Page 30 of This Memory
“Handling things?” Brystol asked. “Your daughter-in-law hascancer, Aunt Judith. And from where we’re all standing, you haven’t done shit for her.”
My mouth dropped open in shock.
“I beg your pardon?” Judith asked on a gasp.
“Everyone in town sees how you’ve abandoned them. You won’t help Liam, because if you did, that would also be helpingHope, and everyone knows you hate her for no reason. You never take Winnie, your own granddaughter, for even a few hours. Her grandfather or Aurora or Harper take her, to give Liam a break. You don’t want tohandle things, Aunt Judith. You want tocontrolthings, so I’m sorry, I won’t pass along your little message. If you want to talk to Aurora about the meal train, you know where to find her.”
Judith stood there for a long second with a stunned expression. When she finally snapped out of it, she glared at Brystol. “You certainly have no issues speaking your mind, do you?”
With a shake of her head, Brystol said, “No. And I wish Hope would stand up to you as well, once and for all. You’ve made her life a living hell this last year—and I hope Karma comes back on your ass.”
Judith gaped at me. “Officer Quinn, are you going to sit there and let my own flesh and blood speak to me that way?”
I picked up my water and shrugged. “From where I’m sitting, I don’t see her speaking anything but the truth.”
A look of pure outrage appeared on Judith’s face. “I’ve never been so insulted in my entire life!” Turning to face Brystol, Judith started to say something—but took a step back when Brystol stood, chin tilted up, silently daring Judith to open her mouth.
Instead of speaking, Judith turned on her heels and marched out of the café, with Betty Lou hot on her trail.
Brystol sat back down just as Wendy brought over her pie and milk.
“I just have to say that was brilliant, Brystol!” Wendy gushed. “You have no idea how often we’ve all wanted to tell Judith off. She’s so mean!”
She smiled at Wendy. “Well, I’m tired of the old bat treating everyone, especially Hope, like second-class citizens. It was about time someone set her straight. If my mother won’t, then I will.”
Wendy smiled before turning and rushing back to the kitchen. Most likely to tell everyone what had just gone down.
I pulled my gaze from the swinging door that led to the kitchen and focused on Brystol, who was devouring her cherry pie.
“Where in the hell didthatcome from?”
She glanced up and asked, “What?” with a mouthful of pie, so it came out more of a muffled sound.
I motioned toward the exit. “That whole telling off Judith thing.”
“Oh. I just got tired of her shit. She came over here to start something, and I’m not in the mood.”
Blinking a few times, I replied, “I’d say so. I didn’t know you had it in you, Brystol.”
She looked up again, pausing before pushing another forkful of pie into her mouth. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Gavin.”
Wendy brought out our sandwiches, and we ate silently for a few minutes. Brystol had never answered my question about being in love, and a part of me wanted to bring it up again, but the other part didn’t want to know if she had been. I’d only torture myself late at night, trying to figure out who the guy was.
“What did you want to talk about?” I finally asked, when half of my sandwich was gone.
“Well, like I said earlier, I wanted to apologize for what I said the other day.”
I nodded.
“Does that nod mean you’ll accept my apology, and we can move on?”
“Move on?” I asked.
“Yeah, Gavin. I thought we were going to try to be friends for the sake of Evelyn and Denny.”
I wiped the corners of my mouth and sat back in the seat. “Why did you say it?”
Confused, she asked, “What do you mean?”
