Something Special Read online

together at Western, and she teaches at the middle school here. I thought, what the hell, right? Linc never cares when I get together with old friends any more than I do when he does it. Then Tara and I got talking and she says there’s this country western bar that’s a hangout for married guys from Chicago looking to hook up, real desperation city, know what I mean?” She hesitated, seeing the look on his face.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  Will smiled. “No. You’re absolutely right. Desperation City is a good name for the place.”

  Her smile was friendly. “Anyway, she says it’s time I try out someone, anyone, you know, because being with the same guy all your life is like not natural or normal. That’s what Tara always told me, but she was, you know, kind of. . .” Missy’s voice trailed off.

  “Slutty?” Will offered.

  The smile told him she wasn’t offended. “I guess. Yeah.” She shook her head. “It’s like the whole thing with the strippers, you know? She knows that gets guys off, so she’s there a couple times a month, ends up with some local guy back at her place. ‘It’s fun to see the look on their faces!’ That’s what she tells me.”

  “And so?” Will said.

  Missy sighed. “And so, I thought, you know what? What if there’s some guy out there, really cute, really sweet, maybe really right for me in a way that maybe I don’t even know Linc could be, you know? I don’t know, I guess I’m not making much sense here, am I.”

  “Actually, you sound exactly like the conversation I had in my head for the past week,” Will said.

  “Anyway, I saw you sitting there, and I thought, ‘He’s cute.’ Next thing I know, Tara’s practically shoving me at you, I don’t know what the fuck I’m gonna say to you, and you just smiled at me, and I thought, ‘Wow.’” She dropped her head. “Except now I’m here, and I feel like I’m in some horrid Movie of the Week or something, you know?”

  Will laughed. “I know exactly what you mean.” He related the conversation he’d had with the bartender before she came up and spoke to him. “As soon as the door closed behind me, I wanted to run screaming down the hallway.” he confessed.

  She laughed. Then she said, “So? I told you some of my story.”

  Will sat in the chair at the small table next to the bed. “Her name’s Yvette. She works at the main branch of the Chicago Library. She’s smart, and funny, and beautiful, and sexy, and for the past year I’ve felt like we’re in this rut.”

  Missy nodded. Will sighed then went on. “I have a friend,” he said then shook his head. “OK, not really a friend. He’s a colleague, really horrible, the kind of guy I can’t imagine being with a woman, you know the type, right?”

  Missy smiled and nodded. “Oh, yeah.”

  “He told me about this place, I made up some stupid excuse, trying to convince myself it was OK, everyone does it, no big deal. Just meet someone, we talk, we have a few drinks, we have sex, we say goodbye, I shower in the morning before going home. End of story.”

  “Except, that wasn’t the end of the story, was it?” Missy said.

  “Oh my God, no,” Will said with a chuckle. “Even while I sat at that bar, I kept arguing with myself. Just get the fuck out of here, run, get in the car, just get home.” He shook his head. “Then you walked up and spoke to me.”

  “And now?”

  Will sighed again. “And for a second before, I thought if we kissed, that’s it, we’re done. We didn’t, and I gotta be honest with you. I don’t think we will.”

  Missy’s smile was tired and sad. “Me neither.”

  Will felt tired. Drained, even. “So what now?”

  Missy shook her head. “Part of me, I don’t know . . .” she trailed off.

  “What?”

  She shrugged. “I know if I see Tara and admit I chickened out, I won’t hear the end of it. Like it’s any of her business what I do. Like me cheating on my husband is something I just, like, have to do.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t help that I really like you, Will.”

  Will chuckled. “I know what you mean. If circumstances were different-“

  “You mean if we were single, we’d be banging our brains out, right?”

  “Something like that, yeah,” Will said with a laugh. “As it is, I can’t imagine doing anything like that with you. It would feel like, I don’t know, maybe like we were ruining something special.”

  Missy smiled. “I like that.” She got off the bed, walked over, cupped his face in her hands, and kissed Will’s cheek.

  He reached up and took her hands from his face, kissing the tip of her index fingers.

  She stood up and took a step back from him. “Care to give a girl a ride back to the bad old city?’

  “I’d love to,” he said. He paused after grabbing his unopened overnight bag from the bed. “Won’t we have to stop and grab your things from your friend’s house?”

  Missy shook her head. “Nope. I’ll figure out something to tell Tara on Monday or Tuesday. That’ll give her an excuse to come up to Chicago, and bring me my stuff.”

  They were doing seventy-five on the North-South Tollway when Will rolled down his window and, with Missy shouting encouragement, tossed the box of condoms out. They laughed until he dropped her off on her corner on the near northside.

  When Will got home, Yvette was sitting on the sofa, her feet curled underneath her. She smiled, and said, “What happened?”

  Will smiled. “Something special.”

  “That’s nice,” she said, turning back to William Faulkner. “I hope it works out for you.”

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