38. “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room”

38

"SLOW DANCING IN A BURNING ROOM"

JOHN MAYER

I peeled my eyes away from her to see what had caused such a visceral reaction. Standing in front of the hostess stand twenty feet away was a disheveled, short-statured man with shoulder-length brown hair I could clearly see—even from that distance—was in need of a wash. His red face oscillated like an overheated desk fan, searching. " JENNA! Where the hell are you? " His tightly curled fist came down hard on the hostess stand as his voice boomed through the small café, highlighting how close the unhinged man was to us. To Jenna, who was quaking like a half-frozen chihuahua next to me.

"Oh, good grief. This guy's a real piece of shit. Sorry, Jenna," Elyse said, then slid from the booth, followed by Sarah, who stepped aside to let her mother out. Grace put a hand on the back of the booth and a hand on the end of the table and pulled herself out. She took a step forward and held a hand out to Jenna, whose eyes dashed back and forth between Grace's hand and the door.

At that moment, a flustered Cat peered around the door from the kitchen to investigate the commotion at the front of her café and, in three seconds, stood next to the hostess stand. Hands on hips and chin raised in an unspoken challenge, she formed a human barrier between the dazed hostess and the unhinged man on the hunt for our friend.

Elyse exploded forward, and before I could even process her movement, was standing rigidly at Cat's side. "Do you want me to handle this?"

Grace was next to arrive on the scene, trailed by Jenna who was looking down at the floor in front of her sandals. She stepped between the man at the door and the two women poised for attack. "This isn't the time or the place, Elyse. Cat, let's take a ten-second cool-down. Why don't you and I step outside together?" Grace said as she took a step toward the man with a hand held out toward the door.

From what I could see between the women who blocked his path—and sightline—to our booth, his clothes looked relatively clean, so I didn't think he was homeless, but everything about him seemed unkempt. He was vaguely familiar, but I couldn't zero in on where I'd seen him before.

Sarah's voice broke my concentration as I flipped through my mental Rolodex. "Might as well stay here while my mother and the two hotheads handle that meathead. My mom and I are firmly in the ‘cooler heads prevail' camp, which balances out the group and keeps everyone out of the slammer."

"Who is that?"

"That would be Craig," said Sarah. "To use Elyse's sentiment, he's a real piece of shit."

"Jenna's husband ? What's his deal?"

"I would venture to guess he tracked her here. He tracks her everywhere she goes. He's always been a bit of an asshole, but he wasn't always this bad. It's gotten a lot worse over the last year or so and no one really knows why. Jenna has been very patient with him, but things like this are embarrassing for her, as you can imagine. "

"I can't believe anyone would treat Jenna like that. She's the sweetest person I've ever met."

A hiss flowed over Sarah's front teeth as she contemplated her next few words. "Despite her upbringing, Jenna used to have a little more fire in her, but you can only have that fire if someone isn't throwing buckets of water on you every time you try to take a step forward."

"Oh my God. I feel terrible for her." My eyes settled on the shrunken figure walking out the door behind Grace. Sarah began to slide out of the booth, her relaxed pace demonstrating her obvious confidence in her mother's ability to diffuse the situation. I scooted out after her, but we continued to stand next to our table. It seemed the bill for today's meal would have to be paid later, as everyone else responsible for procuring it had spilled out onto the sidewalk.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"I think right now she's trying to wrap her mind around the extreme changes in her husband and how they affect her marriage. If things continue like this, I can't see it working out the way she'd hoped, but Jenna isn't a quitter, and she is doing everything she can to smooth things over until, God-willing, Craig goes back to his normal ‘asshole-reduced' behavior."

"No one knows what sparked this?"

"No, but I'm sure all the jobs he's lost all over town due to his piss-poor attitude haven't helped matters. Right now, they're living on Jenna's café income, which is why I think she's so excited about this opportunity with you. Not only does it give them a little more income, but it gives her some autonomy and brings her one step closer to where she'd actually like to be, which is owning her own bakery. Assuming Craig ever allows it."

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. "My uncle mentioned that Craig used to do his groundskeeping at the house, but he had some issues with his reliability. "

"Yeah, that's a common refrain amongst anyone who's worked with Craig in the last couple years. I feel terrible for Jenna, but this is something that, while we can put our arms around her, we can't solve for her, so we're just trying to give her as much support as we can."

"I can't believe he just showed up here like that."

Sarah must have come to the same realization as I did about the bill, because she looked down at the abandoned table filled with the detritus of our lunch and placed a few twenties in the center. "He's done it before and he'll do it again." She looked around the restaurant. "I just guessed at the total. Cat will tip Betty with this and let us know later if we owe more. You can just Venmo me. Ready?"

We made our way to the door, but fear tickled my subconscious. "Is she going to be safe?"

"I don't think he's ever been physical with her, but we all worry because the statistics are not good for this situation. These things tend to escalate over time, especially considering the rate at which he escalated to this point without anyone knowing why. So, no, I don't think he'd put his hands on her, but part of that might be his fear of what would happen to him if Cat and Elyse saw a single red mark on her." She opened the door and held it for me.

We stepped out into the harsh sunlight, and a mental image slid into place. Craig cowering in the center of a ring. Elyse crouched on the ropes, waiting for Cat to tag her in. I nodded, satisfied by the knowledge that Sarah was probably right. For now. But even a watched pot eventually boils over.

"Looks like we've timed our exit perfectly," Sarah observed as we reached the sidewalk. The only people left milling around outside the café were Cat and Elyse .

"Grace left with Jenna after a futile attempt to talk some sense into Craig. He sped off in his car, and it sounded like Grace was taking Jenna back to her condo. I'm going back to the bookstore to work off some of this adrenaline with some super strenuous paperwork. I'm going to grab my backpack from the booth and take off. Cat, let me know what I owe for lunch."

"It's covered," said Sarah. "We can settle up later."

"Thank you, Sarah. Paige, it's been delightful. I'm sorry that asshat let the air out of our excitement, but I am so thrilled with where this is headed, and I am so happy for you!" And with that, she opened the door and disappeared inside the café.

"I'd better head back in and get everyone calmed down." Cat smoothed the front of her apron. "Ladies, we will pick up where we left off next time. Don't worry about the bill."

"I threw sixty dollars on the table. Let my mom know if it was more than that." Sarah turned back and hugged me. "Paige, Paige, Paige. So much drama since you arrived. Your head must be spinning. I hope the rest of your day goes better than today's meeting." She stepped back, but left her hand on my arm. "Ok, I'm off to the grocery store." As she walked toward her car parked on the street, she called back with a lilt in her voice, "Making a new recipe tonight. Maybe I'll make a ‘special' dish for Craig. Toodles."

Sarah wasn't wrong. My head was spinning and continued to do so all the way home. I had learned so much about each of my new friends in the last thirty minutes. They were a force, each of them in their own way. Fiercely loyal to one another. I felt lucky to have found my way into their circle.