little glimpses of darkness

 "OK, I need your help," Cara drug Kenny into the broom closet to tell him this. There was no other private place at work, and as of late he didn't go anywhere with her. 

He was closed-mouthed as if he would do nothing. It wasn't part of his ... well, he didn't know what it was, but absolutely not, he thought but he couldn't say a word to her. Especially, when she was so close to something fragile, and it was in his pants. He winced hard moving his back into something that felt like it might be a tool or a vacuum cleaner.

"OK." Kenny managed to look at her in the dark. Although he reached for his phone, she wouldn't let him. "Are you planning on hurting me?"

"Um, I don't think so."

He felt his heart through his ears. He thought he might sink to a whole new low or high. Really, he couldn't decide.

"What do you want?" He could barely get the words out.

"I need to tell you something," she was so close. Kenny wasn't sure he could stand it.

"What?"

"Jay was my first," Cara told him. "But you can't tell his wife Amanda."

"I don't know even her."

"But you're going there with me, and..and you have to convenience them that you want me." When she spoke he could feel her breath on his face. It was minty. Was she chewing gum at a time like this?

"Why?" He wasn't sure he liked this idea.

"I'll do something for you, if you will."

He sighed. That was not what he wanted. Well, OK, maybe once, but really...he didn't want it to go that far. She was so much earthier than he ever realized until now.

"No." He told her although he wanted to know. "What kind of things?"

Of course, they were words that ended in job. It made him restless at the thought. What kind of person was she?

"Who do you think I am?" He winced hard shoving her away. He didn't want to know this Cara. Was she that desperate? But she murmured something. About how much she hated herself and why was she such a wreck. He could hear her whimper.

"Look, I will help you. Just don't touch me." Kenny unwound her fingers around his belt loops. He was escaping and he wasn't looking back at that broom closet.

"Just when were you going to tell him?" Fan looked at Jody. Sure she'd moved out of Andrew's place. 

She and Aaron had set up the one-bedroom place with just their stuff. It wasn't much. Fan had a bed they could use. She'd kept her bed from her marriage with Cara's father. It had been kept in storage. After all, it was a nice-sized queen that she hadn't had very long before they divorced. It was just something she had tucked away with a few other items she took from the house. She gave Jody the couch, the coffee table, and lamps. There were even the dishes they'd used as a family that she gave Jody.

Of course, Jody was proud to have these things that reminded her of the home they once had. But she still had not called Andrew.

"I just can't do it," Jody said that Andrew hadn't even called lately. "Since I didn't call, I thought he would call me."

Fan rolled her eyes at that. "I was never like you." Fan was even-lipped. "It's like ripping off a bandaid. You just do it and go on."

Of course, the time she called it quits with Jay's dad she was with his friend and they ended up having  Jay's brother. That was back when they were in Arkansas and the methheads kept robbing them every week. Yes, she had probably taken the wrong road, but Jody needed to get this over with.

"Call him right now," Fan said. "I'll be right here with you."

Jody sighed as she got out her phone. She was already crying.

"Shit." Fan let slip. She grabbed the phone and direct-dialed Andrew.

"Hullo," it was Andrew's voice. He was at work.

"Listen, this is Jody's mother. We have something to tell you," Fan said.

"Is she OK? Is she..is she.."

"She's right here, but I have something to tell you. She no longer wants anything to do with you. So don't worry about a wedding, anymore. She doesn't live at your place. We've got the dog. But don't think about getting it back, unless you're a real asshole and you want to break her heart."

"What are you saying?"

"I don't have time to repeat myself," she clicked off and turned off the phone and made a really big yawn.

"Well, that's done," she looked a Jody. "We need to start thinking about Thanksgiving."