Cody went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. He couldn't remember the last time he had ventured into that particular room with the need to cook. Angie had always ruled over the kitchen. He knew the general layout and where most things were stored, but it was just general knowledge.
It took him a little time to prepare a breakfast of scrambled eggs with bacon. The bacon was a little burnt and the eggs were runny, but he had made it so he ate it. He had a feeling that he was going to be eating a lot of less than spectacular meals. He had to admit that Angie had been a good cook.
After eating, he went around the house with the intention of making a quick mental inventory of items. If he was going to pack up his wife's stuff, he had to have some sort of idea how many boxes would be required. He expected it to take a few minutes. What Cody didn't count on was that there was a lifetime of memories scattered around the house waiting to ambush him when he least expected it.
There were little mementoes of past trips. They were mostly stupid things that a visitor would toss out as trash. There was a small hula doll that they had picked up in Chicago at a strange little restaurant with a Hawaiian theme. They had been in a good mood that night – laughing over little jokes and enjoying their meal. Looking at the hula doll brought back the memory so strong that it was just like it had happened yesterday.
There were things that had special meaning because of the effort that was required to get them. After shopping around for an entire Saturday, they found a bedroom set that Angie just had to have. Unfortunately, it was priced for a lot more than they had available. It was still early in their marriage and they didn't have much credit. They had saved money for months to purchase it. Each time they went to get it, the price had gone up and they were short. About the time they had given up on ever getting it, it had gone on sale for less than the original price. They used the extra money to buy a new mattress.
Cody kept it together until he reached Liz's bedroom. Opening the door had been like opening an emotional floodgate. When he looked at a cute little stuffed doll left on her bed, an image of his daughter engaged in a sexual act flashed through his mind. Everywhere he looked in the room, the obscene superimposed itself over the innocent.
He sagged down and cried.
It took him thirty minutes to pull himself together enough to close the door to Liz's room. He came to a decision, he had to get out of that house. It would be easier to pack his stuff and leave everything else behind then to get rid of it. The house itself was a reminder of all that had passed.
Cody went to the bedroom and packed a suitcase with his clothes. It didn't take as long as he thought it would. Most of his valued possessions were in the garage. It was there that a fatal flaw in his plans became apparent. His car was still at the bar. He called a taxi.
It was a little after eleven when Max and Marylou stepped into the bar. They had swung by to pick up his car. There was also a matter of the bar tab. Max couldn't remember if he had paid it or not. Much to his surprise, Cody was seated at a table staring down at his beer.
"Hello, Cody."
Cody looked up. "Hello, Max. Have a seat."
"Thanks Cody. This is my wife, Marylou. Marylou, this is Cody," Max said.
"Nice to meet you," Marylou said.
Cody said, "Pleased to meet you."
Max held out a chair for his wife. She took a seat while thanking him for the courtesy he had shown her. He sat down next to her and took her hand in his.
"I couldn't remember if I paid my bar bill last night," Max said.
"You didn't," Cody said. "None of us did. John over there covered it for us."
"John?" Max asked.
"The bartender," Cody said while gesturing towards the barman.
"I never did get his name," Max said feeling a little guilty.
"Well, it was a little crazy yesterday," Cody said.
"You can say that again," Max said.
Cody asked, "What would you like to drink?"
"Wine," Marylou answered.
"Beer," Max said.
Intending to pick up the tab, Cody shouted, "Hey John. How about a beer and wine over here?"
"Coming right up," John answered.
It was a minute later when he showed with the drinks. Max handed him a fifty dollar bill and said, "I hope this covers today and last night."
"Last night was on the house," John said.
"Keep it," Max said.
"Thanks," John replied.
Max raised his mug of beer and said, "Cheers."
Marylou raised hers as did Cody.
"So how did things go last night?" Max asked.
Cody answered, "Not well."
"What happened?" Max asked.
"It turns out that my wife knew all about the sex site. All she could see was how much money the kid was making," Cody answered. "The damned girl dropped out of college and used the money I sent to pay her tuition to start that damned site. My wife didn't see anything wrong with her doing that."
"What kind of mother is she?" Marylou asked shocked to her core.
"Hell if I know," Cody said. "She just kept talking about the money."
"That's sad," Max said.
Cody started talking about his daughter. Marylou listened wide eyed as Cody described a girl exactly like Barbie. She hadn't really believed Max, but she nearly strangled on her wine when Cody talked about how his wife would cook separate meals for her because she was a picky eater. He ended his little stroll down memory lane with, "Now she's a whore."
"What are you going to do now?" Max asked.
"I'm leaving," Cody said.
Max said, "I don't blame you."
Marylou asked, "What about your wife?"
"She's unemployed and unemployable. I figure she can go to my daughter and get her own fucking website," Cody said. "I don't care what happens to her."
Marylou was quiet. She didn't feel comfortable talking too harshly about Cody's wife. She saw a lot of herself in what Cody had said about the woman.
"So you're drowning your sorrows?" Max asked.
"No. I just wanted to get a drink to take the edge off my headache," Cody answered. "I didn't feel very good this morning. I didn't eat anything last night and the booze hit me hard."
"Same here," Max said.
Guy walked into the bar and went to the table. He took a seat and said, "Hello everyone. I was across the street dropping off a new thermos for Selena and noticed Max coming in here. I thought I'd see how things went."
Max said, "Hello, Guy. Guy, this is my wife, Marylou. Marylou, this is Guy."
"Nice to meet you," Guy said.
"Hello," Marylou said. "I heard about your problem."
"What can I say?" Guy said, "I guess you know he's unemployed."
"Yes."
Guy asked, "Are you worried?"
"We'll manage somehow," Marylou said.
