Page 144 of Always Us

“Breaking up with her when she got pregnant. Leaving her with nothing. Not paying child support. I could go on all day.”

Brandon looks at Sara, then back at Garret. But he doesn’t apologize.

Garret crosses his arms over his chest, which makes his biceps appear even bigger. He keeps his eyes on Brandon, giving him a look of warning.

Brandon lets out an annoyed sigh and looks at Sara again. “I’m sorry, Sara.”

Sara’s too speechless to answer.

“See? That wasn’t so hard.” Garret nods toward the exit. “You can go now.”

Brandon turns and walks out the door.

A guy from the bar yells, “Brandon, where are you going?”

Garret checks who it is, then sits back down in the booth. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“What?” I ask him.

“Brandon’s friend is Kyle, the guy who keeps calling me, trying to get me to introduce him to my dad.”

“Brandon used to be on the football team with Kyle,” Sara says. “They’re good friends.”

“I knew I hated that guy.” Garret takes a drink of his water.

“Did you really get arrested for fighting?” Alex asks Garret.

“Yeah, but it was back in high school. I made it sound worse than it was.”

I’m glad Garret didn’t tell him the truth. I don’t want Sara or Alex thinking Garret’s violent.

The waitress stops by and drops off the check. “Did Brandon leave?”

“Yeah. Why?” Sara says, as she rubs Caleb’s back. He’s falling asleep now.

“I hate that guy. Last year he was always in here grabbing my ass and trying to get me to go out with him.” She shudders. “I was so happy when he left town. He didn’t move back here, did he?”

“No, he’s in San Francisco now.”

“They can have him.” She smiles. “You guys can pay whenever you want. No rush.”

Alex drops some cash on the check. “It’s all set.”

She picks up the money. “Thanks. Have a good night.”

“We should go,” Alex says to Sara.

“Yeah, I need to get Caleb to bed.” She reaches under the table for her purse.

We all get out of the booth and Garret goes up to Alex. “Hey. Are we good? I didn’t mean to step in like that but—”

“No, I’m glad you did. If you want to come over and watch a game when you guys get back from your trip, just let me know.”

“You guys are watching a game?” Sara asks. “Why can’t us girls come over?”

Alex kisses her cheek. “You can. I just didn’t think you’d want to watch the game.”

“Jade and I could still come over. You want to, Jade?”

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