Three To
Six
copyright@2005
Month 1 – Danny Ocean Strikes Again
Rusty caught part of the scene unfolding from the safety of a few hundred yards and plenty of spectators. Leave it to Danny Ocean to make a big exit from the casino though once again in cuffs, because of a woman. Rusty watched from his place by the walkway, hiding his face behind his huge Margarita glass, as Tess hurried over to the police car where Danny was sitting in his tux. It was in those few moments – the length of Tess’ journey down the sidewalk – that Rusty realized what was going to happen. He knew Danny well enough to figure out how this was going to end.
Shit, he muttered, gulping down the last of his drink and heading back to his hotel to wait.
As Rusty made his way down the strip, he realized what stung the most about this. The biggest night of their lives, pulling off the can’t-be-done job of the century, and Rusty was entertaining maudlin thoughts because Tess was back in the picture. It wasn’t that he hated Tess, because he didn’t. He really didn’t think about her one way or the other as far as emotions went. She just wasn’t good for business. It was one of those things Rusty had tried to explain to Danny more than once, but Danny would shrug, fiddle with Rusty’s pants and tell him he had no reason to feel jealous.
Rusty wasn’t the jealous type. He could have anyone – male, female, whatever – if he wanted. It was the boyish good looks, Saul pointed out more than once. Rusty simply missed Danny, missed the way they were around each other when it was just the two of them. It had begun to feel like the Rusty-and-Danny show again. It had been a long four years while Danny was in prison, pulling his own jobs with guys that he didn’t have that ability to just know how the con would go, and with him serving as the Teen Beat poker tutor.
That was probably why it had surprised Rusty so much when Tess had been thrown into the mix. Things tended to go awry whenever Tess was involved. Rusty wasn’t sure if it was because Danny became emboldened with delusions of grandeur or if the strain between them became too much during those times. Either way, the final result was the same – a mess that Rusty had to clean up, time after time. Only this time he had hoped it was going to turn out differently, and of course it didn’t.
Tess still wasn’t good for business, but she seemed to be back in the picture, which was why it didn’t surprise Rusty at all when there was a knock at his hotel door. He opened it and said, “I’ve been expecting you.”
“Was I part of the plan?”
Rusty shrugged and said, “To Danny, probably.”
“But not to you?”
“You make my job harder.”
Rusty motioned for her to come in. She dumped her bag on one of the beds and said, “My head is telling me that he’s never going to change. That he’ll hook up with you and you’ll steal him away for another adventure, leaving me behind.”
Rusty nodded. He knew the feeling well enough, but to be a part of Danny’s life was to expect the inevitable glint of monotony in his eyes. Rusty took another sip of his beer and said, “He sent you here. He wants me to take care of you, right?” She didn’t say anything and he tossed her a beer. He said, “I figured as much.”
Rusty sighed and sat down on the bed. He watched the way his shirt danced in the light and colored the wall. He noticed that Tess’ gaze had followed his own and she commented, “You’ve always been a bold dresser.” Rusty smiled at her and she added, much softer, “And a good friend to him, though I don’t think he realizes it.”
“Danny is the old school guy, the big idea man who sucks at the follow through. Someone’s gotta help him, and a long time ago, I was unofficially appointed with that job.”
“Yeah, it’s the follow through I’m worried about.”
“He loves you,” Rusty stated.
“Not as much as he loves you and your jobs,” she stated. She shrugged off her jacket and took a sip of her beer before saying, “But I’ve decided a little bit of Danny is better than none.” She leaned back on the bed and asked, “Do you mind taking me to New Jersey?”
Part of Rusty wanted to state the obvious, that of course he minded, that his plans for the next couple of months were not to care for Danny’s wife while he served out the rest of his sentence. A sentence, Rusty was quick to point out to himself, that could’ve been avoided if Tess had never entered the picture again.
Instead Rusty raised his glass in mock salute and said, “Danny Ocean strikes again.”
Month 2 – Stir Crazy, Thy Name Is Rusty
People who trusted luck to see them through situations were the type that Rusty couldn’t stand. They blew on dice, picked up pennies from the ground, and placed their lives in fate’s cruel hands. As he sat in the lounge of the Taj Mahal, he watched the tourists and elderly folks that came to Atlantic City in hopes of enjoying an affair with good luck. It made him sick to his stomach, but there he sat for hours upon hours each day.
Rusty wondered if he was teetering on borderline crazy, if this was one of Danny’s weird bonding ideas – if he was going to be stir crazy and bored out of his fucking skull, well, his partner should be too. He sipped on his drink, his eyes darting from the crowds to the television showing some football game.
