Twenty-Four Shadows. Tanya J. Peterson

by far the worst one she’d ever seen, was shouting in her face and frankly scaring her with this never-before-seen display of violence; and she was ready to scream in frustration. That, though, is exactly what none of them needed at the moment. She took a deep breath. “Isaac. I know you’re trying to help. This isn’t good for anyone, though, including you. Go cool off.” When he just glared at her with those cold, beady eyes and, jaw set, said nothing, she added, “Please.” She stepped in and hugged him. It was what hugging a cadaver must be like. She shuddered. That this was the second time in a short interval that her husband made her shudder didn’t escape her. She pulled back and gently pushed him toward the house. “Go settle down and then come back when you’re ready.” He glared at her for a few more seconds, then without a word, whirled around and stomped toward the house. Reese exhaled audibly, closed her eyes as she rubbed her temples, took a deep breath, and turned her attention to Max and Gretchen.

      Max stood with his hands at his sides. Gretchen stared at him, then looked at Reese. Calmly, as if none of this ruckus had just occurred, she said, “Good-bye. Max, you’ll be fine. Reese, you’ve been a wonderful friend.” She turned, and poised and confident, strode out of their lives.

      Reese looked at Max. The summer evening seemed to have cooled uncomfortably. The flickering torches continued to cast their light, but the warmth had even left the flames. The orange glow looked like it stopped at Max rather than washing over him, and it accentuated his aloneness. She had absolutely no idea what she could possibly say, should possibly do. Max looked down. He didn’t move, barely breathed. Reese heard him sniff. “Max,” she whispered. When he still didn’t move, she stepped toward him and held him. After a pause, he returned her embrace. “Max,” she whispered again, “I’m so, so, sorry.” When he eventually stepped away, he just looked at her and shook his head. Reese took his hand and led him to the table.

      “I…I don’t know what to say, Reese. I think I’m too numb to formulate coherent thoughts right now.” He covered his face with his hands.

      Reese rubbed his back. “We’re here for you. Always. Our friendship is strong, and Isaac and I love you. We’re going to get through this, okay?” Max nodded, then shrugged, then nodded again. “I mean it, Max. I know that Isaac’s with me on this, too. Clearly he’s on your side. I have no idea what came over him tonight, but at least he was trying to be supportive. In a really twisted way though, I must admit.”

      Max gave her a small smile. “Yeah. That was interesting. I wonder where the hell that came from.”

      “I have no idea. I don’t really want to find out where it came from, and I don’t want to see that side of him ever again. Next time he’s in one of his pissy spells, I’ll just count my blessings that he’s not subjecting everyone to a fit of rage.” She paused as she thought. “I’m not justifying his behavior, because what he did was wrong, but he was looking out for you, Max. And we’re both going to keep looking out for you. We’re here.”

      “Thanks.” He nodded. He continued to nod, but he didn’t say anything further.

      When Max, still nodding, wiped his eyes, Reese took his hand in hers again. “Why don’t you stay here tonight? Elise is already asleep. Just let her be, and crash on our couch. I can make it comfortable. That way you don’t have to go home tonight, and you don’t have to be alone.”

      Max shook his head. “Thank you. But Elise needs her crib. A playpen isn’t comfortable for sleeping all night, and when she wakes up she needs to have her little mobile and her little stuffed animals so she won’t know right away that her mother is gone.” His sigh was deep and ragged. “I feel so awful for Elise. She’s sweet and innocent, and her mother just up and abandoned her. Girls need their mothers. She just lost hers.” He hung his head.

      “Max, you are a good person and a wonderful father, and Gretchen is a fool.”

      Max stood up. Together, he and Reese walked into the house. Reese thought her heart would break as she watched Max scoop up his baby and cuddle her. She touched his arm. “We’ll check on you in the morning, okay?”

      Max nodded. “Okay. Tell Isaac goodnight. I need to go home right now; otherwise, I’d stick around to see him.”

      “Don’t worry about that. He’s off somewhere cooling down. He’ll understand because he’s your friend.”

      Once again, Max nodded. After whispering a barely audible thank-you, he shuffled out the door toward his empty house. Reese watched him go, blurred through her tears, then wiped her eyes and set out to find Isaac. She checked every room of the house to no avail. Puzzled, she tried the garage. The instant she opened the door and stepped in, her nose was assaulted by the strong smell of cigarette smoke. “What on earth?” she muttered to herself. Louder, she called, “Isaac?” but was met with silence.

      Her heart began to beat hard in her chest. Isaac hadn’t answered her call. Isaac didn’t smoke. Who the hell was in her garage, and where was Isaac? Had he been knocked out by this intruder? Her adrenaline surged, preparing her to defend herself, her family, and her home. The light was on, and she could see the cigarette smoke emanating from the back of the garage. It looked like the intruder must be sitting on the floor smoking. Her heart continued to pound, banging loudly in her ears. She slunk along the wall, grabbed Dominic’s baseball bat, and crept slowly toward the smoker. Her eyes trained on the cigarette smoke, she looked down only occasionally and then only briefly to step quietly over such obstacles as a bike pump and rollerblades. When she reached the end of her segment of the wall, she leaned her head back, raised the bat, took a deep breath, and pivoted quickly around the corner.

      “Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my garage? Get out!” Reese screamed as menacingly as she could muster. She started to swing the bat toward the intruder on the ground, but gasped and abruptly moved it to the side so it hit a bin of Dominic’s toys rather than the man on the floor.

      “Isaac! What…Why…Uh, could you explain yourself please?”

      Isaac smiled. Or was that a sneer? Reese was fairly certain that he was sneering. He stopped sneering as he inhaled deeply, drawing smoke into his lungs and holding it for several seconds before blowing it out in Reese’s direction.

      “Isaac!” she repeated, furious. “Since when do you smoke?”

      “Since when are you such a nag?”

      “What?!”

      When he just shrugged and took another puff, Reese fumed. “Isaac Bittman, I have no idea what has gotten into you. Seriously. You scared the hell out of me outside with your yelling and physical violence. Just a moment ago, you didn’t answer me when I called you, making me think that we had an intruder who had already hurt you, you’re smoking, and you’re being an asshole. I don’t want to deal with this right now. I need to focus on Max and Elise.” She watched Isaac direct another long stream of smoke at her. “Do you have anything intelligent to say, or are you just going to sit there blowing smoke at me?”

      After exhaling yet another breath of smoke, Isaac said in the same low pitch he had been using since he became angry at Gretchen, “One, don’t be such a goddamn wuss. I wasn’t hurting you outside, and why the hell would there be an intruder smoking in the garage? Two, you didn’t call my name, so why should I answer? Three, yeah, I’m smoking. So what? And four, I’m not being an asshole. You’re just too sensitive.” As he talked, he lit another cigarette off the one he had finished, and he inhaled deeply after his last word.

      “To hell with you, Isaac. I’m going to bed. But I guarantee you, this isn’t over.” With that, she spun on her heels and stomped to the door. She dropped the bat, its clank reverberating off the concrete, turned off the lights, and slammed the door behind her as she stormed inside.

      After checking on Dominic, Reese prepared for bed, crawled in, buried herself deep among the covers, and sobbed. This had probably been the worst day of her entire life, and she couldn’t contain her emotions any longer. Lost in her tears and her devastation, she didn’t hear Isaac enter the room. It wasn’t until he slid into bed and cuddled up beside her that she registered