Sunshine Valley

Should’a, could’a, would’a

     Rebecca came home to find Simon’s truck in the drive way. Some old rough sheets of lumber were stacked on the porch.  She opened the door to the sound of hammering. He had stirred up the smell of burnt wood, the house smelt of stale smoke again. He had hung plastic around the once basement door. There was a latter in the hole where the steps to the basement had been. “Simon.” He climbed up, covered with soot. “What are you doin’ home? I thought your calendar was full this week?”

     He took his shoes off on a rug he had placed by the sheets of plastic, before walking out of the room. When he came back, he plopped a calendar on the kitchen table, put his shoes back on before disappearing into the basement. 

    

     She picked the calendar up, almost every appointment had been marked through. In some places, a new name had been added. “What is this?” She called after him. “What does D & E stand for? What are you doing?” When she got no answer, she quickly changed into old work clothes, took a deep breath before descending the latter. “I’m comin’ down.” He was sittin’ on a bucket waiting on her.

     “You answered none of my questions. I want answers.”

     “All of my clients are canceling on me because (I suspect) you keep runnin’ your mouth where you don’t have any business. This job that I have worked so hard to build, you are tearin’ apart with your mouth. But you want to know the wildest part? D & E is D & E Farm. They are still givin’ me work.Money that we desperately need.”

     Rebecca was instantly furious, choosing not to mention the farm, “I have a right to say what I want to say.” 

     “Yes, you do. You have that right. And you exercise it without thinkin’ about any of the consequences. How the venom that flows from your mouth affects others. You’ve had a beef with Ms Evelyn almost from the start. Your beef is costing me my livelihood.” 

     She put her hands on her hips, “where did you get that cheap ass lookin’ lumber that’s stacked on my porch?”

     “Free lumber from the lumber mill.”

     “Hell no. You are not puttin’ free shit in MY house.”

     Simon stood, “this is your house. You would get to keep it in the event of a divorce. But I have done a crap ton of work to this house since the marriage, increasing its overall market value. And unless you are hidin’ money from me, you don’t have it to pay me half the value of what this house is worth. The way I’m feelin’, right now, I will fight you for every penny I can squeeze out of you.” 

     Her jaw dropped to the floor. She squeezed out, “divorce?”

     “You should’a kept your mouth shut. You should’a took Ms Evelyn and Dillon up on their offer to organize the town into helpin’ us. You should go crawlin’ on your hands and knees over to her an apologize for being such a mouthy bitch. Maybe, just maybe, if you hadn’t disrespected Jack, I wouldn’t be loosin’ my job.” Simon was almost to the point of tears. “At this point, I’m so thankful to God we didn’t have children. Ms Evelyn is not a threat to you, if you are perceiving her as one. You are a big enough threat to yourself. I can’t go out into our community without hidin’ my head in shame because of some hurtful, nasty accusation my wife has made. Now, he pointed at the latter. You can grow a set of balls and help me rebuild what I,” he pointed at himself, “I destroyed. Ms Evelyn and her trained mice did not catch our house on fire. You can shut your damn mouth and be the woman I married again. Or I can jolly trot my ass right out that door and you can kiss where the sun don’t shine. I didn’t have a pot to piss in when we married. But I’ll have one if we get divorced.” He picked the bucket up that he had been settin’ on and shook it at her. “But I don’t want a divorce. I want my wife back. I want us back before you became a jealous little schoolgirl bully. You need to decide what you want.”