Strawberry Fields
Heather’s stress didn’t escape her sister’s attention and Jade insisted she leave the boys with their mother to go out for a beer. Heather didn’t want to leave the boys anywhere but still felt her presence was their weakness so she agreed to go. Besides, the thought of alcohol sounded great.
She kissed Tommy and Jack goodbye and headed to Joey’s karaoke show at Beer Belly’s. What had begun as a three-week gig for her second husband had turned into a full-fledged career and Heather credited herself with his success because she’d gotten him the first job.
His show was largely successful due to due to her exhusband’s ability to make his customers feel good about themselves. His singers felt like stars on his stage and they admired him as if he were their own personal piano man. Joey thought he was saving the world one karaoke show at a time and in a weird way, Heather realized he was probably right.
His fans left the show feeling better than they did before braving the microphone. He had a natural way of entertaining people, of helping them connect to an audience despite their insecurities. Heather used to wish his power to make people feel good had extended itself to their marriage but it was a hope she no longer indulged in. Their marriage was over and had become irretrievable. The best she could hope for was a solid friendship and a strong co-parent for Jack.
The major downfall of their marriage had been Heather’s ability to look at the world as a vast place filled with endless possibilities compared to his own view from within his suffocating bubble. She thought he gave up on things too easily and he hated her for pointing it out to him all the time. They had both crossed the boundaries with cruel words and vengeance long before but fortunately, had come full circle into a new friendship. Heather and Joey had never lacked the ability to have fun together and she decided there was no reason to give up on the best parts of their relationship just because their marriage didn’t work.
The bitterness over their past had gradually disintegrated over the two years since their divorce and Heather was still testing the waters of their evolved relationship.
Heather followed her pregnant sister through the crowded pub and straight to the bar. Jade, a serious partier before her pregnancy, had never been a baby about being in a smoky bar. Now, as she neared her due date, almost everything made her sick. Heather prayed there was one smoke-free area left in the bar. The last thing she needed to deal with was a pile of vomit in her lap.
Heather struggled against the urge to rush home to her boys. She knew instinctively her presence was more dangerous to them than anything else. Even if she were wrong, she chanced screwing them up by making them victims of her insecurities and paranoia. She had to keep reminding herself they were safer at home than anywhere with her.
Heather made eye contact with Joey and she winked at him. He was plugging his equipment in and hooking speakers up for the show. Familiar voices called out to her from the crowd and she waved back at old acquaintances she and Joey had collected together during the marriage. She hadn’t seen them for a few months and she enjoyed the comfortable banter customary among karaoke crowds.
Once at the bar, Jade ordered an ice water and Heather asked for a Long Island iced tea. Dolly was behind the bar and when she saw them, she blew a kiss mid-pour as she continued to tend to the obnoxious drunks in her section. When she was finished coddling an old drunk who kept falling out of his chair, the compassionate bartender walked up to her favorite pair of sisters. She gave them rushed hellos and quick hugs before returning to her customers. When Heather turned to face Jade, she discovered her sister was no longer beside her. She craned her neck behind her and saw that Jade had already commandeered a booth.
Joey approached the booth and leaned in to drop a kiss onto Heather’s waiting cheek. He looked at Jade and delivered a strained hello to the woman he once thought of as part of the opposing enemy camp. His mouth told Jade hello but his eyes screamed “Don’t hit me.”
Jade smiled warmly at him and hugged him back. The hard feelings were gone and she looked at him with love and admiration. Heather noticed that Jade didn’t seem to have a problem with him anymore either. As a matter of fact, her little sister didn’t seem to have an issue with anyone anymore. Heather didn’t understand gestational kindness because her own pregnancies had provided her with a generalized hatred of humankind.
“Hey Joey, what’s up?” Jade