Eddie Munson - One Shots II

023. When Love & Death Embrace.

"Geez, so you literally can't go for a beer, for say longer than an hour, or she's calling, texting, asking where you are?"

"Honestly man, since I married her, it just went completely up a notch right away." Jackson said.

"She doesn't trust you or something?"

"Doesn't like me having down time, Munson." He said, as something niggled inside of me.

Something wasn't quite sitting right.

"And it's literally after an hour?" I repeated.

"There a fucking echo?" He asked, chuckling in disbelief.

"I just think it's extreme. I'm trying to process what you're telling me." I said.

"She's controlling, she's possessive..... has to know where I am, what I'm doing." He said.

"And you've never done anything to make her distrust you?" I asked.

"Dude, what's your problem? Come on, you know me, and shit, you know her more. We were happy, and then I married her. Now? She's a total fun vacuum, and if I dare to go to a bar for a single beer, you can bet that twenty nine year old ass of yours, that she's calling." He explained.

"Have you talked to her about it?" I asked.

"What do you take me for?" He asked.

"It was just a question. I figured you'd say yes, I figured you'd want to talk it out, fix it." I said.

"We talk, it gets better, but it always starts again." He said.

"I don't know what happened, or what changed, Ed. She's not the girl you think she is, or used to know. That ring went on her finger, I married one version of that girl, and I live with another now." He added.

"Could you talk to her? Just reassure her that I just do what most guys do? Wind down after work?" He continued.

"I dunno man, should it come from me?" I asked.

"She'll listen to you. She always does. More than me, even." Jackson said.

Reluctantly, knowing he'd never drop it, I nodded.

"Sure." I said, with a sigh.

*************************************
"Pen, is everything okay?" I asked, as I followed her through to the kitchen.

"Everything's fine, why?" She asked.

"Well it's just that I was talking to Jackson earlier, and things didn't seem okay." I said.

"Okay." She said, sitting down.

Warily, I sat down at the breakfast island opposite her, unsure of her responses, unable to gauge her reaction.

So I tried a different tact.

"You know he adores you, right?" I asked.

"Sure." She answered.

"And he'd never do anything to hurt you." I said, as the smallest hint of a smile tugged at her lips.

Not the good kind of smile.
She was almost, amused.

And she was oddly quiet.
Real quiet, before and after every single question or statement I made.

"Alright, I'm just gonna say it. Pen, he doesn't need checking up on. He's just going to a bar for a beer or two after work." I urged.

"Sure." She said, as I frowned.

"Oh, please continue. I mean, seeing as you know him so well, better than me apparently." She added, her voice devoid of emotion.