Treat me like a fool,
Treat me mean and cruel,
But love me.
Wring my faithful heart,
Tear it all apart,
But love me.
If you ever go,
Darling, I'll be oh so lonely
I'll be sad and blue,
Crying over you, dear only.
I would beg and steal
Just to feel your heart
Beatin' close to mine
Well, if you ever go,
Darling, I'll be oh so lonely
I'll be sad and blue,
Crying over you, dear only.
I would beg and steal
Just to feel your heart
Beatin' close to mine
Well, if you ever go,
Darling, I'll be oh so lonely
Beggin' on my knees,
All I ask is please, please love me
Oh yeah
Love Me by Elvis Presley
Ok so this really happened to me and Tom years before we both got divorced and married each other.
/
"You're still here?" Molly laughed as she walked over to them as the sun was going down over the lake. The hospital was located just so by the waterfront and the sun sets were amazing. Half the time Molly didn't even mind being at work on 7a-7p. She went to the beach all day in the summer with the kids, showered, put on her uniform and went to work, where she could glimpse a sunset so spectacular she sometimes photographed them and sold them to local shops.
Photography was her first love, but she was a good nurse.
Sylvia had been laying on that stretcher in the hallway all afternoon, now he was here, of course, why wouldn't he come to his wife's side when she was sick.
She should have expected that. Molly knew if she moved back to town eventually she'd run into him. She had no choice, her father was sick and since her mother died, she was all he had.
It had taken her by surprise though, she quickly recovered before she got to them. Molly caught her breath and settled her nerves just in time. The long hallway was her friend, Daryl had not seen her before she had seen him. It had been so shocking to see him after all these years.
He still looked the same, older of course, maybe a little leaner, his hair was a little shorter, but she still had the all consuming desire to run to his arms. This was not good, he was a married man now, she would never do that to another woman or his family.
*****Broke into the old apartment *****
They lived two towns away from each other yet their paths crossed maybe three times in the last ten or so years.
She had been so lucky until now.
Of course he came to be with her, of course, she reminded herself. They were married, and had been for a long time.
Still the sight of him..."Just drink the shit so you can go home." She smiled at Sylvia as she approached them, then she turned from Sylvia, had he told her about them she wondered, "Hey Daryl how's it going?" Molly said as she faced him, it was hard to look at him, even now, he was just everything she always wanted but didn't know how to get. They met too young she supposed.
She had never told Daniel about him and she guessed Daryl didn't tell his wife either. The woman on the stretcher did not act like she was in a room with her husbands ex. Molly was uncomfortable, but remained professional.
He wasn't handling it much better, her trained eye saw a bead of sweat dripping over the side of his face and on his upper lip; but luckily Sylvia was otherwise engaged.
She didn't have one of her feelings, Sylvia would be fine. Molly had this thing, some kind of voodoo that let her know when people were really sick.
"Seriously, just chug it," Molly laughed.
Sylvia blanched at the thought; if she drank it, then they would do the Cat scan and they would find out she was faking for attention again. Daryl's wife was trouble, like Molly he had not chosen well, but he did the right thing, because that's who he was.
"Sylvia, pretend it's a screwdriver," Molly laughed and put her at ease.
Hel laughed, this was the same old Molly that he knew and once loved. Or did he love her still, in that moment he wondered; how had he let this woman with the glowing skin and this wicked sense of humor get away.
How had they managed to not work it out, they had fights before and always seemed to come to a common ground, but that last one ...it was a doozy.
Daryl looked at her a little too long, but thankfully no one noticed. Now his mind was a churning whirlwind of random thoughts and memories.
**** This is where we used to live*****
She looked so cute in her blue scrubs and her hair up in space buns, wasn't it just yesterday that he had taken her to the prom? He remembered it so clearly, and he remembered after, with a slight grin.
They had lived together in college, shared a rickity old bed then it was over, a dumb fight and it was just over; Daryl couldnt even remember what they had fougt about now. They had been young, too young to be so serious, or so it felt that way at the time.
