“What’s it going to be, Jack? You want to put the piece down or spend the next 20-25 years wearing pajamas?” I tried not to let my voice shake when I said it. He didn’t seem to hear me anyway. Have you ever had a gun pointed at you by someone who wasn’t paying attention? Neither had I.
Jack’s problem isn’t that he’s a stupid man. I mean sure, that might be a small part of the problem, but being stupid can only mess you up so far. To really ruin your life you have to add bitterness into the mix. And Jack is a very bitter man.
This all started fifteen years ago with Jack’s wife. I can’t remember how we ended up at a bar one night. The place was just closing up so it must have been pretty late. Tara was wasted and begging me to give her a ride home.
“Please, David,” she’d said, “if Jack has to come get me he’s going to be so pissed.”
I knew my brother and I knew she was right. Damn women. Damn them for making good decisions when they’re drunk and in spite of the good decisions they still don’t have the good sense to keep from turning those good decisions into bad ones.
The kiss goodnight is what surprised me. At least I told myself it was the surprise that made me freeze up. I didn’t pull away. We got a little carried away there in the car. It was parked in Jack’s driveway. No lights came on in the house. That was good. The moment was over as soon as it had begun. Tara went inside. I drove off.
Thanksgiving rolled around and it was forgotten about. Well, at least Tara and I had pretended to forget about it. Rather, we had pretended it had never happened and there was nothing to forget. I didn’t forget, though. Sometimes I caught a lingering look that was just enough to tell me she also hadn’t forgotten.
Jack hadn’t forgotten either.
That pretty much brings us to our present situation. If he wants to shoot me, well, deep down I know he has a right to. If anyone, even my brother, had done that with my wife I’d be pissed.
“Jack.” There’s nothing I can say. I don’t even know what to do with my hands. They’re sweaty as hell. “Look man, I’m sorry. Tara’s your wife and I shouldn’t have touched her. I wish I could take it all back. Family first, you know?”
“Yeah,” Jack said, his eyes looking right through me, focusing on some distant point no one else could see, “family first.”
Without another word he fired just one shot. One shot that managed to go straight through his head and my heart at the same time. He managed to kill both of us at once two different ways.