CHAPTER EIGHT:
BEEP!!
Opening up the microwave, he raised the dinner to his nose and sniffed in appreciation. Nothing like a good steak and mashed potato dinner. His eyes slid to the clock.
Eight forty-five.
“Fuck!” He stuck the burning finger into his mouth and sucked on it. Sticking your hand into hot food was not a really good idea. (One of his many favorite quotes.)
He sat down to eat his dinner. He eyed the meal. He eyed the empty kitchen. He eyed the empty seat across him. It was too quiet. Where the fuck was…
“Hey, Spike. I am home. Sorry about the delay.”
He controlled himself from leaping off the chair and crushing her into a hug. He had to remember. He had to be upset with her. She had promised to call and she hadn’t. She said she would come in early. She hadn’t.
She stepped into the kitchen with a large bag. ‘General Tai’s Restaurant’, it said. She had bought dinner. Her face fell. “I am really sorry, Spike. I tried to make it back on time…”
“But the baby kept you occupied, ne?”
She stiffened at the icy, clipped words, her body automatically going into the defensive. “Look. I told you I was sorry…”
“Fuck you being sorry!” He bellowed in growing fury. He got up from his seat. He had to let out his frustrations some how. “You fucking promised to call and you didn’t! ‘I will be back at six.’ Look at the goddamn time, Faye! It is fucking nine in the evening! You didn’t even have the common decency to say or tell me that you would be coming home late?! That is what married people do, Faye! They try to communicate!”
“Obviously we aren’t, are we Spike?!”
“Obviously not!”
“I know that no matter how many times I say ‘I am sorry’ you are never going to listen, are you?”
“Don’t try to turn this around and blame me for your mistakes!”
“I am not blaming you for anything! I am just saying…”
“Say all you want to, Faye! It is always about you, isn’t it?! It’s either’s Faye’s way and everyone else can go to hell!”
She blanched and dropped the bag of food upon the table. “What do you want from me? What the hell do you want from me?!”
“I want back the Faye that I married. I want us to be happy again!”
A heavy silence fell as both tried to make sense of what was happening.
Finally, with a heart as heavy as lead, she croaked out.
“She…she is gone. That Faye is gone…forever.”
~&~&~&~&~
This is the story of a happy little girl. She had all the toys in the world. She had all the friends in the world. Her father said she was his princess. Her mother…
/ My mother wanted me dead. /
She sighed and picked up the soap, allowing the slick wetness to caress her skin. Spike had slept in the den…again.
~ We are fighting too much. And it is over everything I do. What about him? Isn’t he having an affair behind my back? ~
She rinsed her face with her face towel. No, she couldn’t see Spike cheating on her. He just didn’t do those kinds of things.
The door burst open as he walked in. “Have you seen my black tie? The one with the stripes?”
“In the bottom drawer on your left.”
“Hn.” He began to make his way out and then stopped. “You need to stop sitting in the bathtub for hours on end, Faye. It wrinkles your skin.”
She sputtered and stared at his disappearing back. He was calling her an old hag. The bastard!
She jumped out of the tub, unmindful of the mess she was creating and storming into their bedroom in her birthday suit, she placed her hands on her hips and wagged a finger at him.
“Are you calling me old, Spike Spiegel?! I will have you know that I am the most beautiful thing you will ever see! I do not have wrinkles….ahhhh!”
She shrieked and finally burst out into giggles as her husband began chasing her around the room. A wicked grin etched on his handsome features, he growled menacingly and made a mad dive for her. Catching her off guard, he tumbled them onto the bed and tickled her mercilessly. Her high-pitched laughter driving him insane with need.
“Ple…please…stop…stop…I can’t…can’t…Spike!”
“You can’t what?” He whispered huskily as he nuzzled her neck. His hands reaching. Touching. Feeling.
“You have to go to work, remember?” She replied, her thought processes threatening to vanish into oblivion at his caresses.
“Not in another hour…we still have time to…”
BRRRRIIINNNNNGGGG!!
They jumped apart like guilty teenagers and stared at the black object in blank bemusement, as if somehow staring at it would make the horrifying noise stop.
“Probably someone at work.”
“Probably a salesperson.”
“Probably your grandma.”
“My grandma is dead, Spike.”
“What if she came back to life and decided to call?”
She snorted and reached for it. Spike could be so stupid sometimes.
“Hello? Faye Spiegel here.”
“Hello…my Faye.”
Her mouth went dry. Her tongue seemed to weigh a ton all of a sudden. Her hands gripped the edge of the phone tightly. Knuckles turning white with pressure.
“How may I help you?” Surprise, Surprise. Her voice sounded just fine.
“Who is it?”
“No one, Spike.”
A frown. “How come you are speaking to no one? How may I help you, doesn’t sound like you are speaking to no one.”
“It is no one important, Spike. It is just another sales person, that’s all.”
A light chuckle. She wanted to smash the phone. “So, I am a salesperson, am I, Faye? How original.”
She grit her teeth and spat out in a low and cold voice. “Shut up.”
Spike, who was now back to fixing his tie, spun around at the cold words. “Nani?”
A wan smile. “Not you, baby. Just talking to…the stupid salesperson, that’s all.”
“Hn. When you are done talking to the ‘stupid’ salesperson, could you find the time to fix me some coffee…or no matter, I will get it myself.”
“Spike…I will be right there.”
She waited until he walked out of the room, before snapping into the black object.
“What do you want? How dare you call me at this time? What if he had picked up the phone?!”
“Then I will just have to tell him that I am a salesperson, that’s all.”
“Why, you…”
“I need to see you, Faye. For old times, sake.”
“Vicious…”
“Let us have lunch. Today. I will come by and pick you up or maybe we could meet some place…”
“I can’t. Please…don’t do this to me. I am married now.”
“Are you happy, Faye? Does he make you happy?”
She bit her lip, the tears threatening to fall again. Did Spike make her happy? She couldn’t be a mother and Spike didn’t like that. But they were trying. They were trying to make it work.
“Yes, I am happy.”
She could hear him nod. “Of course. But my offer still stands. Will you meet with me today? We will just have lunch. Talk like… the old days.”
“The old days are gone, Vicious. That is the past.”
“And we have the future to look forward to. I will come by and pick you up at about one o’clock. Goodbye, my green-eyed angel.”
Click.
/ NO!! You will ruin everything!! /
She dropped the phone with shaking hands and stared blindly at a wall. She was going to spend the afternoon with him. She didn’t want to see him again. She didn’t need to bring back the memories again. He would make her feel pain. He would make her cry. He would make her…
/ Falling in love with you all over again. /
“Faye?” Nothing.
“Faye?!”
“Hai, Spike.”
“You okay, Faye? I am off to work now. I will call you as soon as I get there.”
A dull nod. “You have a good day, Spike. I will….will be here when you get back.”
He frowned again. Why didn’t he believe that? Shrugging, he leaned forward to place a chaste kiss on her cold and clammy cheeks. She looked like she had seen a ghost. He wondered who this salesperson was?
“See you later, Faye.”
“Goodbye…Spike…”
He felt the chill run through his bones as he made his way towards the door. That goodbye had had a tone of finality in it. He didn’t like it.
He didn’t like it one bit…