Ghost Light Read Free Page B

and leaned back, but not fast enough to avoid his hand as he swung it around at her. The palm caught her squarely on the side of the face with a loud crack, and her head snapped back.
    “Then get it for me!” he shouted, fumbling to pull out a chair. He sat down heavily and let loose a rumbling burp. “And get me a fuckin’ beer while you’re at it!”
    He was satisfied by the expression of utter surprise in her eyes as she clamped both hands over her face and stared at him, trembling. He felt even better when she took her hand away and stood up, and he saw the wide, red welt blossoming like a flower on her cheek.
    “That’ll teach you to just sit there like a fuckin’ stooge when I’m hungry.”
    He cupped his face in his hands as he leaned forward onto the table. One elbow slipped off the edge, but he caught himself before he banged his head on the table.
    “So what’d you do today?” he asked, watching like a hungry hawk as his wife took the cold pizza from the refrigerator, quietly spread three slices on a paper plate, covered them with a paper towel, and slipped them into the microwave oven. The beep-beeps the oven made as she set the timer felt like thin spikes were being driven into his ears. He glared at her, clenching his fists tightly.
    “What’s with you tonight? Cat got your tongue? I asked you what the fuck you did today? You go shopping, or out to eat with your numb-nuts sister, or what?”
    Debbie turned and looked at him, but she remained silent. Was that fucking irritating grin still on her face? God damn he was going to have to teach her a lesson if she kept that shit up!
    “Noth—nothing,” Debbie finally replied with a quick shake of her head. She leaned back against the counter as though she needed it for support.
    “Well I’d say you’re acting pretty damned peculiar,” Alex snarled. “What’d you do, total the car or something? Or did you blow the rest of this week’s grocery money on a fucking dress or something?”
    “Well, I did do a little shopping,” she said. Her voice trembled terribly and was still almost too low for him to hear. “I—I had to get Billy some new sneakers.”
    “Oh, yeah—and I suppose you had to buy him some of them fuckin’ designer sneakers, right? Nikes or Reeboks, right? Them kind that cost like a hundred dollars.”
    “No. Actually, I got a pretty good deal at—”
    She stopped talking when the sudden high-pitched alarm sounded from the microwave. Alex plugged his ears until the sound stopped, then sat back, hooked his thumbs through his belt loops, and watched her with slitted eyes as she slid the plate across the table to him. Was it his imagination, or was she still shying away from him, cringing, like she expected him to hit her again? Christ, didn’t she realize he only hit her when she irritated the shit out of him, when she made him do it?
    He frowned as he looked down at the pizza in front of him. The cheese had turned into a thin, black crust, and watery tomato sauce ran onto the plate, threatening to soak through within seconds. Steam curled up like thin fog. The burned tomato smell almost made him gag.
    “This is the best you can do?”
    Debbie shrugged and went back to leaning against the counter. “I… had no idea when you’d be home.”
    “You tryin’ to scald me or what?” Alex said, prodding the pizza with his forefinger. “And by the way, I thought I asked you to get me a beer, too.”
    Debbie stayed where she was for a moment. Alex watched as her lips moved back and forth. She looked like she was trying like hell to say something, but she didn’t make a sound.
    “Well… I’m waiting…”
    “Alex,” she said at last, after clearing her throat. “I think we… we have to have a talk.”
    “Oh, yeah? A talk? ’Bout what? Tell me the truth. You didn’t fuck up the car or anything, did you?”
    Debbie was chewing on her lower lip as she shook her head in denial.
    “Not about the car,” she said, barely a