Rekindle the Flame

Tre felt his sore cheek as he heard the door slam in the distance. Shaking his head he didn’t know what to do. He wanted to stay but Sabrina told him to go. “What I really need is a drink,” he muttered to himself. He rose to go find something stronger than the red wine he and Sabrina had been drinking. As soon as he stood up he stopped and dropped back down to the sofa. “No, I have to deal with this,” was the last thing on his mind as he leaned back and closed his eyes.

The next morning Sabrina woke with a start and replayed the events of last night. Every fiber of her being wanted her to run into the drummer’s strong arms but something stopped her. “My damn pride always in the way,” she muttered as she rose out of bed to get around for the day.

Walking down the hallway toward the kitchen she almost missed the soft snores emanating from the living room. Frowning she went off to find the source of the noise but somehow knowing who was making them. Sure enough she glanced over to the couch and there was Tre sound asleep. The man was sleeping with mouth agape and Sabrina smiled slightly at the sight. “He looks so innocent; god damn him,” she grimaced and debated to herself if she should wake him or not. Deciding on the former she gently shook his shoulder.

“Wha…what?”

“Tre you fell asleep on the couch.”

“Oh,” he said sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”

“S’okay.” Turning to go into the kitchen Sabrina stopped and without looking at Tre said, “I have some studio work to do today if you wanna help.” And with that she left the room leaving the man wondering what had come over her.

Walking into the kitchen Sabrina found Mike already there with a cup of coffee in his hand. “You are talking?” he said with a nodding glance to the living room.

“Meh. Kinda… Hell I dunno.”

“Did I just say you were studio bound?”

“Yea got some background music to write and I thought maybe we could…” trailing off Sabrina turned from the lean man and grabbed a Diet Pepsi from the fridge.

Chuckling lightly Mike smiled and shook his head. “I see you still have a secret affair with Diet Pepsi.”

Grinning back at the bass player she replied “Yes. Somethings never die.”

At that moment Tre walked into the kitchen yawning and looking rumpled. “Coffee stat,” he said biting back a pang of jealousy. He hated that Mike and Sabrina had such an easy going relationship with each other. Realizing that at one time they were more than friends made a frown appear on the younger man’s face. Tre had to mentally slap himself at the thoughts raging inside his head. “That was almost 20 years ago,” he muttered.

“Did you say something?” Mike inquired after hearing the drummer’s mumblings.

“No, I just need coffee.”

Mike looked at Tre from the corner of his eye and frowned. He had heard the words Tre had said and wondered what prompted it. Shrugging mentally he shook his head and turned back to the woman sitting next to him. The lean man wondered what was going on between his two friends but was leery about getting involved. He didn’t want to be put in the position of having to choose between Sabrina or his band mate Tre.

Seeming to perk up after having a sip of coffee Tre sat down next to Mike. “That’s good Dirnt. Always leave it to you to make the perfect cup of coffee. If you weren’t already married I’d marry you just for the morning coffee.”

Sabrina laughed and took another swig of her morning soda. “I have to do some work on the books in the office before I hit the studio.” Sabrina glanced at Tre quickly before looking back down. “If you want, take the extra room by Mike and Beth’s room. You might want to freshen up or something.” Standing up Sabrina quickly grabbed her soda and headed out to the barns.

Once the woman was gone the two musicians sat in silence sipping coffee lost in their own musings. Tre looked at Mike and said, “So you aren’t going to ask what happened last night?”

“Nope. Told you before I’m not getting in the middle. That’s Beth’s job and she’s damn good at it.”

“Well okay… maybe I’ll do just that. I’m sure Snow White has an opinion on things.”

“Godammit I thought that we discussed the use of that nickname years ago,” Beth said as she strolled into the kitchen taking a second to smack the drummer upside the head and then kissing her husband before grabbing the tea kettle to fill.

Tre took a minute to grouse before laughing openingly at the young woman. Sheepishly Tre looked at Beth, “Um Beth; do you have a minute that we could talk?” Thumbing at the man beside him, “Mike won’t talk to me about Sabrina but he suggested you had an opinion and weren’t afraid to use it.”

“Oh he did…” Beth said as she took a sip of her tea but taking a moment to stare at her husband over the rim of her cup.

“Dammit Tre,” Mike exclaimed.

“Fortunately for you Pritchard I have decided that you aren’t in trouble for that but if you want to dispute the decision you may submit it in writing.” Glaring at Mike for a moment more she dismissed him with a flick of her wrist. “Go… the one balled wonder and I need to powwow.”

“Yes ma’am,” Mike said as he rose gracefully. Stretching out his back for a moment Mike then grabbed his coffee cup and with a quick refill wandered out of the kitchen to the living room. Soon the rumblings of the morning news show drifted in to the pair still sitting.

“Okay, you have 15 minutes of my time. Shoot.”
“Okay. So Sabrina and I talked… well kinda talked last night. It ended with a slap and door slam that was worthy of you,” Tre began.

Beth sighed before taking another sip of tea. “Okay so what is it that you hope to accomplish with Sab? What do you want with her?”

Tre took a moment before replying. “I want her and my son to be a family finally. I want to spend the rest of life with her and somehow I have to convince her that I have changed. I don’t know how to even start with that,” Tre admitted quietly.

“I don’t know Tre, what you can do. You royally fucked things up years ago and that’s a lot of time to try to change. You’re lucky she even tolerated you long enough so that you could attend TJ’s graduation. I mean she could have told you to fuck off and she would have been totally justified. You need to take it slow and easy and not take anything she isn’t willing to give. This is her lead and you are just along for the ride.”

Beth took another sip of tea before leveling a strict look at Tre. “And god help you if you hurt her again; I will personally remove your remaining ball without the use of drugs.”

Tre ambled through the stallion barn looking for the barn office where Sabrina would be. Before getting there he stumbled upon TJ mucking out a stall. “Hey son, need a hand?” Tre asked.

TJ stopped and leaned on his shovel as he looked his dad over. “Well you’re really not dressed for working in the barn Dad. Your Tuks will get ruined; you need a pair of shitkickers like I have.”

Tre shrugged as he removed his leather jacket. “It’s all good. With two of us it will take half the time to what is it called?”

“Muck Dad. We’re mucking out the stalls.”

“Right oh boy.” Tre replied as he looked about for a shovel.

About 2 hours later Sabrina was walking out of the barn office when she heard the rumbling of male laughter; two similar voices ribbing and teasing each other, egging each other on. Following the sound Sabrina found an interesting sight in one of the stallion stalls. There was TJ and Tre talking normally as they shoveled shit. Standing back so not to be seen Sabrina watched what she had always hoped for happen in reality. She had always wanted Tre to have this bonding time with TJ only she had hoped it was when the boy was much younger and not as an 18 year old adult. But who was she to argue; she was just happy that it was happening at all. Clearing her throat caught their attention. “Come in for lunch in about a half hour okay boys.”