Page 30 of Bending The Rules

“I’m not,” I countered, stepping away before I got too comfortable in his arms. “We said one, and it’s exactly that.”

He shrugged a little. “Yeah, but…Rule #10: On time is late.”

“And early is on time,” I finished, then shook my head. “I know. That was one of mine, wasn’t it?”

He grinned. “One you drilled into me. I was organized, butyouwere punctual.”

“And you ended up rubbing off on me,” I told him, stepping closer to let another customer get past. “I’m great at keeping things in order now. Usually.”

“Damn right I rubbed off on you.” He grinned at me. “I’m anexcellentinfluence.”

I sucked my teeth. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure Marjorie and Greg would take exception to that claim. Did you or did you not get me so drunk on our high school graduation night that I puked in my cap?”

His eyes went wide. “Nah, Tee. You got the wrong guy. I’d never engage in, or encourage, under-aged drinking. You can’t be out here lying on me like that.”

“Oh is that right?”

“Sure the hell is.”

We laughed our way to our table once it was ready, and instead of sitting across from me, Justin took the seat to my side.

“So when am I going to get my credit for knowing to choose vegetarian for you, huh? Cause back in the day, you’d fuck up a plate of ribs, so this whole thing is new.”

I smiled. “You can have it now. I didn’t say anything a few weeks ago, but Ididappreciate that you considered me when you chose the restaurant. How did you know I’d gone vegetarian?”

“Cause I’m good like that.”

“Or you googled me.”

He shrugged. “Or both.”

“So you admit that you googled me?”

“Why not?” he asked, then sipped from the water the server had dropped off. “How else would I keep up with you, when you were giving me radio silence? Did you think I just stopped caring?”

I propped my elbow on the table, and my chin on my fist. “Honestly… yeah. That’s what it felt like, when everything happened. When I tried to talk to you that first time, you acted like… I was just trying to hold you back. Like I only cared about you going to Lion because it meant I would lose out on potential money.”

“That wasn’t the case.”

I nodded. “I know thatnow. But we’re talking about back then.”

He conceded that point with a tip of his head. “I just want it to be clear, that I was always all about you. Even once we parted ways, I was rooting for your success, from the sidelines. I’m really proud of what you’ve done with Scattered Seeds. You took your dream… something you’d been talking about since high school, and turned it into reality.”

“That’s something we have in common,” I said, smiling. “Look at you...Mr. Bestseller.And you’re only 31- you haven’t even peaked yet. Still on the rise. And you have thatgorgeouslittle girl.”

He grinned at the mention of his daughter. “Yeah, Bri Bri is a sweet kid.”

“Smart kid,” I added. “At least from what I’ve seen. You and Cat did well.”

Justin clapped a hand to his chest, eyes going wide in shock. “Damn, I must be hearing things. Did you just give Cat a compliment?”

I giggled. “I did. Differences aside, Cat is a good woman. I was sorry to hear that it didn’t work out between you.”

“Ohplease,” Justin scoffed. “I bet you held a whole “I told you so” party in honor of our divorce.”

I shook my head. “If I'm all the way real…. I did think it.But. I reallydohate to hear about relationships ending. What happened?”

Justin shrugged, leaning back in his chair. “Reality hit. I mean, Cat and I were cool together, but we were young and stupid – the root causes of many of my most notable mistakes. I only proposed because she was pregnant, she said yes for the same reason. And the first few years of our marriage were all so stressful, dealing with Bri’s health, and all of that. We didn’t really have a firm foundation to start with, and after Bri’s second surgery, it all kind of… crumbled.”

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