You’re drunk again, she said. Been out all night. I know where you go. Heard rumors. Stories about you. Stumbling all over town. That’s what some friends told me. Said we might have to do some intervention with you. Make you face up to your sins, she laughed. What do you think about that?

Bout what? 

Talking to us. Telling us you’re sorry for the way you been carrying on.

That so, he lit a cigarette. Way I been carrying on? I work. Bring home money. You spend it. You buy new clothes. Cosmetics. Said you want to look like one of those women on a magazine cover, he laughed. Started smoking Virginia Slims, I noticed. You’ve come a long way, baby, he began stroking her blonde hair and placed his hand under her chin. He bent down for a kiss. She slapped him. Hard. On the jaw. He just smiled.

Get out of here, she told him. You ain’t no good. Some kind of monster. What are you grinning at?

Nothing.

Go on. Get, she pulled the sheets up over her breasts. Just go.

Where you want me to go to?

I don’t care. Go back to the bar. I don’t care.

Bar’s closed, he said. She looked at the alarm clock. Closed two hours ago.

It’s four o’clock in the morning. Go get some breakfast. Get some coffee. Leave town. Just let me be. 

Alright. No loving tonight. Makes me sad. I wanted to come home and crawl in bed with you. Wanted you to hold me. Wanted to hold you, he walked to the bedroom door. Opened it. He said, Im not coming back. Once I close this door. That’s it.

She turned off the lamp. They looked at each other in the dark. Two of them could barely see. He closed the door and walked down the hall, singing a Johnny Paycheck song, Don’t take her she’s all I got. She heard the truck start. Engine barely turned over. That starter was always giving him problems.