Chapter Four

"I do remember that time, Link.", Rhett finally said, his state of mind transporting back to where it should be, in a Denny's restaurant in the present.

Link nodded, a serious expression still on his face. "Well the day after that, Christy and I called in a babysitter so that we could have some time with just the two of us." His pensive countenance slowly faded as he began to recollect the memory, and Link's stern tone was now gentle. "We went out to eat at The Cheesecake Factory down on Sunset Boulevard, and the dinner was just so amazing. The meals, the bread, the wine, and even the cheesecakes were just perfect. It was such a beautiful night, so I said to Christy 'Let's go take a walk on the Santa Monica Pier to digest everything,' so we did just that. We just walked around on the boardwalk, watched people ride the attractions at Pacific Park, walked on the sand of the beach and...talked." Link's voice fell softly at that last part, as if it was something that was hard for him to believe.

"Talked?", Rhett asked, feeling his heart miss a beat and paranoia rush over him. "Not about us...right?"

"Oh no, no! Nothing like that at all.", Link reassured him.

Relief washed over Rhett. "O-oh, okay then.", he sighed. "What about, then?"

"Well...we just reconnected in some way.", Link answered. "Christy talked about how well our children are doing with their homeschooling, and I told her that it's because she's a great teacher to them, and an amazing mother too." A small smile found its way to his kind face. "She enjoyed hearing that, of course, but when I had said that I meant it. I meant it with all of my heart, and I already know, without a doubt, that Christy's an amazing woman."

"Okay, but don't you always tell her this?"

"Of course I do, Rhett. That was only the beginning, though. As the night went on Christy and I were soon having real conversations, like we could tell each other anything. We even laughed at each other's jokes, corny and stupid as some were, and...it just felt real good to be together that night." Link took a pause as he became sunny with recalling the date night, his smile growing the more he spoke. "I-I couldn't remember what it felt like to hold Christy's hand until I took it with mine that night. I couldn't remember what it felt like to kiss her for more than three seconds until I did on that night. Everything just felt great, and I didn't know if I was dreaming or not. Our date night made us feel so reborn."

Rhett should have been happy for him and Christy because they got to have some quality time together, and that Link had rediscovered his love for his wife. Truth is, Rhett had found himself to be uncomfortable with it, and slightly envious. He shouldn't be. Link and Christy had a date night, and Rhett can certainly have the same with his own wife, and he can feel the same way about her. Why was he so bothered by Link's happiness?

"Then," Link progressed, "we were driving on home, just recapping the night, when that song God Only Knows from The Beach Boys played on the radio. We were quiet enough to hear the words, and the more I listened I realized that God really does know what would become of me if Christy wasn't in the picture. The thought of having a life without her scared me deep inside. I asked about her take on it, and she said exactly what I thought she would say, that God only knows."

Rhett staged a soft-hearted smile, but he was mentally rolling his eyes at the cheese Link was spreading on him. Give me a break, he thought to himself.

"It only took me until we had gotten home and...well, got in bed that I had fallen in love with Christy all over again - and I'm glad I did."

Rhett noticed a red flag in that bit. "W-woah, wait up. D-did you two...have sex?"

Link chuckled. "Well, I would like to call it making love, Rhett, but yes."

"But you two did it. You had sex with her. You had sex with Christy!" Rhett did his best to not raise his voice, but he could feel the strange exasperation in him grow.

Link felt himself blush out of embarrassment. "Rhett, Christy and I are married to each other. We love each other and we want to show it. We have the right to do that, you know." He then looked away from his friend, not meeting his eyes. "That's just the thing.", he said softly. "We're married. We're allowed to copulate with our spouses freely, unlike when there are other circumstances." Sternness had returned in him.

Surprised by the remark, Rhett cocked his head back and frowned. "W-what's that suppose to mean?" He didn't have to wait for the answer. Judging by the way Link spoke that last part, he already knew the answer. In vexation, Rhett shook his head. He had lost his patience. "No. You know what, screw that. I need you to tell me what all of this has to do with you not talking to me for two months. You never answered that question, so quit stalling and just tell me!"

Link turned his gaze back to him. "Fine, you got me.", he said, almost shouting. "When Sunday came, I knew that I was going to see you the next day, and I actually had mixed feelings about that. I didn't know if I should have felt glad or apprehensive, but I couldn't get one or the other. I wanted to see you even when I didn't at the same time."

At that moment, Rhett felt his heart drop ten-thousand feet. "Why didn't you want to see me? I-I don't understand."

Link sighed heavily, shaking his head in a disapproving manner. "Rhett, this arrangement we've made with each other has to stop. It just needs to stop."

"Stop?"

"Our 'one-on-one business' needs to end. We can't...we can't keep on with it anymore." Link spoke this in a whisper so that only he and Rhett could hear.

In his mind, every word from Link's sentences were nothing more than deride echoes to Rhett. A rush of iciness zipped through his blood and he felt the color from his face drain, possibly becoming very pale due to shock. "W-what?! Link, we...I...I can't believe this!" Rhett could not control the fusion of surprise and dismay in him, causing him to outburst without giving a damn about his surroundings.