For years they had drifted in and out of each others lives until it was really over.
Sylvia wasn't Molly's patient so she couldn't stay to chat, he understood that, but he wished she could. It has been so many years and she still made his heart beat out of his chest.
He remembered now, seeing her at the coffee shop years ago on a cold day in January. He'd had Emma and Chase with him, they were toddlers, now growing up fast; Molly barely spoke to him that time. She was sick and buying soup to go. He had been sorry to see her leave so fast, catching up, talking, would have been nice.
He did see the ring though that day, she had moved on too, at the time he was slightly jealous; who had won her heart, who was good enough for Molly? In his mind the answer was no one, but that ship had sailed long ago.
Still, he looked, no ring now, but maybe that was for work; suddenly his world felt just a little bit better.
/
Broke into the old apartment
This is where we used to live
Broken glass, broke and hungry
Broken hearts and broken bones
This is where we used to live
Why did you paint the walls?
Why did you clean the floor?
Why did you plaster over
The hole I punched in the door?
The Old Apartment by The BareNaked Ladies
Molly went home that night after seeing Daryl and his wife and hugged her daughters, who were five and seven now. Her ex, Daniel was coming to pick them up and she would have all weekend to mope around about Daryl. She wished she could keep them home but he insisted on seeing "His Girls", he would never let them stay home with her just because she was sad.
Tara, her friend from work wanted to go out, maybe she would do that.
Daniel was not a nice man and he didn't really love her. Once a nice man, a boy really, with wildflowers in his hand, (and a skateboard over his shoulder), because they were all he could afford had loved her true and she had loved him the same. But something happened, it wasn't meant to be she supposed.
Sometimes she still cried every time she heard "Black" by Pearl Jam because that song summed it all up for her and Daryl.
***I know someday you'll have a beautiful life I know you'll be a star, in somebody else's sky but why, why, why can't it be mine?*****
Put away in her closet, were all her pictures of him, hidden away for ages now, sometimes over the years she'd go and look at them. He was always so beautiful to her, she had not photographed anyone else as much as she had photographed him. He had been the muse of her youth, it was time to let him go forever.
Molly had taught him how to develop film and pictures in their darkroom, at that old apartment they lived in. Maybe she'd set up a darkroom and teach the girls, they would have a blast doing that with her. Moving on was bittersweet but she would always have the memories.
Those had been good times, and more good times with him too, but it was done now. His kids were growing up now and hers were following close behind. She hoped he was happy, he deserved that. She had led him on and refused to make a commitment, even if she regretted it now, he deserved to be happy.
It just wasn't meant to be.
/
The building was still there, but they used the little apartment for storage now. Whoever owned the hardware store had bags of fertilizer on the stairs that led up there. Once a silly teenager and his girl lived there, he had carried her up those stairs the day they moved in. What had they been thinking? They hadn't been thinking, that was the whole thing, they had been in love.
It was hard to believe it was that long ago, it felt like yesterday to him when he stood there. He could hear music coming from the kitchen window, any minute shed be in the doorway telling him to hurry up and wash his hands. Dinner was ready and she had pictures in the fixer, could he hang them up for her?
For a moment he wanted to go up there but decided against it. He remained in place in the dirt driveway for a few minutes, smoking cigarette after cigarette, thinking.
If he was going to do anything, it had to be soon. Sylvia was talking about buying a bigger house, and a new car and he was tired of being used. His own son had asked him why he stayed with her as they worked on cars in their backyard and Chase was only thirteen. If a kid saw it, everyone must. Travis and Emma, were eleven, he wondered what they saw when they looked at him, and at her.
As he stood there, he wondered how he could have been so impetious and gotten married, now, looking back it had been spiteful. What was the saying, you made your bed, now lie in it.
He had been lying in it for a long time, his kids were growing up fast, his life was passing him by. It was time to do something.
