Nine Minutes (13 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three

There were
two customers in the shop who served as witnesses. Ann Marie Morgan was
eighteen and didn’t need parental permission to get married. I was in too much
shock to even remember the ceremony.

     
I remember
telling him I didn’t have a ring for him, and he told me not to worry, it was
being handled. I watched nervously as Eddie used his tattoo gun to create a
beautiful ink wedding band on
Grizz’s
left ring
finger. It was my name, Kit, and it had vines weaving in and out of it. Then it
was my turn.

     
“I can’t,
Grizz
,” was all I could say.

     
“What do you mean
you can’t?”

     
“I can’t.” My
voice shook. “I hate needles. I fainted when I got my ears pierced. Twice! Delia
did each one with an ice cube and a sewing needle, and I fainted after each
one.”

     
Eddie
interrupted. “It’s not that bad, Kit. How about I draw it on first and let’s
see if you like it? Huh? How about that?” he asked as he held up an ink pen. “Your
finger is so small it’s not
gonna
take a lot of ink.”

     
I reluctantly sat
down.
Grizz
held my right hand and kept telling me it
wouldn’t be that bad.

     
True to his word,
Eddie used an ink pen with a really fine point to start drawing
Grizz’s
name on my finger. He was talking to me as he was
doing it, trying to ease my anxiety.

     
“Then we’ll go
right here and make the bottom of this ‘z’ like a vine, to match
Grizz’s
finger, and then we’ll—”
     
I didn’t
hear the rest. I fainted. When I woke up,
Grizz
was
standing over me with a big grin.

     
“Didn’t feel a
thing, did you?”

     
I was so
humiliated. I’d fainted before they even used a needle. That had to be a first.
I stayed passed out during the whole tattoo process. I know I was beet red and
just wanted to crawl into a hole.

     
“C’mon, Mrs. O’Connell,
let’s go home.”

     
We stopped at a
really nice Italian restaurant on the way home. He teased me the whole time about
fainting. I finally saw the humor in it and laughed at myself.

     
“I just don’t get
it,” I said to him while waiting for our dinner.

     
“What, baby? What
don’t you get?” he asked me as he buttered a roll.

     
“Why me? It’s
obvious you can have any woman you want. Why do you want
me
,
Grizz
? Truthfully. Why?”

     
He got very quiet
and placed the now-buttered roll back on the plate. I didn’t think he was going
to answer me. I couldn’t fathom the depth of his feelings for me. I’d done
nothing to call attention to myself when I lived next to Guido. It just didn’t
make sense.

     
I asked again, “Why
me? I mean, I tell you I’m uncomfortable having oral sex and you marry me. Who
does that?”

     
It was then that
Grizz
told me a story. I sat in stunned silence as he told
me about a lonely biker and a little, neglected girl with a sloppy ponytail and
two missing front teeth.

     
I didn’t
completely understand it, but yes. It now made some sense.

____________

When we got
back to the motel there was a bigger than usual crowd around the pit. I started
to walk to number four, but
Grizz
told me to come
with him for a few minutes.

     
As we stood
facing the group, he said, “I have an announcement to make.”

     
Just then, Grunt
came out of his room and walked up to us. He was standing off to
Grizz’s
right waiting for the announcement.

     
“I just made it
official. Meet the new Mrs.
Grizz
.”

     
As he said this,
Grizz
held up my left hand showing my ring tattoo with his
name on it. It was so small and hard to see that some people jumped up and came
over to take a closer look. I was overwhelmed by the hooting and hollering and
looked at
Grizz
to let him know I was done and going
back to number four. He nodded at me to go.

     
I turned to walk toward
our room when I saw Grunt standing by his door. Now that I thought about it, he
wasn’t one of the people who came up to congratulate us. I changed direction
and started to walk toward him. I don’t know why, but I felt the need to
explain this to him. I was looking down and trying to figure what I was going
to say and wondering why I felt I needed to say anything. I had almost reached
his door.

     
But when I looked
up, he was gone.

____________

I knocked
on Grunt’s door and went in when he yelled, “It’s open.” He was standing near
his stereo flipping through albums.

     
“Hey,” I said.

     
“Hey.” His voice
was casual, unreadable.

     
I took the
plunge, blurting out in a rush, “Grunt, I don’t know why, but I feel like I owe
you an explanation about me and
Grizz
.”

     
“No, you don’t,
Kit.” Grunt shook his head. “You don’t owe me anything.”

     
“Well, then why
do I feel like I do?”

     
“Don’t know.
Maybe because of our secret?”

     
“Maybe that’s it.
I don’t know. It was a surprise, you know? He didn’t tell me where he was
taking me. I don’t know why it bothers me, but are you okay with this?”

     
“Yes and no.”

     
I gave him a look
that pleaded with him to continue.

     
“I don’t know why
he had to marry you. You’re really young. But, it’s not just that. I’m
concerned for your safety.”

     
I started to
interrupt but he held a hand up to stop me. “
Grizz
has a lot of enemies, Kit. Yes, he also has a lot of people who are afraid of
him, who do what he tells them to do. But there’s always going to be that
person out there looking for a way to get to him. By announcing his marriage to
you, he opened that up. It’s going to get around, you know? People will hear
that he cared enough about a woman to marry her. I’m just surprised he
announced it. I’m worried for you, is all.”

