The Widows of Wichita County Read Free Page A

in a storm.
    She waved as she passed Frankie’s Bar thinking of the good times and the bad times she had had there, and wondered about the times she had forgotten to remember the next morning.
    She thought of the old adage that said we only regret the things we didn’t do. Randi knew it wasn’t true. The possibility of regret usually fired her into action. She recalled how she could not wait to get a tattoo on her ankle so she could talk about how sorry she was for doing sucha foolish thing. The remorse had been so complete she had added a butterfly to her butt.
    When Randi drove by the Y she noticed Crystal Howard jogging around the track on the roof. In days past Randi might have honked, or yelled, but lately she seldom talked to Crystal. Even though they were married to kin, they didn’t travel in the same circles anymore.
    There had been a time when Frankie’s Bar didn’t come to life each night until Randi and Crystal stepped through the door. Most evenings they wouldn’t have to buy a single drink.
    But that was before Crystal had married Shelby Howard, an old oilman with a huge house just outside of town and the dozen oil wells pumping nothing but money. A few weeks later Randi had married his nephew, Jimmy, settling for the younger, poorer Howard. He’d been a good husband and, for a while, a good lover, but like everything else in Randi’s life, she figured it was time to run before he yelled, “Last call.”
    The thought of starting over at thirty-three was frightening and she wasn’t getting any younger. It was time she left Jimmy to follow her dreams.
    That was one thing Randi decided she was proud of—no man had ever left her. She’d never given them the chance. When Jimmy got home tonight, he’d wonder where she was for a while or, more likely, where his supper was. Then he’d check the closet and notice she’d moved on.
    She doubted he’d even try to find her and knew he wouldn’t take off work to come after her. In a few years, if they crossed paths, they’d remember the good times and laugh. It hadn’t been a bad marriage, just one that had ended, as everything does. Seems like most folks thought their relationships were going either forward orbackward. Randi felt hers and Jimmy’s had just got stuck in neutral. They had some good times. They had some bad times. Now was just the goodbye time.
    Randi glanced in her rearview mirror at Crystal. She would have liked to have said goodbye, but that would just complicate things, and Randi had to get busy and untangle her life.
    * * *
    Crystal Howard watched the familiar red Jeep turn into the trailer park gate as she circled the west end of the running track. She lifted her hand to wave, then reconsidered. It was almost eight o’clock. Randi must be running late for work. If Crystal had caught her attention and she had backed up to talk, even for a few minutes, there would be trouble with her boss at the plant.
    Slowing to a walk, Crystal began her cool down. Randi would only have told Crystal how lucky she was, no longer having to punch a time clock. Crystal would agree, letting Randi believe that at least one of them was living the dream of marrying rich. Randi didn’t need to know about the pain of the cosmetic surgeries, or the two-hour workout each morning, or the overwhelming feeling of living in a world where she didn’t belong.
    Crystal grabbed her water bottle and sat down on the club’s only lawn chair. She told herself that Shelby made her life bearable in this town. Shelby would pick her up and dance around the room with her, yelling that he had the prettiest girl in town. Then, she would forget about the surgeries and the workouts.
    He might be thirty years older than she was, but he knew how to make her feel special. He told her once he didn’t care about all the other men she had in her life just as long as he was the last.
    A breeze cooled the