Dig

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Doctor of love

  Chris Padre St. Claire opened one eye and felt a throbbing in his temples. His mouth tasted like cat shit smelled, and his stomach burned. The light coming in through the window to his room—the guest room of Dr. and Leah Sacks, who were kind enough to invite him and his family to stay in their house over the long weekend—sucked. The St. Claire house was only an hour away, but they’d been friends with the Sacks—at least Vicky had been friends with Leah—for years.

  “Oh god,” Chris said.

  Pound...pound...pound...

  Vicky sat at the foot of the bed with a cup of coffee, still steaming. She had been tapping his foot for almost two minutes trying to wake him up.

  “Are you going to puke some more?”

  He leaned up on his elbows. “I don’t think so. Is that coffee for me?”

  “Yes. And some aspirin. The combination should completely perforate your stomach lining if the Beam didn’t do it last night.”

  “I’m sorry about that,” Chris said.

  Pound...pound...pound...

  “Don’t be. At my reunion, you can expect the same from me. At least you have two years to prepare for my revenge.”

  “Where’s the boy?”

  “Matt’s outside with Calvin and Leah is downstairs making brunch. I told her you might not be up for eating. I think she made mimosas.”

  “That sounds awful. But it just might help.”

  “Sure. You can have twice the hangover tomorrow. Just remember I have to be back at work on Tuesday, so you’ll have to suffer the consequences eventually. I can’t have you becoming a complete lush.”

  Pound...pound...pound...

  “Hand to god,” Chris said and held up his right hand.

  “What did you say the boys are doing?”

  She flexed one of the miniblind slats and looked out into the Sacks’ back yard.

  “I don’t know. They’re down by the water. On the dock. It looks like they have a telescope out there. Probably found an alligator or something to stalk.”

  “Great view isn’t it? Looking out over the wetlands like that. I could live here.”

  “Me too. If we each doubled our salaries, we could have all of this in about twenty-five years.”

  Vicky leaned over her husband and kissed his forehead, then she left him with the cup of coffee.

  “Thanks, babe. Love you,” Chris said.

  Pound.

  “Uh huh. I’ll love you when you smell better.”

  He sipped the coffee as she disappeared down the hallway. Her sandals flapped all the way down the stairs and he heard the murmur of two female voices, then laughter, then more murmuring. It took effort to heave his legs over the side of the bed and even more to stand. He looked out the window and saw his son Matt sitting on the dock with Calvin Sacks. The boys were fourteen and thirteen respectively. The sun still sucked.

  Pound...pound...

  Calvin was looking through an east facing telescope and its barrel was parallel to the ground. Chris hoped it was wildlife they were ogling, but when Calvin slapped his own leg, then pointed and encouraged Matt to have a look, he knew something was no good in the fridge.

  His coffee was cool enough to take a few gulps which didn’t sit will in his stomach, but he needed the caffeine to help his headache. He pulled a t-shirt and shorts on and went to the bathroom to smooth out his few hairs with some water from the sink. In his shaving kit, he pulled out a bottle of antacid and popped three of the chewables into his mouth. They tasted like chalk and candy, but in seconds, the burning in his gut was doused. On the way out of the bathroom, he peeked out the window again. The boys were still chuckling—eyes on the scope—taking turns.

  At least they are sharing.

  Chris entered the kitchen and kissed his wife on the cheek. Vicky was seated at the table with a plate of bacon, some fresh fruit and a bagel in front of her. Leah Sacks sat across from her.

  Leah was a pretty woman. Not exotic, not drop your sandwich and stare slack-jawed gorgeous, but very pretty. Classic pretty. She prided herself on appearance and life had been kind to her. Her husband bought her nice clothes and her dark roots never showed because she was on an appointment schedule for hair and nails. She didn’t work and there was a housekeeper which came by twice a week for the heavy cleaning. She was a trophy wife and Chris got the feeling Leah was tired of adorning a wealthy man’s arm. Over the past five years or so, he’d noticed her general demeanor had gone from light and bubbly to cynical and sarcastic. That was the face she was showing him right then. A raised eyebrow and slightly pursed lips face. An I-can’t-believe-what-a-tool-you-are face.

  “Hello, Mr. St. Claire. Feeling better?”

  “No ma’am. It’s nothing I can’t handle, though. Fine in a few hours.” He smiled and eyed the food on the table. The bagel looked safe, but he thought he’d better wait until the coffee kicked in. “So, Leah, what is your son out there showing my son? Corruption works both ways you know,” he said.

  Leah sniffed. “I was about to go out and put a stop to it when you came down. They’re obviously spying on someone. Probably some skinny dippers out at the cabin. It could be better if you went. You’re almost a man, just like them.”

