Bill Suggs

It's been a hectic month for Bill. His wife left him for somebody he was sure, a temporary separation she'd said, though he didn't think so. It was too spontaneous he'd thought, at least for her, being the stay at home type, and he didn't imagine she'd leave him without a landing pad of herown. He'd also lost his favorite socks.

Mary though, he liked Mary, she was a whirlwind, started as a work friend who'd decided to follow through on their casual flirting. Which meant she'd basically moved into his house while his wife was supposedly living with her sister.

He still hasn't found his socks.

It was a lot, so it's a shock when Daniella appears on his doorstep, kids in tow telling him point blank to, "take care of them for the night."

At this he was a little annoyed, but she gestured to his phone, "Did you forget your messages Bill?"

He opened the text app, and lo and behold there was their text history. Four days ago to be precise, "my sister won't be home sunday, want time?" to which he'd said "sure" having not really read or thought of when that'd be. He'd double booked himself, and he'd look like an out right tool if he backed out of having his girls home for a night.

So he let them in and left to call Mary and make sure she was fine with seeing his girls, or well, whatever else. It was an awkward situation to be sure.

Laura and Iris for their parts had looked a bit bored by this entire interaction, but only just leaving the living room he'd heard Iris saying, "Couldn't we just stay home?"

To wit his wife landed a withering look, "Wait a few years, until then I can't legally leave you to your own devices."

"It's kinda obvious that dad's shacking up. I'd rather not deal with all that."

Laura popped in then, "I don't know, it might be fun?" Which was a nice thought. He loved his youngest.

"It won't. Look at this place. The only stuff of ours that ain't in storage is probably scattergory." at that point Laura remained silent, before Bill walked out.

"Hey ah, Mary hasn't called back yet. But I can babysit-"

"Watch."

"Watch, right watch. The girls. Mary might come over, is that fine?"

"Of course. Look, I'll be off. Comeon." She said, gesturing for a goodbye hug from their daughters. He could even hear her whispering, "take no prisoners" into their ears, but he ignored it.

She left the house at which point Iris and Laura and Bill were left without anything to say for a solid minute. Before Iris said, "So is there still a bed in our room? Or are we splitting the living room?"

"Of course you've still got a bed." Bill said, not really knowing where she'd gotten the idea that he'd just throw it out or something. At which point she left the room with their bags leaving Laura on the couch.

Bill loved his youngest, but that didn't mean he was especially close or knew what she was into, beyond being seven. She just kinda vibrated with energy, fidgeting rather than talking, which was probably for the best if Iris was at all representative.

Bill didn't understand where the vitrial came from. It was at that point that Mary said she'd be home, even if they weren't going out. Which was so nice of her.

Iris left their bedroom having packed away their things for the night, and apparently done the same for whatever dinner was meant to be. "Am I allowed to turn on the oven?" she screamed from the kitchen, having thought to reheat their dinner before Bill had. Mary, just at the door, seemed a bit frazzeled as a witness.

It wasn't the usual, but they ate and everything before going to bed earlier in the evening than either Mary or Bill had planned. Headed off by his eldest, since Iris knew full well that her daddy was "easily distracted" when the time came to care, at least those were the kinder words.

Mary for her part was trying to be civil, though it was obvious that she wasn't all that happy to have their evening ruined by his past. Still, she was being a real sport as Iris set things out. Even at nine she was a bit of a task master.

Laura fell in line immediately, either due to hunger or relative boredom, as neither he nor Mary were especially useful company, apparently they lacked "the skills" to help, which she decided upon Mary gently dialing back an odd story of her's about Ants.

"Ants don't really have father's though. They have drones and queens. Everyone else is sisters, so they'd have to think about it differently."

"Well I wouldn't do it that way."

"Why would that matter? You're not writing it." which led to Iris actually laughing, "You really don't get worldbuilding do you?" which Bill thought was a little mean. He knows he said something about it.

Then Iris said, "You really can't bring it out for everyone, you know. Mom might listen, but that doesn't mean every adult is good at it."

To wit Laura agreed, "Yeah, I guess. Uncle Luke is better about animals anyway. Doesn't need to pretend their people to like 'em."

"Whose Luke?", he asked assuming, and hoping he was a boyfriend of their aunt's.

"Well he's mom's workbuddy at the bar. He walks her home sometimes 'cause it'd suck for her to start throwing guys without getting paid." Laura said like any of that was normal, "He's really tall, and he can just about pick up anything. Aunty calls him a Pollock. Don't know how that makes him a fish."

Bill had stopped listening halfway through, it was no surprise to him that she'd found someone new, but it seemed unlike his wife to bring a man home in his daughter's presence. She knew that at least was risky.

"Maybe fish are just better at talking about this stuff."

It was somewhere after that, that Iris brought up the notion of staying over the entire weekend, maybe til thursday "just to help mom's timeline." which was not the ideal outcome for Bill, he didn't imagine Mary being very happy with that either. He was really wondering if his wife had directly put them up to it, since it was apparent that neither of them were actually happy to be there. Where had his babies learned to make men squirm?

In any case the leftovers, since of course there were left overs were put away in the fridge, and everyone went to they're corners, before deciding to suffer an early night. Mary and Bill in what was once his and his wife's bed, and his daughter's in what he hoped still felt like their room.

It was then that Bill decided to go out and follow his wife, which was an easy enough thing, she'd said in texts where she'd be "for safety" so he went. It wasn't exactly secretive, but the thing about secrets is that they usually required follow up to be uncovered. Upon seeing the club she was apparently at, he could only guess at what his wife was doing for a living now.