/
Molly didn't know how he got her number, it could have been from any of their friends, she was in touch with all of them, just not with him. That last fight had ended all communication for years, they had made peace but could not go on the way they were. She hadn't known that his marriage was tanking and had been for years. He didn't know that she was married a total of two years before she knew it wasn't going to work. She had been pregnant with her second child when she left Daniel, with no regrets.
"No, I'm not meeting you for coffee, you're married, the old rules no longer apply." She hissed into the phone the weekend after she had seen him and was Sunday morning, where was his wife? Had he snuck out to call her. Molly wanted no part in any of it.
"I really meant coffee, not...that." He stuttered, but oh the memories of her. "That" had been amazing, he hadn't had it like "That" with anyone but her.
"No Daryl, don't call me again either."
"Wait, I'm…"
He didn't have a chance to tell her about the divorce, Molly hung up and turned to Tara who was sitting with her at Starbucks ironically enough. They were sipping coffee and having lunch before the call, but now she was too sick to eat.
"Who was that?" Tara asked with raised eyebrows.
"An old boyfriend...he's married now. I don't do that." She spat out, she was so mad.
"He's got you riled up though, your face is all red." Tara observed, "Never seen you this...engaged before, who is he?"
"Nobody...no that's not true, he was...more but I'm pissed because he knows better than to try this," She waved her hand, "I mean I'm a lot of things but I'm not a cheater."
"It was coffee," Tara laughed, "Just coffee."
"You don't understand," She sighed and blew her hair out of her face, "It can never be just coffee with him and I."
She showed Tara her pictures of him when they got back to her house, and Tara was struck by one that she had taken of his hands, Molly remembered the day she took that picture. It was summertime and she had been hanging out with him at the garage. He had been working on his motorcycle, and his hands were covered in grease. She couldn't resist, she had photographed him in so many ways through their years together. As usual he didn't want her to take the picture that day, but finally he let her.
She never took his picture unless he said it was ok.
He was around 18 when she took the picture of his hands in black and white. She loved his hands and the way they made her feel. For a few minutes she was lost in thought as Tara shuffled through her pictures.
She remembered after she had taken pictures of him working on the bike and his hands he got up and chased her around with those greasy hands until he caught her and left two hand prints on her ass. It had been simple then.
"You got some eye." Tara said and reached for another, it was the one from years ago of his face, in the hotel room at Andrea's party. It was taken from her perspective above him, they had been making love, "He looks like he's…" Her eyes grew wide, and she looked at Molly, who was beat red, "You took a picture of him cumming?"
"It's hot right?"
"Fuck yeah it is." She took off her glasses to look closer, " I mean I've seen your sunsets, but this, holy shit. You got mad talent friend."
"I just can't put a camera down unless I blow a roll of film, but I can't be near him."
"That's a shame if you ask me."
"It is, I know and it's my fault, I was too scared and he got tired of my bullshit." She sipped her coffee, "And of course my temper, always my temper. "
/
As he closed his eyes that night Daryl imagined the last time he had seen her, it had been Rick's wedding at that fancy restaurant, before he married Sylvia. They had snuck away after the dinner but before coffee was served and went at it in the bathroom hard.
He remembered lifting her up and sitting her on the sink, he could still feel her skin beneath his hands as they crept up her skirt. He laid there in bed imagining parting her thighs and using his tongue on her. He remembered that A plus blow job she had given him too that day.
When cake was served they were back, albeit out of breath, and he had wanted to ask her if maybe they could try…
But, they'd had a fight.
/
I can't do the talk like they talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song like the way it's meant to be
I can't do everything but I'd do anything for you
I can't do anything except be in love with you
And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be
All I do is keep the beat and bad company
All I do is kiss you through the bars of Orion
TJulie, I'd do the stars with you any time
"Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
You said 'I love you like the stars above, I'll love you till I die'
There's a place for us you know the movie song
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?"
And a lovestruck Romeo, he sang the streets of serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Finds a convenient streetlight, steps out of the shade
He says something like, "You and me, babe, how about it?