She had a feeling that the new and improved Max wasn't going to have a problem getting a new job. He had an aura of confidence that he had never had before. Others would see that and respond.
Guy looked over at Cody and asked, "How did it go last night?"
"My wife already knew," Cody answered.
"You're kidding?"
"She had no problem with it. All she could talk about was how much money Liz is making," Cody said.
"How much is she making?" Marylou asked.
"Over a million a year," Cody answered.
Marylou couldn't believe the amount of money Cody's daughter was making. She knew that after a year or two, the girl could retire and lead a life of relative security. It might be degrading, but she could see how some women might not object. It wasn't the kind of future that she would accept for Barbie. In a strange way, she could almost understand his wife's acceptance of it. The key word was almost.
Guy said, "That's some serious cash."
Irritated, Cody asked, "Would you let some guy piss in your mouth for a million dollars?"
"Hell no," Guy answered.
"That's what my daughter is doing," Cody said.
"Jesus," Max said in disgust.
Hearing what she was doing for her money dismayed Marylou. There was degrading and then there was degrading. Any mother who wasn't upset to learn her daughter was doing that shouldn't have ever been allowed to have children.
"Yeah," Cody said shaking his head. "So what is going on with you, Guy?"
"I swung by the lawyers office earlier. He told me I have to give her half of everything and probably support her for the next hundred years," Guy answered. "The whole idea of having to pay her alimony makes me sick. It's not right. She could have killed me with AIDs."
"Why don't you make a website with videos of your wife cheating on it?" Marylou asked unable to believe the words coming out of her mouth.
"I don't know," Guy said. "Letting the whole world know that she was cheating on me would be humiliating."
"I bet it would be a whole lot easier to write her a check out of money you earned from her cheating," Marylou said.
"I like your wife," Guy said looking over at a stunned Max. "I like the way she thinks."
"Max could help you," Marylou said.
Wondering how he was getting roped into this, Max said, "What?"
"You don't have a job. Why not run a website? It can't be that hard," Marylou said looking at her husband.
"I could manage that," Max mused thoughtfully. "Definitely."
"There you go," Marylou said finding his confidence thrilling.
There were a number of problems with that plan. Guy said, "I don't have any videos of my wife cheating."
"If she's cheating, then you should be able to get some videos of it," Marylou said. "They don't have to be explicit, just videos of her going into a hotel room with some strange man would be good enough."
"You might have to hire a private detective," Max said. "He'd know how to get videos of your wife cheating."
"I bet they charge a fortune," Guy said.
Cody sat back in his chair and said, "To tell the truth, I'm not all that enthralled with the internet at the moment. I wouldn't blame you if you did it, though."
"I'd like to pass this by Selena," Guy said.
For some reason, he wasn't all that interested in having Selena lose respect for him. He had enjoyed their discussions the previous night and even that morning over breakfast. He wondered if there might even be a future there.
Max looked at his wristwatch. He said, "It is almost lunch time. What do you say that we break up here and meet somewhere else for lunch?"
"Sounds good to me," Guy said.
"I'm game," Marylou said.
Cody said, "I've got to head back to the house. It's time for me to move on."
"That man is in considerable pain and there's no medicine for it," Marylou said after Cody had left.
Cody returned to his house feeling like there was a large hole where his heart had once been. He got angry every time he thought of what his wife had done by encouraging his daughter. He got sad whenever he thought about a life without his wife in it. There was one thing he knew for sure, there was no way he could live with her.
Packing his tools took most of an hour. When the last power tool had been packed in the trunk of his car, he stepped back and looked at what he had done. The workbench was empty. There was nothing left to keep him there.
He made a last trip through the house. He paused to pick up a picture of his family that had been taken six years earlier. It was taken on one of those few days when his daughter had dressed like a normal girl her age. He stared at it and then dropped it on the floor. The glass cover cracked.
Cody left the house leaving the door wide open. He got into his car and headed off towards the bank. Once there, he withdrew all of the money in the savings account. Flush with a couple thousand dollars, he drove off without a destination in mind.
It was well after lunchtime when Angie returned to the house. She was surprised to see the front door standing wide open. Feeling a little uncertain, she walked up to the house and looked through the door. She listened, but didn't hear anything. With a growing sense of unease, she entered the house.
The cabinet was still leaning against the wall. The porcelain plates were on the floor where they had fallen the previous night. She paused to look at the family picture on the floor and wondered why Cody had tossed it there.
His dirty breakfast dishes were in the kitchen. She made a mental note that she would have to clean up the kitchen. She continued her search of the house. Everything appeared to be in place. She didn't think to check his closets.
She returned to the kitchen to wash the dishes. At least he hadn't made too much of a mess. It felt right to be busy at work in the one room that she felt was her exclusive domain. Her mood improved and she convinced herself that things would be better. She knew they might be a little rough for a while, but Cody would come around to his senses.
Cleaning up the broken collector plates took a little more time. There were little pieces spread throughout the room. Traffic through the room had created a hundred little scratches on the wood floor. A few were pretty deep. She didn't think it would be easy fixing the floor. In fact, she felt it would require a professional company to refinish the whole floor.
She struggled to get the cabinet upright and put back in place. It wasn't all that heavy, but awkward to move. Cody would have just picked it up and put it in place. She wasn't strong enough to do that.
With the house returned to normal, she returned to the kitchen to prepare the evening meal for Cody. She decided that she would make pork chops, apple sauce, and spinach. Cody often joked that pork chops were the poor man's steak. He would be pleased to come home from work to discover that she had his favorite dinner ready for him.
Everything was done by the time she expected him to arrive home from work. She stepped back and admired her work. The table was set with a nice hot dinner. She sat down to await his arrival.