We’re in The Venetian in her hotel room. She pulls off her jacket, kicks off her shoes and heads for the wet bar. I follow closely behind, taking a seat in a near by chair. Melanie quickly swallows three shots of rum and lights a thin cigar. “Hello, Joe.”nextI want to hold her in my arms, only I know she’d kill me if I tried to touch her. “Hey Mel. What brings you to Las Vegas?”
She smiles devilishly, “The strip clubs.”
“Always were outgoing.”
She poured herself a glass of tequila. “Do you have any idea what you have done to me?”
I interlock my fingers and smack my lips together, “I haven’t the slightest idea. I do know that you hate me, but I don’t know why.”
She laughs lightly as she heads towards the bed. Sitting on the pile of pillows at the head of the bed, she places her drink between her feet to use it as a cup holder. Her hair is let down from the bun she had it pulled into. The cigar is pressed between her fingers as she draws in another breath. “How’s Gennie? And your baby boy?” Her voice is bitter.
“Gennie went back to JC and killed herself. Tony’s dead too. He wasn’t even mine.” I keep my back to her.
“Smart girl. Who would ever want to have your child? Hell, I wouldn’t even want to touch you and I’m your fucking wife.” She mumbled a few more words I couldn’t hear. Her voice was hallow, not her.
I stood up from the bed and faced her. “Tell me. What did I do to make you hate me so much? I still love you and you hate me. Why? Tell me right now or I swear --”
“You swear what? You swear you’re going to teach me a lesson like you did before? Fuck you Joey. I married you because I loved you. Loved. Past tense.” She threw the glass across the room, shattering against the wall.
I wanted to scream back at her. I wanted to reach over and strangle her neck. But I know if I were given that chance, I would just kiss her. In the calmest voice I could manage, “Melanie, tell me what I did wrong.”
She was already crying, but continued to smoke that cigar. “Why can’t you remember?”
“I don’t know what I was doing five minutes ago, let alone 13 months ago.”
She stood up from the bed and found her way to me. She sat down directly in front of me, pulling my waist so that her chin rested on my belt. “You let me live.”
Oh shit. I’m in hell. Kill me. Now.