You and me, babe, how about it?" Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits
/
Daryl was haunted from the minute he set eyes on her after all those years, he found himself thinking about her more than he had in the past. She was on his mind at work, at home, all the time. From time to time over the years he wondered how she was doing and if she was happy, he knew she did get married and had kids; that was normal, but now was different. Now it was all the time, and she had said to not call her again. He understood of course, she didn't know his marriage had been over for years, but they had three children and so, he stayed.
From Lori he finally did find out she was divorced a few years now, maybe there was a way to explain it to her. It was now one never. It was among time coming, Sylvia was done with him, it would be a relief to both of them.
Finally, they had the conversation, he and Sylvia came to an agreement kids were fine, they would spend weekends with him and be with her during the week.
It was easy, really.
Always he had kept things to himself, Merle had suspicions, but he was never aware of just how unhappy his brother was, until Daryl told him one day as they sat on his front porch that he and Sylvia agreed to divorce.
"Finally," Merle huffed as he sipped his beer.
"What?" Daryl brought his head around to face Merle. He had no idea he knew, all this time he thought he hid the truth so well..
"I know you ain't happy…" Merle admitted, "I've known for a long time…"
"I'm gonna be…"
"You know Andrea told me that you were looking for Molly's number, You ain't never gonna let her go are you?"
Daryl didn't answer, but he really didn't need to, Merle was no dummy.
"What the fuck Daryl, you're 42 years old, what are you doing?" Merle hollered, "That's all water under the bridge now, you gonna chase her your whole life."
Merle was aghast, Molly Treemont was going to be at their High School reunion, Daryl had lost his mind, and he was ready to throw his entire life away.
"If I have to, yes. I don't know. For the first time in my life I don't know, and I don't care. I need to be with her. I know that. I need her!" Daryl explained, "I loved her then and I never stopped!"
"You're crazy…" Merle called after him as he walked down the driveway.
Daryl and Molly would be face to face again in a few months and that was all he cared about, he couldn't let another opportunity pass him by. Merle didn't get it but it was ok, Merle had been married to Andrea for eleven years now and they were blissfully happy; that was one wedding he did not see Molly at.
"She'll never see me unless I'm divorced, Sylvia don't even care …"
"You're doing this for a maybe?"
"Its all I got," He answered.
/
He got more than maybe the next time he saw her.
There was a grand gesture at the hotel at 8 PM on July 19th 2016 made by Molly that people talked about for months after the reunion. Daryl had been ready to plead his case to her. Sylvia had been glad to be rid of him, just as he suspected.
Of course it was still there between them, it was plain as day and they made no effort to hide it either. That old fire was still burning and Merle rolled his eyes. He had done this, set in motion this crazy thing all those years ago.
He was watching the two of them tap dance around the fact that they were both divorced now, older, maybe a little wiser. He leaned over to Andrea and said quietly, "I bet you right now, twenty bucks they leave this shindig early."
Andrea laughed and declined that bet.
Molly and Daryl had talked a little but it was like that day they met behind the school. After all the time that had passed, that was wasted; she knew that and he deserved once and for all to know in front of everyone how she always felt about him.
He deserved everything, after all the sneaking around and sketchy shit they did, never admitting to anyone or themselves what was there all along. Their relationship had spanned decades and they were never on the same page until right now. For two smart people it had taken them ages to get their act together.
There was a live band and they were good, the dance floor had been packed all night. Everyone had been having small talk and catching up with each other and she and Daryl had talked for a while. But then she was gone and he was sure she had dipped out on him again. He had been about to go outside and look for her and had stood up when Lori Grimes stopped him.
Lori pointed to Molly over by the band whispering something to the guitarist.
"There she is," Lori noted, "She's asking them for a song."
Molly turned their way and didn't move from where she stood, instead the guitarist handed her a microphone. She briefly pointed it towards him but didn't say anything.
To his utter shock the band started playing an old Elvis song and her sweet voice came through all the speakers. She made eye contact with him and it was like they were the only ones in a room of 200 people.