"Why are you so upset about this, Rhett?", Link argued. "Don't you think what we've been doing is infelicitous to both our marriages?"

"No!", Rhett answered. "The whole point of this was for us to fool around with each other then go back to our families and pretend...like it all n-never happened." Rhett began to get choked up, causing his voice to crack and his sentences to break. Though try as he might to hold up his inner masculinity, he could not fight off the sorrow burning in him.

"Yes.", Link agreed.

"But I can't!", Rhett bellowed, making Link and everyone watching flinch with alarm. Fiery tears flooded Rhett's eyes in an instant and he was blubbering like an infant. "I don't want to forget everything, Link! Those moments with you and I together, like together-together-"

"Are you out of your fucking mind, Rhett?!", Link incredulously interrupted, completely blown away by Rhett's behavior. "You were happy with the arrangement?"

"I thought you were happy too!", Rhett argued.

"Well I was, but-"

"But what, Link?! What?!"

"But now I'm not!", Link shout back, losing his own temper. "I was happy with this whole thing, believe me! It brought us closer together, literally, and I couldn't ask for more. Now, I can't do it anymore. I've fallen in love with Christy again, Rhett. Don't you love Jessie?"

Rhett didn't stall on the answer. "Yes, I do! You know I do, Link, but I love you just the same." He felt damned for confessing this, but it was a relief to just get the feeling out in the open. Even if it meant catching Link off guard.

"Rhett."

"I love you, Link! I love Jessie and I love you!"

"Well that is just too bad for you, Rhett! You can't have one and the other! Marriage doesn't work that way."

"And you don't think I already know that?!"

"No, I don't think you do!", Link shout back. "You are 6 feet 7 inches of moronic daydreamer. You want everything that you can't have. You are crying in public and expect me to go weak in the knees because you are in love me just like you are in love with your own wife. You expect me to be thrilled that I'm involved in your sick love triangle, but I really am not. I'm not convinced."

Just as Link finished and Rhett was finally left with nothing else to fight with, their waitress had returned to their table, her expression and tone a mixture of apology and sternness. "I'm sorry gentlemen, but I have just been advised by the manager that you must leave the restaurant. Your outbursts are disturbing the other diners."

"That's fine, m'am.", Link answered, keeping his own tone steady while apologizing. "We're finished here anyways. Just give us the check to pay and we'll be off."


Rhett and Link didn't say a word to each other after leaving the Denny's, and it became quite obvious that after the events that took place Link wanted to go home. Or, to Rhett, be anywhere he wasn't. He wanted to say the same for Link. Yet, despite the radio playing on full volume, music had nothing on the absence of casual conversations, laughter, brotherhood, and happiness. Rhett had hoped things between him and Link would get better, but the thing about hopes is that they shouldn't have been bet on at high rates. Everybody knew that, and Rhett was one of them, yet he still gambled his hopes.

The days of silent carpooling were not over, and Rhett should have seen it coming.

At a stop light Rhett turned his head to Link's side, whose own was also to his right side, leaning against the window and watching people walk along the streets. They were living their own lives as the world outside Rhett's car merrily span round and round. There were people both have never met smiling and laughing, some with others and some by themselves. They were happy, while these two men were the opposite.

Rhett finally pulled into Link's driveway, but before his passenger could break free Rhett spoke what was the first sentence in over several minutes. "If it's her you want then have at it, but I am not going to keep on playing this game."

Seeing as Link kept his head straight, facing the front of his home, he exhaled a sigh that clearly meant he took the hint. "I think...it's best we don't see each other for a while", Link said, his voice low with dolor.

Sharing the same feeling, Rhett nodded. "Makes sense." He could have sworn the last piece of his heart had fallen to the deepest pits of his soul when he said this. Only he may not have a soul anymore.

With Rhett's response marking the end of their short-lived talk, Link unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the passenger door. He closed it, and walked up the driveway. When he unlocked the front door and entered his home Rhett wasted no time and pulled out of Link's driveway. As he got on the road Rhett dreaded going to his own home. He felt like he needed to get away from social interaction after the events of today. He looked at the time shown on his dash; 8:23.

With replaying everything that just happened in the last three minutes, Rhett needed to pullover some place to be alone. Judging by how strong the waves of his anguish were, he needed to find a rest area fast. Rhett turned left onto the freeway and drove along until he had found a sign for an upcoming dry riverbed, then followed the road that was paved especially for him. Within a couple of minutes, he was parked alongside the gate separating his car and the deserted riverbed.

Seeing that he was alone and away from other cars, freeways, city buildings, and people, Rhett finally let those afflicting waves toss him aside as he began to easily sob inside his own car. "God damn it!", he screamed. Heavy tears slipped down his face and his body shook violently. Rhett balled a hand into a tight fist and pressed it against his lips, causing his sobs to come out as muffled groans. With the last of the energy left in his aching body, Rhett let out a long agonizing yell that became another choking cry.

His world was now crumbling down on him, hard.