Free Married Men by Carl Weber Page B

card for months just to buy Rose a ring. There had to be room on it. That’s when I remembered the dress, earrings, shoes, and handbag I had bought the day before. Not to mention the hundred and fifty dollars I spent on dinner and then the cruise. I’d spent almost a thousand dollars in one night, on a Visa card that only had a twenty-five-hundred-dollar limit. I looked at Henry, and he looked at me, wordlessly. Both of us knew I couldn’t go home to Rose without that ring.
     
    The Roadhouse Bar in Hollis had been our meeting place and hangout on Saturday nights since we’d been old enough to drink. The Roadhouse wasn’t anything special, just a small local bar. But to us it was a sanctuary. A place we could go and be away from our better halves. We’d shared drinks there over good times and bad, and Jay, Wil, and Kyle had all announced their plans to marry there. That’s why I’d waited all day to tell them about Rose’s and my engagement. I thought it would be nice telling them in our old haunt. But by the time we arrived, it didn’t seem like the greatest idea.
    Our basketball team had its first loss of the year, and Jay was overreacting to it. He’d started drinking the minute we walked in. Wil was on his cell phone, getting comfort from his wife Diane. And Kyle was driving me crazy talking about this damn lawsuit he was filing against the police. He wouldn’t let me get in a word.
    “So, Allen, I’m probably gonna need you to be a character witness if we go to trial.” Kyle waited for an answer. “Allen, Allen, you listenin’ to me, man?”
    “Yeah, I hear ya,” I told him distractedly. “Look, can we talk ‘bout the lawsuit later? I got somethin’ important I need to tell y’all.”
    “You better not have quit your job again, Allen,” Jay slurred.
    “Nah, I got some good news,” I assured them.
    I gestured to Wil to hang up his phone so I could share my news.
    “Look, Hun, I’ll call you back in a few minutes. Allen’s got some mystery he’s about to reveal.” Wil said goodbye to his wife and gave me his attention.
    “I’m about to join the club,” I told them with a big grin.
    “What club?” Jay asked.
    I reached into my pocket and pulled out the box that contained Granny’s ring.
    “Oh, shit!” Kyle shouted. There wasn’t any reaction from Jay and Wil until I opened the box to display the three-carat engagement ring.
    “Look at the size of that rock,” Wil said, his eyes bulging.
    “Don’t tell me you’re getting engaged?” Kyle’s voice sounded a little disappointed.
    “That’s right.” I said, trying to figure out Kyle’s reaction. “It’s about time I made Rose an honest woman, don’t you think?”
    Kyle gave Jay a look, then shook his head. A look that told me that both of them thought I was crazy. Both Kyle and Jay had been telling me for years how hard marriage was. They said it was worth it, but both of them had days they wished they were single.
    “Congratulations, Al.” Wil grabbed my hand and pulled me into an embrace.
    “Yeah, congratulations.” Kyle shook my hand, but his heart was obviously not in it. “You sure you wanna do this? Rose is a nice girl, but why buy the cow when you gettin’ the milk for free? Marriage ain’t easy, bro.”
    “I know. But she’s waited five years for this,” I reasoned, giving them the same argument Rose had given me countless times before.
    “I hope you know what you’re doin’, man.” Kyle spoke like someone had just died.
    I glanced at Jay, who was still staring at the ring. He hadn’t said a word, which was probably a good thing. When Jay was drunk, he spoke his mind and somebody usually ended up pissed off.
    “Is this shit real?” Jay slurred. “I know your cheap ass didn’t buy no rock this big.”
    “Yeah, that is a pretty big rock, Allen. How many carats is it?” Wil took the ring from Jay.
    “Three carats, and the color and clarity are almost perfect. It was my grandmother’s