Page 43 of I Found You
“Yeah. I think I just bruised a rib.”
“How’d you manage that?”
He took a minute to answer. I lifted my head from the hood of Mr. Tutino’s car. Suddenly, I felt like I really needed to be paying attention to him.
“What happened?” I asked again.
“The guys and I were at a party, and one of them was messing with this girl. She pulled away from him, but he wouldn’t let her go, so I stepped in. He got a couple of quick jabs in. I just wasn’t expecting it, otherwise I would have…”
He would have what? Kicked the shit out of the kid? Jackson wasn’t a big guy. He wasn’t overly tall, and he was lankier than bulky.
“You did the right thing.” I wanted to tell him I was proud of him, but I held it in. I wasn’t his older brother or some father figure to him. I was just his sister’s friend and his kind-of boss.
“Whatever. They’re dickheads anyway. Don’t tell Mae though. She’ll just worry about it.”
He wasn’t wrong. I’d keep this between us, for now. But I was keeping my eye on him. And his fucking “friends.”
We both went our separate ways, working on our respective lists.
A few minutes later, Jackson was on the phone with someone. I could hear him talking but wasn’t really listening, and I had my head under the hood of Mr. Tutino’s SUV when the door was flung open, and Reid stormed in like a grizzly bear.
“It’s over. She’s fucking gone,” he shouted. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Whoa, brother. What the fuck happened?” He was pacing now, his hands on his head. He looked to be on the brink of a breakdown. “Come here,” I told him, guiding him into thesmall office that had its own door.
He tried to take a deep breath, but his chin started quivering, and his eyes filled with tears. “She left me, Wyatt. I proposed to her, and she broke up with me.”
“Maybe you just took her by surprise. Maybe she just needs a minute, or she just isn’t ready for marriage yet.”
“No. She’s gone. I can tell this isn’t just a fight or something. She’s serious.”
“Start at the beginning,” I told him.
“Saturday night, we took the canoe across the bay and over to Easton’s Cove. I brought a blanket and some beer and hard seltzers. I got on one knee, and she was already shaking her head. I thought she was just shocked, you know. I told her how much I love her, how I want to spend the rest of my life with her.” He paused, clearly trying to collect himself before he continued. I let the silence linger, not wanting to push him to finish the story. After a few minutes, he continued. “She broke it off right then and there. I was still on one knee, for fuck’s sake. She said that she’s been wanting to break up for a while, but she didn’t have a good enough reason. Like she was waiting for me to mess up somehow so that she could cut ties guilt-free.”
“Fuck, Reid.” I didn’t know what to say. I offered the least helpful platitude a person could. “I’m sorry, man.”
He continued his story, explaining how she left him gaping after her. I couldn’t even imagine how uncomfortable that canoe ride back must have been. Fucking torture. He tried to talk to her yesterday, but she wouldn’t answer. Stuck between wanting to give her space to clear her head and needing to talk things out with her. Then, this morning, he went to her house, where she lived with her parents.
“Georgie wouldn’t even let me in. I’ve spent more time at their house than my own. They are family to me, and just like that, I can’t see her, can’t talk to her.”
It wasn’t that Kayleigh’s parents were bad people. They were actually pretty decent people. But if Kayleigh asked them to keep Reid away, then that’s what they would do.
“Alright, brother. Let’s get you up. I’m taking you out for lunch,” I told him. Jackson was still working his way through the first car when I told him that I would be back later but to just lock up if he took off before I got back.
Reid had parked behind me, but he was in no state of mind to drive, so I took the driver’s seat and gestured for him to get in the passenger seat. He didn’t fight me on it, which was for the best because there was no way in hell I was letting him get behind the wheel. He could barely see out of his bloodshot eyes.
I had no specific place in mind when I took off, driving around town to find something that looked good. I pulled into the Downtown Diner that Sheila owned and put the car in park.
“What if she’s in there?” Reid asked quietly. “I know, I know. This is a small town, and I’m going to run into her sometimes. But not today, Wy. Can we go somewhere out of town?”
So instead of delicious home-cooked-style meals, I drove us twenty minutes out of town and found a Chinese restaurant with dim lighting and sticky seats. When the first thing Reid ordered was a scorpion bowl at 11:30 in the morning, I knew I was going to be in for a long day.
Wyatt: Wok N’ Roll. If you’re not working, I need you here.
Luke: What’s up?
Wyatt: It’s Reid. Just get here.