It made him getty if anything, maybe it was sex work, maybe it was entertainment, but at least his wife wasn't landing better than him once all was said and done. Walking up to the door, before being sent to the back of the line without fanfare.

It took longer than he liked to even be in gazing distance with the frontdoor or the bouncer. Listening to the people in line, he'd gotten a sense that things were rather safe at this particular establishment, even if he was rather dubious given the nature of the place. And that folks didn't turn off their phones.

Especially when he heard the crash and alarm of a drunk man being brutalized from the 'emergency' exit. The guy walked it off, but it was a rather odd thing to hear at an apparently safe bar.

It took him a good 3 minutes to notice it was his phone going off, which at that point to preserve his sense of calm he just set it to vibrate.

It was a while after that, but he did manage to get pushed through to the front, though by then it was a rather boring affair. At velvet ropes finally he looked level over towards the barreled abdominals of a much taller man, than upwards at the shapely pectorals of the bouncer. Even in middle-priced dress pants and a button up it was obvious how over built this man actually was.

He tried for a nametag, and once the man turned slightly the name "Luke" was emblazoned on the far side of his chest.

Looking farther up at the man's face, Good god, this man is overtall, to see he was only just ugly enough to be handsome, as his wife would describe it.

The beat of the music inside was finally present in his head as the guy asked for his ID, like Bill still needed to be carded. Luke looked down, guessing that Bill was at least the age it said, before pointing something out, "Oh, that's interesting. You've got a name in common."

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just that I know a Suggs. A coworker."

"Really. I wouldn't expect it. What's her first name?" he asked, maybe his wife had taken up legitimate work. As a waitress or something.

"Yeah, I don't share that kinda info pal. You can go in there though. Ask yourself if you like." he said, handing back his ID. He hears another crash from the emergency door, this time seeing a muscular little woman in rather attractive bodycon workwear, a completely different vibe from Luke's getup.

"Huh, well. There goes another one."

"Another one?" Bill asked, not expecting anything about what he'd seen.

"Yeah."

"Aren't you gonna help? I mean, she's using the emergency door."

"Nah, Suggs would just throw me too. Or pick me up and put me back at the bar."

"She can do that?"

"She's a bouncer, it would be plain dangerous if she couldn't do at least that."

At this Bill was thrust into a very over stimulating club. It's all just noise for about ten minutes, before the rhythm becomes recognizable enough to fade into the background, at which point he could hear at least well enough to know when he’d missed something.

He moseyed on to the bar to get a drink, and maybe see where his wife was. It was a solid ten minutes before he saw Suggs the bouncer again, her muscular little body on display like his wife's almost never was. He'd understood, or at least tried to, when the baby weight wouldn't leave, and Daniella got sadder, but with their girls being seven and nine respectively he understood less and less.

Made even less sense when she'd decided on the separation. His phone started buzzing, and he decided to just shut it off. It wasn't like he knew the number.

He decided to ask after the employees that were working today to the bartender, a rather large man named Mat who apparently owned the place. "Yeah no. That's just not information I'm going to share with you."

"really?"

"You know that's private info right? You can get a lot with a name and it'd be a violation to share when I know that."

"A violation?"

"Yeah. A violation. Now you can take your drink." the man who might be his wife's boss said before shooing him away. Taking a call on the landline in just as casual a manner.

Bill backed off to an empty enough table when he heard Suggs being called over and finally saw her face. Good god, that's Daniella!

When did Daniella get ripped? Bill thought almost out loud, before she made direct eye contact with him, seeming to realize something.

She marched over with the certainty of a much taller woman, and while Bill could've thought to avoid it, the pure rage in her eye made him stay in place. That is before she made contact and pulled him bodily outside to see her boss.

Good god, when did his wife get so strong? "What the hell are you doing here Bill?!" she asked, livid and direct.

Her boss, despite the muscle and fat, remained silent, a witness to a tongue lashing. Bill for his part did try to answer, "What did you expect?-" before she cut him off.

"For you to pay even a little attention to your children, or Mary? Did you even know she was that fragile?"

There's a beat.

"What about Mary?" he asked, for a moment surprised that Dani used her name instead of some derogatory epitaph.

"Well according to Laura she woke up, realized you weren't there and locked herself in the bathroom crying loud enough to disturb her sleep." Mat handed her a button up, "Mary emptied one of your pill bottles and OD'd." She pulled the thing on casually dressing by the emergency door, "My daughters needed to call an ambulance for the woman you left them with to stalk me."

Right over the tight top she'd been wearing for work. The one she'd been in to drop off the girls. She wasn't keeping a single secret.

"Where are they now?"

"Oh they're fine. They are always fine even when I'm not looking 'cause I raised them. That's not the problem. Still need to pick 'em up if we don't want CPS on our asses." Dani pointed out as she folded up the sleeves, and looked back at him. "Do you know how lucky your girlfriend is? That either of them was awake to even try and help?"

"Not like I'd know, you haven't brought them over in weeks." he said weakly, and even Dani didn't seem to buy his veracity. Not like he would've even 2 hours before.

“Look, I can’t read your mind. But it seems like you see me as some sorta chihuahua. You know? some little fat yappy lap and bag kinda animal with no real use. But I'm not that. I’m a terrier. I work damn it, I bleed. But you still ain’t good to me. We’re separated, yeah? But fuckin’ around ain’t the point for me like it is for you.”

“That’s not.” but she kept going.

“You picked someone else and you can’t be true to her either. You leave her to deal with our kids and she OD’d in fronta ‘em. And You keep saying you don’t know why I want out. You keep imagining better men instead of seeing where you coulda been but weren’t.” and with that she left for her car, and Bill was left with her Boss.

Not really getting how Mary's irresponsibility was in any way on him.