**********Treat me like a fool
Treat me mean and cruel,
But love me.
Wring my faithful heart,
Tear it all apart,
But love me.*********
Daryl stood there dumbfounded for a second, then slowly started to walk towards her as she sang.
*******I would beg and steal
Just to feel your heart
Beatin' close to mine
Well, if you ever go,
Darling, I'll be oh so lonely
I'll be sad and blue
Crying over you, dear only.*******
People got up and danced, couples mostly and he stood there in the middle of it watching her sing, to him. When she was almost done with the song ,he moved towards her and took her into his arms. The guitarist took over the vocals at the end and sang the song again so that she could dance with him.
/
Put on my blue suede shoes
And I boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues
In the middle of the pouring rain
W.C. Handy, won't you look down over me?
Yeah, I got a first class ticket
But I'm as blue as a boy can be
Then I'm walking in Memphis
I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel?
Saw the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue
Followed him up to the gates of Graceland
I watched him walk right through
Now security, they did not see him
They just hovered 'round his tomb
There's a pretty little thing waiting for the King
Down in the Jungle Room
When I was walking in Memphis
I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel?
Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn
/
The music played outside the fancy hotel in Atlanta, Walking in Memphis was a good song to be playing at the time. Molly enjoyed it and they were both humming it to themselves as they walked together. They were quiet for a long time, just taking their time and being together.
"So you're divorced now?" She asked as Daryl lit a cigarette and passed it to her, they had always shared cigarettes, the first one being when they were teenagers. It was cool out on the back deck of the restaurant where reunion was going on.
The outside was decorated with fairy lights and candles, there was a view of the lake and past that the hospital where Molly still worked.
They had been dancing together after she sang to him, as if they hadn't been apart all this time and it was sweet.
"Well, I heard you were gonna be here…" He said with a grin and a wink as he took the cigarette back from her.
She laughed at that, and he remembered how much her laugh lit him up, "I am sorry Daryl, I know you must have wanted it to work."
"I'm not sorry, not at all, no regrets right? Not this time; remember what you wrote on the response card?"
" Regrets, going skateboarding…"
"I cried when I read that," He admitted to her and she would be the only other person in the world that knew that.
"So did I," Molly whispered in the moonlight, "I cried when I wrote it. For days after. "
"We never really broke up, I mean we went our own ways to college but…we still...I know...the fight, we were both mad."
"You got married…" She answered with a raise of her eyebrows.
"To the wrong girl." He answered meeting her eyes, "The right girl always treated me like a booty call," He grinned.
"You loved every minute of it! Who are you kidding? Don't forget, I know you," She snatched the cigarette back from him and took a drag, "You loved the tawdriness of it all, sneaking around, admit it."
"Fine, it was hot, but are we gonna do this now or what?"
"I don't know Daryl, don't you think we're a little young to be so serious?" She replied with a laugh and he pulled her to him.
"I've got back problems and insomnia, and this is our twentieth high school reunion; clearly we're middle aged and I'm not letting you get away this time so just deal with it."
He picked her up in his arms.
"I'm never letting you go again," He said as he swung her around in a circle like in an old movie and noticed she was crying.
"You never have to, I promise." They stayed that way out on the deck in the moonlight hugging as the song played and he wiped her tears away with his own promise of true love for the rest of their lives.
********They got catfish on the table
They got gospel in the air
Reverend Green be glad to see you
When you haven't got a prayer
Boy, you've got a prayer in Memphis
Now Gabriel plays piano
Every Friday at the Hollywood
And they brought me down to see him
They asked me if I would
Do a little number?
And I sang with all my might
He said, "Tell me, are you a Christian, child?"
And I said, "Man, I am tonight"
Walking in Memphis
(Walking in Memphis)
I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
(Walk)
Walking in Memphis
(Walking in Memphis)
But do I really feel the way I feel?
Walking in Memphis
(Walking in Memphis)
I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
(Walk)
Walking in Memphis
(Walking in Memphis)
But do I really feel the way I feel?*******