Pictures of Houses with Water Damage: Stories Read Online Free Page A

sorry.”
    Angry? “I don’t understand.”
    “I live in San Diego,” she said. “My husband's name is Barry Redman. Do you know him?”
    “No,” I said.
    “I found your phone number on the back of a matchbook,” she told me. “The matchbook was from a bar. The matchbook was in the jacket pocket of my husband's gray suit, which he was wearing two nights ago. He was out late. He came home drunk.”
    “Is this some kind of weird joke?” I said. “Did Lisa put you up to this?”
    “Lisa?”
    “My wife.”
    “I don’t know a Lisa.”
    “I don’t know a Barry Redman.”
    “Where is your wife now?”
    “Is this a joke?”
    “I’m sorry,” she said, and hung up.
    I went back to the television.
    I love Star Trek .
Lisa
     
    Lisa called later that night. She’d had a few drinks. She likes to drink, and so do I. It's the one thing we immediately had in common when we met seven years ago. She was down in San Diego still, on business for the company she worked for. She’d been in San Diego for five days. This was her last night. “I can’t wait to get back home,” she said.
    “I got the strangest telephone call today,” I said.
    “What?”
    “It was,” I said. “I don’t know,” I said, “it was nothing.”
    “I’m beat,” Lisa said.
    The next afternoon, I drove to the airport and picked her up. We kissed and didn’t talk. We went home. From the corner of my eye, I kept looking at her, to see if she were different.
    Home, I made us two vodka tonics and we sat in front of the television. The television wasn’t on. No Star Trek re-runs.
    “Do you know someone named Barry Redman?” I asked.
    Lisa was about to take a drink. She stopped. “What?” she said.
    “Barry Redman,” I said.
    “Why do you ask?”
    “I got a funny phone call yesterday,” I said. “A woman called. She was in San Diego. Said she found our number on a matchbook from a bar. Her husband's name is—”
    “Yes,” Lisa said, “I know him.”
    “A business associate?” I asked.
    “No,” she said.
    “A friend?” I asked.
    “I don’t know him that well, really,” she said.
The Truth
     
    We didn’t make love when we went to bed. She didn’t seem to be in the mood and I wasn’t either.
    “So who is Barry Redman?” I asked.
    She didn’t answer. She lay there, back turned to me.
    “Lisa?” I said.
    “What,” she said. She sat up, looking at me. She pulled the sheets across her breasts. “What the fuck do you want?” she said. “What do you want me to say?”
    “I don’t know,” I said.
    “What the fuck do you want me to say?” She was crying now. “You want the truth? Okay. I’ll tell you the truth . Barry Redman is someone I met at a bar in San Diego. A—a man.”
    “Oh,” I said. I got up, went to the bathroom. I didn’t have to pee. I looked at myself in the mirror. I put on my robe and went back to the bedroom. Lisa was on the bed, looking at the ceiling.
    “Why did you give him our number?” I asked.
    “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Like I could really take a call here. I must’ve meant to give him my pager number and and and , I don’t know. I was drunk . I was really drunk.”
    “Did you fuck him?”
    She still looked at the ceiling.
    I approached the bed.
    “Lisa,” I said, “did you fuck him?”
    She sat up.
    “No,” she said. “I wanted to. But I didn’t.”
    “Oh,” I said.
    “I sucked his cock,” she said, looking at me.
    I went to the kitchen.
    I made some drinks.
    I fell asleep in front of the television. Tony Robbins infomercials: how to improve your life and get rich.
Hashbrowns & Eggs
     
    Woke up to the smell of food. Lisa was making breakfast in the kitchen. She wore a t-shirt and shorts.
    “Do you want hashbrowns with your eggs?”
    “You sucked his cock?” I asked.
    “Yes,” she said.
    “Why?”
    “Why?” she said. “Don’t ask dumb questions,” she said.
    “Did he come in your mouth?”
    “Yes,” she