Rescue Me

. . . he . . . left?”
    “No. I met him through a prison pen pal site. He’s been in for ten years and has ten more to go before he’s up for parole.”
    Good God. Sadie was always amazed that, one: any woman would marry a man in prison, and, two: she’d talk about it like it was no big deal. “That’s a long time to wait for a man.”
    “I’ll only be thirty-five, but even if it’s longer, I’ll wait for Ramon forever.”
    “What’d she say!” Nelma asked, and pointed a fork at Sarah Louise.
    “She’s tellin’ Sadie about that murderin’ man she hooked up with!”
    “Well bless her heart.”
    Sadie kind of felt sorry for Sarah Louise. It had to be rough living in a small town and being known for marrying “that murderin’ man.”
    Aunt Nelma leaned forward and yelled, “Do you have a boyfriend, Sadie Jo?”
    “No.” She raised a glass of red wine to her lips and took a sip. It was past seven and she’d actually managed to avoid that question until now. “I don’t really have time for a man right now.”
    “Are you just being notional? Are you one of those women who thinks you don’t need a man?”
    Growing up, whenever her thoughts and ideas had seemed different from the herd, she’d been accused of being notional. “Well, I don’t need a man.” There was a difference between wanting and needing.
    “What did she say?” Nelda wanted to know.
    “Sadie doesn’t need a man!”
    Great. Now the whole room knew, but the aunts weren’t through yet. They were such matchmakers that they looked at each other and nodded. “Gene Tanner is available,” Ivella said. “Bless her heart.”
    Gene Tanner? The girl who wore a crew cut and flannel all through high school? “She still lives in Lovett?” Sadie would have bet good money that Gene would have moved and never come back. The girl had fit in even less than Sadie had.
    “She lives in Amarillo but still visits her mama just about every weekend.”
    Sadie stilled and waited for the jab about her infrequent visits with her father.
    “She works for the park service and probably has a good health plan.”
    Sadie relaxed. This was her mother’s side of the family, and they’d never cared a great deal for Clive Hollowell. They’d made no secret that they’d found him too cold and unfeeling for their Johanna Mae. “Dental, do you think?” she asked to be a total smart aleck.
    “I would imagine.” Before Nelma could ask, Ivella cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “Sadie Jo wants to know if Gene Tanner has a dental plan!”
    “A girl could do worse than a lesbian with a dental plan,” she mumbled, and took a bite of potato. “Too bad I’m leaving in the morning.”
    Sarah Louise looked a bit horrified that she might possibly be sitting next to a lesbian, but who was she to judge? She was married to “that murderin’ man” who wasn’t even up for parole for ten years.
    After dinner, everyone followed the bride and groom into the ballroom and Sadie escaped the aunts. Beneath the room-glittering chandeliers, the newlyweds took their first turn on the dance floor to “I Won’t Let Go” by Rascal Flatts. It was really a beautiful moment of young love on the brink of a wide-open future, and again, it made Sadie feel old.
    She was only thirty-three. She took a glass of wine from a passing tray and stood beside a ficus tree draped in pink and white ribbon. She was old and alone at thirty-three.
    Next, Tally Lynn danced with Uncle Jim to “All-American Girl.” They smiled and laughed and Uncle Jim looked at his daughter with undeniable love and approval. Sadie didn’t ever recall her own daddy looking at her that way. She liked to think that he had and she just didn’t remember.
    She turned down a dance with Rusty, mostly because she didn’t want to fall out of her dress, but also because he looked to be really into his girlfriend.
    “Hey, Sadie Jo.”
    Sadie turned and looked into a pair of deep brown eyes. Over the sound of the band she said, “Flick?”
    Her tenth grade boyfriend spread his arms wide and showed his slight paunch beneath his American flag dress shirt. “How are you, girl?”
    “Good.” She offered her hand but of course he grabbed her in a hug that sloshed her wine. She felt his hand on her butt and remembered why she’d dated Flick Stewart for only a short time. He was a groper. Thank God she’d never slept with him. “What have you been up to?”
    “Got married and had a couple of