Hungry for Love (41 page)

“
I
’
ll drive you.
”

It took just moments for Angie and Kevin to be ready to leave
,
but in those very same moments
,
Angie
’
s dad had pulled out of his garage and began backing down the driveway.  Seeing the car
,
Kevin leapt into the air
,
and in a particularly intense display of the fight or flight phenomenon
,
he dashed forward and began banging on the car in a rage
,
causing Antimangia to stop and exit the vehicle.  Expecting the respect and reticence he was always granted
,
he was astonished when Kevin grabbed him by the lapel and started screaming.

“
Who the fuck are you and what the fuck do you think you
’
re doing
?”
  Kevin held Antimangia in a tight grip
,
and shook him repeatedly. 
“
Answer me
,
dammit.
”

“
Let go of me
,
you lunatic.
”

Angie ran up to Kevin and pushed against him but his adrenalin rush was too strong.  She shouted
,
“
Stop it Kevin
,
he
’
s my dad.  Stop it.  Stop it.  He
’
s my dad.
”

Kevin snorted with disbelief.  Was she in on it
?
  It wasn
’
t a dick curse
,
it was a conspiracy. 
“
He
’
s an assassin.  Who
’
s behind this
?
  My wife
?
  Come clean
,
right now or this is going to get ugly.
”

Angie grew frantic
,
pushing against Kevin to no effect.  Being fat would have come in handy now
,
but she wasn
’
t heavy enough to knock a man his size off balance and her dad
,
smaller than Kevin
,
might end up crushed on the ground.  Luckily Ben drove up and dashed out of his car and ran up
,
grabbed the hose and doused Kevin with it
,
who registered shock
,
then let go of Angie
’
s dad long enough for him to step back out of reach.

Ben stared at everyone.  He spotted Kevin
,
the quack.  And he looked at Angie who seemed to be both guilty when looking at him and triumphant when gazing toward her dad.

“
Angie
,
call the cops
,”
said her dad.

Her voice sounded worried but inside Angie secretly felt a little thrilled.  But why
?
  Were they fighting over her
?
  It didn
’
t seem like that. 
“
Everyone calm down.  It
’
s just a mistake.
”

Chrissy was thankful for two things.  First of all
,
her membership at the gym was paid up for many months to come.  Secondly
,
she still had one of Bill
’
s credit cards and the money she
’
d saved during the year she
’
d lived with him—it was at least a thousand dollars and that was a pretty good chunk of change.  She wondered what the rents were now and remembered how difficult it had been to make the rent before he
’
d come along.  Roommates
,
she
’
d had three. Chrissy shuddered.  But she knew it might come to her knocking on their door—if any of them still lived there—and begging to stay on the couch for a while.  What a horrific possibility.  She
’
d managed to pack most of her clothing and personal items into the trunk of her old VW bug
,
a car she hadn
’
t driven in the year she
’
d been with Bill
,
preferring instead to drive his wife
’
s little Mercedes convertible.  She wondered if she could get that car in the divorce.  He
’
d been unfaithful.  If only she had proof.  And if only they were actually married. 

Her stress level was monumental and she couldn
’
t think clearly.  No matter how many additional diet pills she swallowed
,
she didn
’
t feel in charge.  In fact she felt decidedly out of whack.  Her inner hum was off. Her heart felt different.  Was this a broken heart
?
  Chrissy didn
’
t know.  The thing she had feared most had happened but although stressed
,
she didn
’
t feel that sad.  Did she miss Bill and the vipers
?
  Not really. Did she miss her at-home gym and walk-in closet
?
  Most definitely.

The real question was what was her next move.  What did she want
,
and the one thing she wanted unquestionably was to be thin
,
to be as thin as she knew she should
,
could
,
and deserved to be.  And there was only one way to do that.  But how.  How could she go to
India
to seek the one aid that would guarantee her permanent thinness
?
  She didn
’
t speak Indian and what if nobody there spoke English
?
  How would she make herself clear
?
  She needed some sort of group tour
,
perhaps one she could organize of people like herself who needed that drug and weren
’
t willing to wait for the American health machine to grind forward.  But how
?

Pondering these weighty issues
,
she thundered along on the treadmill at a swift pace when Butch and Wimp entered Zero Tolerance.  There was something different about them and it took a moment for Chrissy to discern what it was—their usual leather garb was gone.  They were wearing normal street attire—Butch was even in a dress.  Wow
,
she looked very non-butch.  They seemed to spot her
,
glance toward each other nervously and try subtly to move in another direction.  Was Chrissy crazy
?
  But she waved and of course they came over to say hello
,
so perhaps her mind was playing tricks on her. It had happened before.

Chrissy told them the whole sad story about Bill kicking her out—completely without provocation on the eve of that stupid smoking fund raiser
,
though why Bill and Laura were so determined to fund the tobacco companies Chrissy had no idea—weren
’
t they very rich businesses
?
  Who knew what wealthy people dabbled in
,
not her but she wished she were still in a position to dabble.

Butch and Wimp looked properly aghast but somehow a bit distant from the whole story when before they were always so invested.  Why was that
,
Chrissy wondered. 

“
And all my gym equipment is still there at his place and of course I have nowhere to take it.  No idea about how to handle that.
”

“
Maybe you could sell it
,”
said Wimp
,
unusually assertive Chrissy thought
,
and she waited for the crop to come down on him
,
but for some reason Butch had forgotten it.  It was frustrating that you could never count on people to be as you
’
d come to expect them to behave. 
“
I know a guy
,”
Wimp said
,
reaching into his gym bag and writing down an address on a piece of paper. 
“
Maybe you could swing by there and discuss it with him after your workout here.  Sorry I don
’
t have the number.
”

“
Well
,
thanks so much
,”
said Chrissy
,
thinking she
’
d rather blow her brains out than lose her gym
,
but at least she had this place. 
“
I
’
m just sort of worried about going back to Bill
’
s—he seemed pretty enraged last time we were together.  I
’
m a little afraid and wish I had someone to come along with me.
”

“
We gotta run
,”
said Butch improbably
,
and off they went
,
not even stopping to work out.  Who does that
,
thought Chrissy
,
come to the gym and not work out.  Were they just coming to see her
?