Page 22 of He Has Santa

“I’ve been a few times. Not enough to get the best table without reservations. I’m not in your celebrity club, but I do have the money.”

“That right? Good for you.” I pick up my menu.

“Bet you make a few mil a year. How much are the Brawlers paying you?”

“Ken, that’s not—” Junie says.

“It’s okay.”

“No it’s not. Don’t answer him.”

“Don’t worry. I wasn’t going to. I was going to make him guess. Make a game out of it.”

Darlene almost spits out the water she’d been sipping. Junie bites her lip, forcefully holding back a laugh, coughing instead. She’s way too polite to this guy and I’m starting to wonder why, whether I’m missing something.

“Cute.” Ken waves a hand and picks up his menu. We manage to make it through appetizers without further incident mostly due to Junie and Darlene dominating the conversation with talk about their daughters and the hockey game. I’m enjoying getting the glimpse into Nicky’s life and pleased as hell that it sounds like a happy one, with friends, fun and family. It’s civil and pleasant mostly because Dr. Dick is mostly quiet.

After eating only half her meal, Junie excuses herself to go to the lady’s room and although I might expect Darlene to join her, I’m surprised when Ken stands. He says, “I’ll walk with you.”

She looks more wary than surprised, manages a mild shrug of her shoulder that says suit yourself. Still far too polite in my opinion.

“What’s with that guy?” I say to Darlene after they leave.

She laughs. “He’s been trying to prove himself ever since his wife left him. Tries way too hard. He likes to push his weight around since he’s the school’s official physician and signs off on eligibility for participating in athletic programs. I think he needs… counseling?”

“More like a punch in the eye.” I lean past the booth to see where he went with Junie and what I see makes my eyes go hazy with outrage.

He has his hands on her shoulders and anger on his face as he spouts off. Junie is frozen and at his mercy, looking uncomfortable and glancing around like she’s worried about making a scene. I slide from the booth and throw my napkin down. Junie hates being the center of attention. It was always something she put up with rather than enjoyed about our relationship, but she did it for me. Back then. Now she shouldn’t be putting up with this this shit from Dr. Dickhead.

Striding over to where he has her cornered in full view of the dining room, I push both of them back down the short hall towards the rest rooms and around a corner for privacy. Then I turn on him, keeping my voice low, but no less menacing, I vent my outrage.

“I don’t know what the fuck you think you’re doing, what you had to say or why you think you can put your hands on my Junie and speak to her that way, but you’re dead wrong.”

“Who the hell are you—”

“I’m the guy who’s going to make sure you pay fucking hell if you touch her or speak to her that way ever again.”

He tries to scoff, but I can see the nervous twitch, hear the shake in his forced laugh.

“You don’t have any right. She doesn’t belong to you. I’m the one who should be upset that you interrupted our—”

“What?” I step closer, lower my voice. “What did I interrupt?” There’s a beat of silence in the air. He says nothing. Junie clears her throat.

“Nothing at all,” she says. “It was about nothing.” She stares at Dr. Dick waiting for his confirmation and he finally nods. I get the idea he’d been intimidating or threatening her and my fist bunches, itching to pop him in the smug face of his as he turns back to me.

“If you don’t mind,” he says, side-stepping me. Then he walks briskly back down the hall. Joni turns to follow, but I grab her hand and hold it.

“Wait a sec. Tell me what that was all about?” She smiles.

“Don’t worry, Logan. Whatever it was, it’s nothing now.” She tugs on my hand. “Let’s not leave poor Darlene alone with Ken. She doesn’t deserve it.

When we get back, the table is tense while we wait for the server to clear away dinner for desert until Ken gets a call and needs to leave—or so he says. I can see him weighing his need to outdo me, to wait for the check and upstage me.

“Go ahead. You obviously need to leave.” I level him a look that makes it clear I’m not talking about his call, though I want to kiss whoever is on the other end of the line. “Like I said before, dinner is on me.” He nods, acknowledging that I’ve won this round of whatever game we’re playing.

But it only matters if Junie says I’ve won, if she stays with me for a while and is willing to get back some of our former ease with each other. That’s all I can hope for right now in spite of my dick’s insistence that I need a whole lot more than ease.

Once Ken leaves, Darlene follows, making an excuse only slightly less obvious than saying she needs to wash her hair.