  Bitch.

  “You’re as clever as you are frigid. Always a joy,” Chris said. Vicky smirked. Leah didn’t.

  The cabin belonged to the town’s dentist. It was a party hotspot for many of the local doctors, attorneys, businessmen and other friends of the group. It was also a place where teenagers snuck off to have all manner of good time— a place of legend. Most often, small town legends weren’t true, but that cabin had a well-earned reputation.

  “Skinny dippers, huh?” Chris said and walked to the back door. “I might have to check this out.”

  “You sit down, mister,” Vicky said, but Chris was already out the door, closing it behind him. The ladies followed. “Chris,” Vicky said.

  “What you got down there, boys?” Chris shouted.

  Pound...pound...pound...Shouting was a bad idea.

  He squinted against the sun, which still sucked. The boys looked up. “Dad! You gotta see this,” Matt St. Claire said. He was waving one arm and pointing up the shoreline. Both boys were giggling and red in the face when he arrived. Vicky and Leah stopped briefly on the patio before continuing down the yard to the dock.

  “What?” Chris said.

  “Some dude is getting serviced big time,” Matt said.

  “Serviced?” Chris asked as he bent down and put his eye to the eyepiece on the telescope. In the circular view, he saw a completely naked and very well built young woman with dark hair riding a man rodeo style, and she was very enthusiastic about it. The man lay on the dock letting her do all the work and the whole scene took place at such a distance from them that when he looked with the naked eye, Chris could barely make out the figures. “I’ll be damned,” he said. He looked again and then got up.

  Calvin leaned over and tried to sneak another peek, but Chris pulled him aside as the mothers arrived. “You probably shouldn’t be looking at that stuff.”

  “What stuff,” Leah said.

  “Oh, just a couple being…amorous…down on the water,” Chris said.

  “I don’t know what amorous means. Someone’s gettin porked, but good,” Matt said to Calvin’s delight.

  “Matthew James!” Vicky said. She held a stern face for a few beats and then a smile broke on her face. “Really?” she asked.

  “Pork and beans,” Chris said.

  “Boys, go up to the house,” Vicky said. They protested, but she insisted. “Right now.” Vicky watched them sulk away and then peered into the eyepiece. Her hand went to her chest and she started to chuckle. “I feel so dirty,” she said. She motioned to Leah. “Take a look.” Then Vicky looked at Chris and said, “I wish our sex life was still hot.”

  Chris slapped at a mosquito. “You wanna do it on the dock? With all these bugs?”

  “Exact
ly,” Vicky said. “You always have some excuse.”

  “I want you. I always want you. Just let the coffee and the aspirin kick in,” Chris said, even though the pounding in his head had slowed and almost stopped.

  “Again proving my point,” Vicky said.

  Leah leaned in next to her friend and watched the action through the scope. Her smile quickly faded. “Is that…” she started. Then she knelt to steady herself and took another look.

  “What?” Chris said.

  “That motherfucker,” Leah said.

  “Who?” Vicky asked. Then her face went pale. “You don’t mean…”

  “That motherfucker told me he was golfing.”

  “No,” Chris said. Secretly, he felt joy.

  Leah let out a scream and kicked the telescope’s stand. It teetered and then toppled off of the dock and into the shallow edge of the waterway with a splash. She stormed up the grass to her back door with Vicky right behind her. Chris leaned down and pulled the telescope up by one of the legs of the tripod and placed it back on the wooden decking before jogging after them. His head throbbed again, but he couldn’t help chuckling to himself. When he got in the house Calvin was crying and Matt was sitting with his mom.

  “Chris, I think we need to go get some breakfast,” Vicky said.

  “Yeah, I’ll grab my keys,” he said. His headache was back.

  “With Rebecca of all people. That fucking slut. I knew when he hired her there was going to be trouble, but I didn’t think it would be out in the open. Literally out in the open! Oh God and I fell for…” Leah shouted, pacing around her son in the kitchen. “He’d better have a goddamned brain tumor or some split personality bullshit when he gets home because I will never forgive him for this. This house is mine, the Mercedes is mine and I will burn that goddamn cabin to the ground. Ooh, that motherfucker. I will kill him.”

  “Leah, honey, you want us to take Calvin out while you sort this? I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding,” Vicky said.

  Leah leered at her. “No. I want him to face his family when he gets back. Not just me. He needs to face his son and explain why he was fucking that whore on the pier where anyone who rode by in a boat or had flipping binoculars could watch.”

  “Okay,” Vicky whispered.

  Calvin continued to cry. Matt was stunned silent. Chris ushered his family, headache and all, out the front door and into the car.