimmy was there in the morning to pick me up. I was stiff, aching everywhere, and groaned aloud as I settled into his car.
    Alan was asleep.
    When he was gone those eighteen months, I felt his absence as a lack, as a hollow sensation. In a lot of ways it was what I went through when I lost my dad—this odd, phantom-limb feeling that something was both there and not. Alan’s return was like an increase in air pressure, a weight inside my mind—and of course you couldn’t get the guy to shut up. But this was something different than when he’d vanished, this sleep—the feeling that he was there, but in a way that didn’t register with the senses except as a dormant object. He’d slept before, the first time he’d come to visit, so this, too, was something my subconscious might easily be inventing for its own amusement. I wanted my friend back, so he was back. Then I wanted him to take a break, like Katie wanted us to take a break, so he went to sleep.
    I texted Katie to say I’d been released.
    Good, she responded. We’ll talk soon .
    About what, our living apart? I didn’t want to talk about that.
    Jimmy was pensive as he drove us back to Kalkaska. I watched him wrestling with something, giving him time. That’s what you did with Jimmy—there was no sense in trying to pull his thoughts out of the oven before they were fully baked. “I never have done this before, you know,” he finally remarked.
    â€œDriven a car?”
    He blinked at me. “No. Ruddy, you taught me to drive.”
    â€œI was kidding, Jimmy. Done what?”
    â€œSlept with a married woman. I mean, yeah, I’ve slept with them, but never as more than just, you know.”
    â€œI actually don’t know.”
    â€œI mean, just as a one-time thing. One night. Not…”
    â€œYou’ve never had an extended extramarital affair,” I translated.
    â€œExtended extramarital,” Jimmy repeated dubiously.
    â€œWhy is it extended? I thought she said her husband would literally kill her if he found out. That’s hardly encouraging for long-term prospects.”
    â€œYeah, about that.”
    â€œWhat about that?”
    â€œAlice says he