     
I didn’t know
what to say. He didn’t say he was upset because I married
Grizz
,
thereby making me unavailable to him. What in the world was wrong with me? I’d
been in
Grizz’s
bed for months now. I’d told myself
Grunt was with Sarah Jo, and if I harbored any feelings at all for him, I
needed to squelch them. So where was this coming from?

     
“I appreciate the
concern. I really do. I don’t know if it makes a difference or not, Grunt, but
I feel safe with
Grizz
.”

     
“Just do me a
favor, Kit. Stay sharp. Never let your guard down. You just never know with
this kind of lifestyle what can come knocking at your door.”

     
“I will. Thanks.”

     
We both moved in
for a hug. It seemed like it lasted a little longer than it should have. I
looked up and he was looking down at me. We stood there like that for a few
seconds, but it seemed like hours. He broke away first and turned back to his
stereo. I left and headed back to number four.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Thanksgiving
was approaching, and I realized I’d never sat down to a traditional
Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all the trimmings.

     
Grizz
was sitting at his desk doing some paperwork, and I
was sitting in the recliner repairing a ripped seam on one of my blouses. We
must have looked like the poster couple for wedded domestic bliss. Truth
be
told, I really was happy. I was rattling on about a menu and
cooking my first turkey when
Grizz
said, “Won’t be
here. You can go to Blue’s with Grunt.”

     
“What do you mean
you won’t be here? Why not?”

     
“Nope. Business.”
He turned around to look at me and rested his arm on the top of the chair. “Sorry,
Kitten, I’ve got to be gone, and I can’t bring you with me. Jan does a big
dinner every year. You’ll like it.”

     
“Ugh. Really?
Dinner with Jan?
I don’t think so.” I know my disappointment
was evident.

     
“Look, she’s been
after Blue for months now to bring you back around. I told you how she gets.
She’s so full of remorse over how she treated you that she’ll probably roll out
the red carpet and be on her best behavior to get back on your good side. You
really should go. Moe and Chowder go every year.”

     
“No way. I’d rather
stay here alone before I go to that house again. Nope. I’m definitely not
going.”

     
I went. Grunt
coaxed me into going by telling me how he needed me for moral support. He hated
going to his brother’s, but the truth was he loved the kids, and Jan always was
on her best behavior when he was there.

     
I was at Moe’s
door knocking to see if she was ready. Chowder had already begged out. He was
invited to
Chicky’s
place and said he didn’t want to
hurt her feelings. I wondered if that was true.

     
Moe opened the door
and let me in her room. I’d never completely walked inside Moe’s room before. I
was stunned. The walls were covered in beautiful drawings of horses. I noticed
one particularly recognizable brown horse.

     
“Wow. Moe, did
you draw these?”

     
She mouthed “yes”
and smiled at me.

     
“I didn’t know
you were such a talented artist. These are gorgeous. Can I have one to hang in
number four?”

     
She smiled even
bigger and gestured with her hand for me to pick one out. I settled on one of
the brown horse grazing under a familiar tree.

     
“Thanks. I’ll
leave it in here, though, until we get back from dinner. Ready to go?”

     
She shook her
head “no.”

     
“No? What do you
mean no? You have to come. You can’t leave me to face Jan all by myself.”

     
She just shrugged
her shoulders and mouthed “sorry.”

     
“I can’t believe
you’re not coming. You owe me big time for this,” I teased.

     
She smiled at me
and followed me to the door. I told her I would bring her a plate of food and
she gave me a thumbs-up.

     
I found Grunt in
his car. I explained that Moe wasn’t going and I didn’t know why.

     
“No biggie,” he
said. “You never know with her. Looks like it’s just you and me. Ready?”

     
“As ready as I’ll
ever be.”

     
We headed over to
Pembroke Pines and I realized I had not been alone with Grunt since the day
Grizz
and I got married. It wasn’t awkward at all, and I
found myself falling into easy conversation with him. He told me about his
college courses and I told him where I was with my high school correspondence
course. I never asked about Sarah Jo, and he never offered up any information
about her, either.

     
We were greeted at the door by Timmy
and Kevin jumping up
and down and yelling, “Uncle Grunt, Uncle Grunt, pick me up, pick me up!” They
remembered me, too, and were soon latching on to me for hugs and kisses.

     
Just like
Grizz
told me, Jan was more than accommodating and nice.
She fussed over me like I was a long-lost sister. I let myself enjoy the
camaraderie, but made sure I didn’t get too close. I still had reservations
about her sincerity. I even let myself have a couple sips of wine at dinner and
felt myself loosening up a little. I’d never drunk alcohol before and was
feeling comfortably buzzed. Jan and I were in the kitchen cleaning up.

     
“Kit, I’ve been
waiting for so long to tell you how sorry I am about the last time you were
here.”

     
“It’s okay, Jan.
Don’t worry about it,” I said as I scraped leftover food into the garbage.

     
“No. It’s not
okay. I know you must’ve heard why I sometimes do the things I do. When you
were here I thought I might be pregnant, so I’d stopped taking my meds. You got
the brunt of it. I’m really sorry. If there’s anything I can do to make it up
to you, please just say it. I’d really like to be friends.”

     
Hmm. I thought
about it a minute. “Yeah, actually, there is something you can do,” I said.

     
“Anything. Name
it.”

     
“Tell me about
Moe.”

___________