I didn’t tell him about it.

Why?

Thought you would.

No.

You’re the one with the big mouth. Always telling secrets. Always revealing information you got on this guy or that girl. Men and women are scared to talk to you. You just blab all the time, he said. Tell you what. He ain’t gonna be happy. Whether you tell him or me, it doesn’t matter. He’s gonna be madder than a hornets nest, he took a shot of whiskey.

Suppose so, she rolled her eyes. What’s all this talk of people being scared to speak around me?

You got a big mouth.

Well. I ain’t saying nothing. Nothing to be said. It’s her business. I just know that if someone was leaving me, I’d want to know about it, she took her shot.

This is all talk. Ain’t no one gonna say a word. He’s just gonna wake up to an empty bed one morning. That’s the way she’d want it.

I know.

She doesn’t want to stick around for sympathy or have folks feeling sorry for her. She just wants to be alone with it. Die by herself.

How sad.

What she wants.

Pop is gonna be mad if he found out we knew.

He’ll get over it. Till death do we part was over a long time ago. That vow was never taken seriously by either one of them, he ordered two more shots of Wild Turkey. Two more beers on tap. I don’t think he’ll care, to be honest with you. No more alimony, they both laughed.

Promise me you’ll never leave me.

I promise.