Read Online Approaching Oblivion (Jezebel's Ladder Book 4) by Scott Rhine - Free Book Online Page B

raft. Puffing
heavily, she said, “You guys are going to have to take off any clothes that get
dirty. Leave me out of this, and I’ll bring you towels to wear.”
    The
next mud missile hit a piling and splattered Mercy’s knees. This time, Yvette
burst out laughing.
    “Think
you’re tough, huh?” Mercy challenged. “I had three younger sisters, and I know how to mud-wrestle. We played a game called ‘Spank the Alligator,’ and I was Shanna
the Jungle Queen.”
    “Dear
Penthouse, I thought it was going to be just another boring day at the beach,”
came Lou’s voice from beneath the pier.
    Herk
said, “Five euros on the dirty blonde. She’s taken Krav Maga training.”
    Both
men had been lurking under the pier for some strange reason.
    Yvette
covered her mud-spattered bra with crossed arms and backed toward the shelter
of the raft.
    From
the hammock slung under the pier, Lou said, “Naw, my money’s on the brunette.
She can find where anyone is ticklish.”
    Mercy
strode forward, helping to block the nurse from view. “Kai Llewellyn, what are
you doing down there? Are you supposed to be checking fish traps? Is that
beer?”
    Smiling,
Lou gestured broadly. “Welcome to the Sand Bar, the best place in Sanctuary to cool a keg . . . or it was.”
    Herk
rose from his stump-stool and climbed the ladder to the decking. Without his
shirt on, everyone could see his wife’s name tattooed inside a heart shape on
his chest. “Bro, she just used your full name. That’s my cue to disappear.”
    Yuki
echoed, “Me, too.”
    Mercy
slogged closer, trying to lower her voice so the security guard wouldn’t hear.
“Pratibha is trying to deny the baby’s allotment. If you keep loafing, we won’t
have anything saved when the baby arrives.”
    “This
is how pilots wait and unwind.”
    “I’ve
heard. You boys sit around like construction workers without tools, hitting on
women. You won’t have another jump for six months.”
    “I’m
not the one giving my allotment away to the enemy.”
    “Yuki’s
been a good friend to both of us, and she needs help. Grow up.”
    “You
control freak. You can’t plan out every minute of my life. I’m not a three year
old!”
    “A
three year old would listen!” she said, raising her voice for the first time.
“If you keep unwinding every day, your beer belly is going to be bigger than
mine.”
    Yvette
put her recently rinsed fingers in her mouth and whistled sharply. “Stop. One
at a time. I can teach you how to fight. Every couple needs to learn that. It
can take years of trial and ugly error on your own. Avoid using the word ‘you’,
and take turns expressing your goals and emotions. For example, Mercy doesn’t
want to control you. She wants to spend more time with you and plan your
lives together. She wants your marriage to be a success.”
    “That’s what I’ve been saying,”
Mercy agreed.
    “Those sound like positive things
if you’re not nagging,” Lou mumbled.
    Yvette held Mercy back. “That tone
probably creeps in because she’s worried you won’t come back some night.”
    “Ridiculous. She’s the only person
in this world I can see. She changed my whole coordinate system. In GPS terms,
she’s home.” The adoration in his face proved the truth of the statement.
    “Aw, that’s so sweet,” Mercy said,
melting.
    The nurse continued. “Lou thinks
the bar lifestyle is part of his identity, and he doesn’t want you to try to
change him. Closer to the truth is that unless he can boast about something to
other men, it didn’t happen. He’s probably bragging about you. Compromise for
now: let him have one hour a week free time and one beer. The rest is
negotiable.”
    “Sounds fair,” Mercy said meekly.
    Climbing out of the lake, Yvette
said, “I’m heading back for a shower. You two can talk things out like adults.”
    “You were really bragging about
me?” Mercy asked.
    “Yeah,” Lou said, still breathing
heavily from the argument. “You smell