Chapter 4
Marti woke up with the sun streaming in on her face. There was a little chill in the air, and a million thoughts were flying through her head. She felt weird sleeping in Annie’s house all by herself, and it really hurt that Nick hadn’t even tried to call her. He was probably glad that she was gone, fucking that bitch Ellie, having the time of his life.
She reached into her purse and picked up her iPhone and realized she hadn’t turned it back on from the plane trip. She hit the button and as it grabbed a signal she had 27 messages from Nick.
“Princess, we need to talk. Please call me.”
“Honey, I miss you. We need to talk about this, where are you, please let me know you’re okay.”
“Marti this is ridiculous. Call me”
“Marti, I am going to call the Tennessee state police and have them look for you if you don’t call me.”
“Dammit, honey. Call me”
The messages went on and on. She dialed the number to his cell phone, it barely rang. “Marti, is that you, are you okay?”
Tears well up in her eyes as she heard his voice, “Yes Nick, it’s me.”
“Oh my God, hija, where are you?”
“I’m at Annie’s, I need some time to think. I’m okay.”
“Marti, I saw that you left and I was so worried about you. I’m coming to get you. I’ll be there in a few hours.”
“Nick. Don’t get me. I really need some time to think about this. Just give me a few days. I’m gonna do what I can to help Annie with the holidays, and I’ll probably go see my mom today.”
“Marti, I love you, Thanksgiving is in two days, and mi mama is flying in today to spend the holidays with us. I need you here with me.” His voice was steady and a bit demanding.
“Now you need me. Why the hell didn’t you tell me your mother was coming?” She huffed, “Now she’ll probably think that I am some crazy, gold digging bitch like they portrayed me to be on TV. Thanks a lot! Shit! I gotta go, call you later.”
“Marti, wait, we need to talk about this.”
“Bye Nick, I’ll call you later.” She hit the end button and tossed her phone on the bed. She sat there, staring out the window. Fall was in the air and the leaves had already changed color, turning everything to beautiful gold and crimson colors.
God, Georgia is beautiful in the fall. If You, Dear Lord can make all this beauty, can You fix me, too? Why is my life so fucking complicated?
She put on Annie’s UGG boots and ran downstairs. UGG’s were the shit. Ugly, but great for a chilly fall morning. Not expecting Annie to be awake, she was happily surprised when the aroma of fresh coffee seeped out of the kitchen. She was even more surprised when she walked into the kitchen and saw Tommy sitting at the big oak table.
“Good morning y’all!”
She turned to Tommy “Hey Tommy, I hope you don’t mind, but I borrowed one of your T- shirts, I didn’t bring any jammies and my ass won’t fit in Annie’s.”
“No problem. Marti, grab whatever you need, except my fiancé.” He chuckled. “Girls, I hope you know how uncomfortable this is for me. I still have the image of you two in my head of that crazy night I walked in on you two doing that girlie…sex thing.” He leaned back in his chair.
“Annie, I love you and I trust you. And Marti, I’m really sorry for the things that happened between us, I know you’re Annie’s best friend, I forgive you, I forgave you a long time ago. Let’s hope you can forgive me and we’ll get past this.” He let out a long exhale, rubbing his hands on his thighs. “So now that’s over, can I get some breakfast around here?”
Annie turned to look at him. “Tommy, honey, I love you, too.” A smile swept across her face, she giggled a little. “But you know, honey, you’re either thinking with your dick…or your stomach.”
“Let’s not discuss my dick at the table,” he laughed.
“TMI, y’all. Get a room.” Marti giggled as she walked over to the ice box, opening the door, “You know what y’all, I haven’t cooked a meal for months. I’ve had all these folks fussing over me, cooking my food, driving me around, shit, they’d probably wipe my ass if I asked them to. So how about this morning I make y’all some breakfast for putting up with me?”
Sipping her coffee, Annie laughed, “That sounds amazing, we’ll just sit right here and wait for our home cooked breakfast.”
“Thanks a lot girl,” she laughed. “I appreciate all the help!!” It felt good to be home again.
Marti scuttled around in the kitchen making breakfast for the three of them. Bacon, eggs and a side of toast. They chatted and laughed while they ate, and as soon as they were finished, Tommy had to run off to the precinct and Annie and Marti were left alone, sitting at the big oak table.
“Annie, girl, you know tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we don’t have any plans, yet. Let’s go down to the market and get us a big ole fat turkey and giblets. I’ll cook. You know, just us.”
“Well I guess we could, I’ve never been a great cook, but it sounds like fun. Let me go get cleaned up and we’ll run over there.”
Marti stood up and stretched. She ran her hand through her unruly hair, “Me too, I really need to do something with this hair. Be ready in a flash.”
Annie turned. “Hey, Marti? Just curious. Have you heard from Memphis?”
“Yeah, he called about 30 times. I called him. Told him I need time to think. I’m fucked up Annie, don’t know what I am going to do about him. I mean….I like him, but you know all this bullshit was just so he could save face. Is he amazing? Yes. A sex god? Yes. Annie, he fed me gold.”
“What? Gold? Why the hell would you eat gold?” cocking her eyebrow. “At a fancy restaurant in Vegas. There was gold on this weird dish he ordered. Have no idea what it’s called but it had little gold flakes. I mean, the guy is loaded.” She sighed. “Lord God Almighty, what have I done? I married a man in a drunken stupor who I didn’t even know. We’ve barely been married four months…and I’ve already left. Sounds pretty fucked up to me.”
“Honey, sometimes we do things without thinking. You and I both know that God will take care of this. Just let him. Come on, let’s get cleaned up and get to the market, I’m dying for some pumpkin pie!”
They both bounded up the stairs, Annie in her room and Marti in the guest room. Marti yelled from the bathroom, “Annie can we both take showers at the same time? You know, this house is old and I don’t want a cold shower!”
Annie hollered from her room, “Hell yeah! When I had this house redone, I made sure we got new pipes and hot water heater, a frickin’ hotel could take showers in here all at the same time, and nobody would know the difference.”