Free Unforced Error by Michael Bowen

me dizzy,” Rep said. “What could possibly have come up in the last hour that’s so important it can’t wait ’ til morning?”
    â€œIt’s kind of hard to explain. I have to check something before I’ll even know if it’s anything at all. Just tell Linda that I know she’ll understand, and I’ll explain everything as soon as I can.”
    A quick handclasp and Peter was gone while Rep was still opening his mouth to protest further.
    Melissa by that time had sponged off Linda’s face, gotten a cup of water down her throat, and patted a semblance of pink back into her cheeks.
    â€œOkay,” Melissa said then. “From the top, but after two deep breaths.”
    â€œRight,” Linda said after obediently gulping air. “After taking a pop from that bottle of Johnny Walker Black to get my nerve up, I got Peter to the office. I’d prepared a neat little speech, but I never got past
there’s something I have to talk to you about
. Then I saw his uniform looking so perfect on him. And I saw his face glowing with unconditional devotion, and this look of boyish hope in his eyes. And I thought about him being out here to spend the rest of the week with his re-enactment buddies, doing this thing he loves so much. And I knew you were right. And Siebern was right. Even Quinlan was right.”
    â€œNot quite peer review, but I’ll take it,” Melissa said.
    â€œI knew I shouldn’t tell him. Not only couldn’t but shouldn’t. That if I did, I’d be doing it for me and not for him, hurting him for no good reason.”
    â€œI think you made the right choice.”
    â€œBut then I had to cover so I started rattling on,” Linda said. “I said I just had to tell him what a wonderful husband he was and how thrilled I was to be married to him. And we, uh, kind of started making out a little bit. Quite a bit, actually. When he wasn’t nibbling my ear he was whispering to me about how I’m a faultless angel and so forth.”
    â€œThis doesn’t sound like regurgitation material so far,” Melissa said.
    â€œThat came when we stopped to catch our breath. He held me at arms’ length, and looked at me, and then he just lit up like a six-year old seeing the tree on Christmas morning. His face was like
I got it! I got it!
And he said he could tell I thought I was pregnant but I wouldn’t come out and say it yet because I was worried about getting his hopes up too soon.”
    â€œAnd you started to cry?” Melissa guessed.
    â€œNo, I was already crying. I started to feel everything come back up. I knew I wasn’t just going vomit but hurl big time, like an outtake from
Animal House
. I mean, the nervous tension and everything, and then the somewhat unfortunate irony on top of it—”
    â€œI understand,” Melissa said.
    â€œSo I made a mad dash for the restroom. I thought a Johnny Walker encore might calm me down, but it had the opposite effect. I mean, dumb, yeah, I know. Totally. Except for New Year’s Eve and friends getting shucked by their husbands, I don’t do hard liquor at all. Anyway, I lost lunch, tea, and salad, and it seemed to go on and on. Thank God you came in.”
    â€œAll right, trooper,” Melissa said jauntily, climbing to her feet and pulling Linda after her. “A rough patch, but no harm done. Time to show the flag. I think we’ll stick with fruit punch for the rest of the night.”
    By the time they reached the hallway Linda was walking on her own, and when they approached the head of the stairs her gait had gotten downright steady. That’s when they saw Rep coming up.
    â€œWhere’s Peter?” Melissa asked sharply.
    â€œHalfway to I-29 would be my guess,” Rep said. He then quickly described Peter’s exit and relayed his message.
    â€œOh God,” Linda panted, a frantic desperation straining her voice. “No, oh please