What They Left Behind

Gennie didn’t really want a big wedding, but since Rory’s mother, Carla, was a wedding planner, it turned out that it was larger than Gennie planned. Rory’s parents said they would pay for it, with the caveat that they had a say in the plans. That didn’t bother either Gennie or Rory.

  As the winter months wore on, Gennie was thankful to have Carla helping her. Going to college and planning the wedding at the same time was very stressful. For the first time, her GPA slipped under a 3.0. As the wedding date drew nearer, it became even more challenging. Gennie couldn’t wait until it was over.

  On March 23, Gennie and Rory were married. The whole day went very smoothly. Malcolm walked her down the aisle. The reception was held at Valben. At almost exactly midnight, Gennie and Rory left the reception in Rory’s newly decorated car en route to a hotel near Fisherman’s Wharf. The next morning they boarded a cruise ship to Mexico, where they spent their entire spring break.

  Gennie felt great when they returned a week later. She was going to move out of Ben’s apartment and live temporarily with Rory and his parents, who lived on a street called Daisy Run Lane in the Northside neighborhood in Berkeley, until they both graduated college. When they returned to Ben’s apartment to pick up some of her things, Gennie was surprised to see the normally tidy apartment in disarray.

  “Looks like they had a party last night,” Rory said, pointing to one of the numerous bottles of beer littering the living room.

  “Yeah, maybe,” Gennie replied. “I guess they didn’t have enough time to clean up. Let’s go in my bedroom, Rory. I’ll start getting some of my stuff packed.”

  “Actually, why don’t you start on that while I go downstairs and get some more boxes out of the car,” Rory said. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay,” Gennie said and went into her bedroom.

  She heard Rory close the apartment door. She went into her bedroom and started taking her clothes out of the room’s single bureau drawer. She put them in one of the two boxes she found before the wedding. Then she heard someone shuffle out of Ben’s bedroom and go in the bathroom.

  “Huh?” Gennie said, looking at her watch. It was almost one o’clock. “He’s never home at this time during the day. I wonder what’s going on.”

  She went outside the bedroom and knocked on the bathroom door.

  “Jesus Christ!” she heard Ben shout.

  “Oh sorry, Ben, it’s not Jesus. It’s just me,” she said. “I just came back from my honeymoon.”

  “Hold on,” he said. Gennie noticed his voice was slightly slurred. “I gotta pee.”

  A minute later, he opened the bathroom door. He was a mess. His hair was sticking out every which way, his eyes were completely bloodshot, and he had at least two days’ worth of stubble on his face.

  “You look like you just got out of bed,” she said.

  “I did just get out of bed,” Ben replied.

  “I see you had a party last night.”

  “Sort of.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “It was a one person party.”

  “You drank all that beer?” Gennie said, shocked. “There must be at least three six packs lying around here.”

  “So what? I’m an adult now. I can get as wasted as I want.”

  “But why?”

  Ben rubbed his eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

  “I think we should. What happened?”

  “It’s none of your business.”

  “Ben, you’ve got to tell me.”

  “Why do you care? You’re leaving!”

  She put her arms around him. Even though he smelled like beer mixed with morning breath, she held him tight anyway.

  “Please tell me,” she said. “You’re not upset because I’m moving out, are you?”

  “No,” Ben replied. He put his arms around her too. “I know you’ve got to go.”

  Then it dawned on her. At the reception, she heard them arguing in the kitchen. Ben had accused Val of cheating on him. She still had her own apartment, which Gennie hadn’t known until then. While Ben was over there one night, he had found a men’s belt he didn’t recognize under the bed. Val vehemently denied it, though she made the comment that she should cheat on him because he was too wrapped up in his work to pay attention to anything else. Then Gennie heard an employee interrupt them and they left the kitchen.

  “It’s Val, isn’t it?” Gennie said.

  Ben swallowed hard. “I came home from work late last night and I was getting ready for bed when someone from outside buzzed me. I figured it was the next-door neighbor. She works nights and is half-blind. I pressed the button to let her in. A couple of minutes later, there’s a knock on the door. I opened it up and it’s my neighbor standing there. She looked really upset and told me she found out that the guy she was dating was cheating on her with Val. I didn’t believe her at first, but she showed me the guy’s wallet. Inside it was a picture of Val with the restaurant’s phone number on the back along with ‘Call Me Anytime’. It was definitely Val’s handwriting. I can’t tell you how pissed I was. I went to the restaurant and confronted her early this morning. We got into a huge argument and she smacked me around a few times. I was trying to get away but she kept grabbing my shirt and holding me back so I shoved her against the wall. She said she was going to call the cops and have me arrested, but I haven’t heard from the police or her yet.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry,” Gennie said.

  “Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” Ben replied. “I’ve been sort of suspecting it for a few months. I bet she’s probably with that guy right now.”

  “Want me to stay awhile?” Gennie asked.

  “No, you get your stuff packed. I’m going back to bed and see if I can sleep off this headache.”

  “Oh, okay,” Gennie said, though she was reluctant to leave him.

  A minute after Ben went back to bed, Rory came through the door.

  “Here’s all the boxes,” he said, putting them on the breakfast bar. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  “It’s nothing,” Gennie replied. “Let’s finish getting packed.”

  Chapter 42: October 4