Page 56 of Brews & Bartenders

She pauses to hear whatever he has to say. “If he isn’t home in the next thirty minutes, I’ll get the cops involved.” He must say something, but she cuts him off. “I don’t care, Nathan. This is what happens every time he stays with you. The time is in our divorce papers. And I don’t care if you threaten to take me to court. I can guarantee I won’t make it easy.”

She turns and sees me standing there. I mouth, “Are you okay?”

She nods and listens to more of what Nathan has to say. “Thirty minutes. I’m not playing.” She hangs up before throwing the phone on her bed. “I swear he has been put here to drive me insane. He’s lost his mind if he thinks he can take me to court and win. I’ve been documenting all the times he hasn’t shown up.”

My strides are long as I approach her and wrap her in my arms. “David will be here soon, then we get on with our challenge.”

“Thanks.”

I kiss the top of her head. “You know you don’t have to go through all the crap with Nathan alone, right? Your family is there to support you, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“You say that now, but you haven’t witnessed my ex-douchebag in the midst of a temper tantrum.”

I let her go and meet her eyes. “And he hasn’t seen what a strong united front looks like.”

She lifts up on her toes and kisses my cheek. “This is why you are amazing.” Grabbing my hand, she leads me toward the door. “If I know Nathan, he’ll haul ass over here with David to avoid ruining his reputation. Why don’t you go check the grill so we can get started as soon as he gets here?”

It’s time for the big reveal. My pork chops against Caroline’s. Both look, and smell, delicious. Hopefully I get this win, especially after she was right about when David would be home. The only shitty part about the situation is she wouldn’t let me or Reaf meet Nathan up front. He was about as happy about it as I was.

“Judging this is going to be hard,” Caroline’s mom says. “Both look amazing.”

“It won’t be hard for me,” Marisol grins. “I’m choosing Caroline by default.”

“That’s not fair.” It comes out whiny, but it’s not. “You have to try the food before you decide who wins.”

“He’s right, my love.” Mom pats her shoulder.

Bryce looks over both sets of chops and sighs. “The only way this is going to be somewhat fair, since we know who made each one, is if y’all wait outside while we taste test.”

I glance over at Caroline and she nods. “Okay, we’ll be on the porch.” I motion for her to go ahead of me, and we walk out.

“I can’t believe they’re kicking me out of my own kitchen.” Caroline sits in one of the chairs.

“Not all of them.” I sit down next to her. “Just your baby brother. At least they didn’t automatically vote against you.”

“That’s because I’m the favorite.” She grins. “And thanks for the pep talk earlier. Things will work out. Last time he pulled a stunt like this, he disappeared from David’s life for a while. I just get so sick of making excuses for him. And tired of holding my tongue around David, even though it’s the right thing to do.”

“You’re a lot stronger than me. I would have lost my shit on him a long time ago.”

“My mom was a good role model. Our dad bailed on us when Bryce was a toddler. Even to this day she never says anything bad about him. She told me we’d figure out how we felt about him as we got older.”

“And did you?”

“Yep. He never tried to see us. No cards, or calls, for our birthdays. I knew he was a piece of crap, and I never felt like I missed out on anything. I was hoping it would be different for David, but so far…it’s more of the same.”

“Not to sound like your mom, but he’ll figure it out.”

“I know,” she sighs and leans against me, “waiting for him to do that is harder than I thought possible. Now I know what my mom went through.”

Before I can say anything, the front door opens and Reaf sticks his head out. “We’re ready.”

We’re barely through the door when Marisol yells, “Caroline is the winner.”

“Seriously?” I lift my hands in the air.

“Mijo, you used too much red pepper. We could barely eat it.”

Gabi rolls her eyes. “I could handle it, but everyone else couldn’t.”

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