Page 34 of Little Shattered Dreams

There were a couple of false starts, like he was working extra hard to get his phrasing right. “All right, so … I used to work as a bouncer in a club. Wasn’t the best job, but it paid the bills. One night, a couple of women were headed out, a blond and a brunette. They were both wasted, slurring their words, struggling to stand up straight, that kind of thing. The brunette wanted to hit up another club, so the blond called a cab. When it got there, the blond hopped inside. The brunette turned toward me and said something about me being attractive. I didn’t think anything of it until she grabbed my face and tried shoving her tongue in my mouth.”

Gross.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“I put my hands up and backed off, thinking it would end there. When I didn’t reciprocate, she got angry, started yelling at me about how I’d rejected her. She came at me with her fists, throwing punches in the air, not landing any of them. I kept taking steps back, hoping to fend her off.”

“I’m guessing you weren’t successful.”

“No, siree. She came at me again. This time she dug her long, pointy fingernails into my skin so deep I started to bleed. I didn’t know what to do, so I pushed her off me. I thought if I could put some distance between us, I could help her into the cab and send her on her way. It was stupid, or maybe it wasn’t. To this day, I still don’t know what I should have done. All I know is, my idea backfired.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“I must have pushed her too hard because she stumbled over the edge of the sidewalk and fell. She didn’t get hurt or anything. Bruised ego is all. She started screaming, hollering that I attacked her, not the other way around.”

“I’m guessing there was no security footage to back up your side of the story?”

“Nope.”

“What about her friend or the cabbie?”

“That’s the thing. Her friend was too busy flirting with the cabbie, so she didn’t see how it all went down until it was over. And no one else was outside the club at the time to back me up. When the cops arrived, the cabbie said he wasn't sure what happened. You worked for the police department from what I hear. Who do you think they arrested?”

“I know who they arrested.You.”

“Damn straight they did. The girl didn’t weigh more than a buck and change. They took one look at me and one look at her and decided there was no way she was lying. To make things worse, she had a rich daddy too, and he was hellbent on pressing charges. It’s a time in my life I’d rather forget. I served my time. So, yeah … I have my own locks on my own doors, just like you.”

NowIwas the one with nothing to say.

I’d misjudged him, assuming since he’d served time, it meant he wasn’t a good person. It was wrong of me. Looking at him now, I could see the pain that remained, and the shame of it all, a man desperate to create a life that wasn’t overshadowed by his past.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“For what?”

“Pushing you to talk about the reason you went to jail.”

“Why areyousorry?”

“I judged you without knowing the facts first.”

“Yeah, you and everyone else. Don’t matter. I’m used to it.”

“It doesn’t make it right,” I said.

“No, it doesn’t. Then again, you don’t know me. For all you know, I could be filling your head with nonsense.”

“You could, but I believe you’re telling the truth.”

“Believe what you want. Makes no difference to me.”

“It should … make a difference, I mean. I, ahh, I have a habit of getting ahead of myself sometimes. It’s something I’ve been working on.”

He grunted a laugh. “Ask me, you got a lot more work to do.”

He was right, and I deserved every word of his critique.

“Can we start again?” I asked.

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