If Rusty believed in luck, he was pretty sure his was almost running out. First there was the money. He was sitting on twelve million dollars, but had no interest in spending it. For him, the high had never been in reaping the rewards of the score, but in pulling off the job, the puzzle that needed figuring out, doing the con right and getting away without being marked. Sometimes a celebratory fuck with Danny was a nice addition, but not always necessary.
Then there was Tess, who he had set up a makeshift home with in a town near where Danny was imprisoned. It wasn’t something he had planned on – most of the past few months were made up of those types of situations – but when he dropped Tess off, she just looked at him and asked, “What about you?” He wasn’t sure when he became someone’s security blanket, but that damn Danny voice in the back of his head wouldn’t let him drive off into the sunset. So he was living in a third floor walk-up apartment in New Jersey with nothing to do. Neither of them went to visit Danny at the prison. Tess had mentioned it once, but Rusty knew better and talked her out of it. They avoided mentioning Danny in conversation, getting caught up on things like weather and possible gossip about the neighbors. It was enough that Danny was the reason they were there.
“Where do you go each night?” Tess asked him upon his return.
Rusty glanced around the room, hoping she was talking to someone else, trying to figure out if this was how things would be for Danny when he got out and almost felt sorry for him. He took a seat on the couch next to her, pretending to watch whatever she had on the television, and shoved a handful of M&M's into his mouth. After a prolonged silence, he finally replied, “Out.”
Tess nodded and said, “I picked up some groceries today. Terry’s men followed me.”
Rusty glanced at her and said, “We’ve been through this, Tess. It’s gonna be that way for awhile. He’s convinced Danny was a part of the casino robbery and you’re his link to Danny. Don’t panic, do your thing, and sooner or later they’ll give up.” It felt strange saying his name again around her. They had an unspoken agreement to keep things simple and Danny complicated both their lives. He stretched out and added, “They’re hoping you lead them to the money.”
“What about you?”
“I’m anonymous. A voice on the phone that I doubt Benedict would be able to identify. Why would I know where the money’s located?”
“And that’s the way you like it?”
“It works best that way.”
She put down her book and turned to face him. Rusty shifted uncomfortably under her appraising gaze and she replied, “Don’t you want to meet someone? What if you meet your soulmate?”
“As in a lady? The old ball and chain?” he inquired, resisting the urge to explain that not all soulmates were the romantic, Romeo and Juliet sort. That Danny was his soulmate where it counted, the one who finished his sentences, who understood his lifestyle and didn’t try to change it. Danny was the one person he counted on above all others. Rusty kept his mouth shut though, knowing that most women didn’t want to hear that their husbands were someone else’s soulmate.
“Sure.” She frowned at him and said, “Who wouldn’t want an old ball and chain?”
“Beautiful women are a weakness of mine. They smile, show a little leg, and I’m theirs for the taking. We have a nice time and then I move on.”
“And when you’re older?”
“When I’m older, I’ll become Saul and find myself a saucy broad to enjoy bingo with on the weeknights and bake me apple pies.”
Tess asked, “Do you think that’s what Danny should’ve done with me? Left me with Terry and waited until he was an old man?”
Rusty loosened his tie – had it gotten hot in there – and replied, “Danny is one of a kind, Tess. You know that as well as I do. He does things his own way, no matter what anyone tells him and no matter how many bodies are left in his wake.”
“Like you?” Tess paused off the look on his face and said, “I’m not stupid, Rusty. It’s obvious that there was—is something between you and Danny.”
“It’s in the past.”
“I doubt it,” she replied. She stood up and walked off. She turned back around and kissed him on top of his head. She stared down at him and said, “I’d prefer it be you than some leggy blonde cocktail waitress.” She didn’t wait for an answer. She went to her room and shut the door behind her.
Rusty let out the breath that he was holding and glanced up at the ceiling. The tiles were stained brown from the storm a few days ago and he remembered he was supposed to call the landlord to have that fixed. This was his life now and he was going to make Danny Ocean pay for it.
Month 3 - The Many Ways Danny Ocean Will Pay
Rusty made lists of the ways that Danny was going to have to buy back his forgiveness: new leopard skin boots, taking that furniture Rueben gave them off his goddamn hands, enduring a weekend alone with the Mormon twins. Every day he came up with yet another new and improved, hopefully tortuous, way that Danny would have to prove their friendship wasn’t one-sided. Rusty hated the idea that he was the easiest mark of them all, the king of the chumps where Danny was concerned, and demanded that be proven wrong.
After all, it was one thing to get caught, another to break parole and end up back in the clink, but to stick his best friend with his ex-wife with whom he planned to make a fresh start? Well, it was enough to drive Rusty out of the business and into exile.
Rusty had always loved the freedom that living out of his car had allotted him. He could pick up stakes and move onto the next state without a second thought. When the itch started in his leg, like it tended to do, he responded and got the hell outta dodge. Except now the itch needed to be scratched and the only thing he could do was complain that their apartment was a dump and move them to the other side of town.
It didn’t help matters that Tess wanted them to spend time together, citing that as Danny’s best friend it was important they got along. She dragged him to movies, Broadway shows, and other painful places. She’d say things like, “That was an interesting look at the human perspective” and Rusty would nod, wishing he could hit the gas, shove her out of the car, and take off for parts unknown.
He was going to kill Danny Ocean for dumping his wife off on him.
“I know I drive you crazy,” Tess stated one night. She patted his leg and said, “You’re a good man, Rusty, for putting up with me.”
He smiled because anything he said would come out wrong.
“He’ll be out next month.”
Rusty nodded. He had been counting down the days and added, “I sent him some more cookies to hold him over.”
“Did you enclose a note this time?”
“Wishing you were here,” he responded with a smirk.
“I bet you can’t wait to get rid of me.”
He never could figure out why Tess said things when she knew the response. Of course he would be happy to get rid of her. She made him watch Friends and dragged him to book club meetings and made him drink the right wine depending on the meal. She told him about her plans to buy a big house and have a family with Danny, never mentioning what that would mean for his partnership with the guy.
To an extent, the thought of Danny having to endure weekly discussions on literary genius was almost better than every single thing on his list.
Month 4 – Free At Last
Tess had these habits that forced Rusty out of the room. Not because they drove him crazy – though sometimes they did, insanely so – but rather because he didn’t belong in this scenario. He had never stuck around long enough to know any female’s idiosyncrasies. The only person, outside of a job, who he knew with such familiarity, was Danny. He didn’t plan on the second person to have that privilege being another member of the Ocean family.
But there it was. He knew her routine better than his own. She always took her shoes off the second she walked into the apartment, she dipped her teabag exactly three times every time she drank it, and she liked to sing pop songs in the shower. Each of her habits was imprinted into his mind and he had no doubt that she could probably say the same for him.
Thank God Danny was getting out of the pen that afternoon.
Rusty spent his morning loading up his car with all of Tess’ junk and sitting at a diner with her over breakfast. The car with Terry’s men was behind them the entire trip and Rusty couldn’t help but notice that subtlety seemed to be a lost art.
“That’s an interesting suit, Rusty,” Tess commented over pancakes.
He lifted the collar and said, “I was walking along the street and it called to me. I’ve finally done what you hoped, Tess. I found something to spend the rest of my life with.”
Tess rolled her eyes and said, “I was thinking living creature.” She looked down at her food and her expression changed. She reached for his hand and said, “I’m going to miss this.”
“Me too,” he lied.
“Liar,” she replied. She didn’t give him the opportunity to respond, instead going on, “I can’t help but worry that Danny and I are going to repeat the same mistakes.”
“You know the truth about him now. That’s a step in the right direction.”
“I want him to stop.”
Rusty nodded. He had expected this the same way he had known that Tess was going to show up at his doorstep months ago.
“You think that’s wrong of me?”
“I think...that’s between you and Danny.”
“And you. He loves you, Rusty. He’s not going to want you to disappear.”
Rusty sighed. When had things gotten so complicated? There had been days of pulling cons and the open road and nothing but him and Danny and the next best thing. Now it was all about placating women and dodging clumsy goons.
“I’ve got some things lined up. Enough time has passed that I can take off for awhile.”
It was Tess’ turn to nod in understanding. She dropped a few dollars on the table. She stood up and extended her hand to him. She said, “Our futures await us.”
“Tess?”
It wasn’t the right place for this sort of thing – meaningful conversations didn’t take place in diners filled with truck drivers – but Rusty never was one for ordinary. When he had her attention he said, “He loves you. If he can go straight for anyone, it’ll be you.”
“Until he needs to see you and gets a genius idea.”
“Probably.”
“You know what our problem is? We both love Danny Ocean too much.”
“And he knows it,” Rusty muttered. He watched her walk off and realized that he was finally going to be free. Danny might’ve been the one in prison, but this life was so stifling for Rusty, that he felt like he was the one locked up.
Not even Danny Ocean was worth that.
Besides, Rusty was pretty sure Danny would come looking for him sooner or later.
{Fin}