Page 72 of Tanner's Forever

“They’re with my dad,” she says.

“So, you just dump the kids off at your dad’s and come here to hang out with…” He looks over at me. “The help?”

I bite my tongue because I know that anything rude I say is just going to make things harder on Erin. So, I just hold out my hand and say, “Hi, I’m Tanner. I’m Erin’s boyfriend.”

He looks at my hand with nothing but disdain before his gaze falls on Erin. “Boyfriend? When were you going to tell me? Weren’t you just giving me shit about Mary Louise? Clearly, you had someone waiting in the wings.”

“Judd,” she begins, but he doesn’t give her the chance to speak.

“Imagine my surprise when I get a phone call that my ex-wife, and the mother of my children, is at the local watering hole, making a slut out of herself.”

I can’t keep quiet anymore. “Hey, if you’re pissed, that’s fine, but we don’t need to do the name calling.”

“I don’t think I was talking to you, son. How about you let the adults speak?”

Anger boils my blood. I’m trying to be civil, but this guy is just going way too far.

Erin speaks before I have the chance to, though. “Judd, please stop.”

“No, Erin, you stop. Stop acting like you don’t have kids at home waiting for you. On my weekends, do you see Mary Louise and I going out and dry humping each other on the dance floor? No. Because I take the time with my children seriously. And I believe in a thing called modesty. No woman of mine would ever be caught dancing like that.”

Not able to contain my smart-ass tongue, I say, “Maybe you’re just not doing it right.”

He looks back at Erin. “Are you really bringing this guy around the kids? I should have known that something like this would happen. I should have known that once we divorced, you’d go right back to being the little slut that you were before we met.”

I can see the tears gleaming in her eyes. I want to haul off and punch Judd, but Erin grabs my hand, signaling me to calm down.

He leans in close to her face and says, “If you are going to keep pulling shit like this, I will take you back to court so fast. I’m sure the judge would be interested to hear about your extracurricular activities.”

He walks away, and Erin stands there still as stone for a moment before saying through a shaky voice, “Can we go now?”

I realize their argument drew a crowd, so I get her through the swarm of people and out to my truck. Stepping on it, I try to get back to her place as soon as possible. It’s a quiet ride because quite frankly, I have no idea what to say.

From what I have seen of Erin, she is strong and independent. She has been through some rough shit, and it’s made her tougher. But Judd’s presence turns her into someone completely different. It makes me wonder how much psychological damage Judd really did to her.

When we get back to her place, both of us make our way to the kitchen. Erin pulls out two water bottles from the fridge and hands me one.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she says. “I tend to forget that Judd has little spies around town.”

Without thinking about it, I say, “Why do you let him talk to you like that?”

Her eyes dart up to look at me. “What should I do, Tanner?”

“I don’t know. Tell him exactly when and where to fuck off?”

“And how would that make things better for my kids? How would any of that make this divorce any easier?” Her voice is laced with annoyance.

“Erin,” I begin.

“No, Tanner. This whole situation sucks. You know what? I can deal with Judd calling me a slut. What I can’t deal with is him taking any of his frustration about me out on the kids. Why do you think I stuck around for so long? Why do you think I let him treat me like dirt? Because I wanted to keep things calm for my children. I would do anything for them. I would fucking die for them.”

I walk over and grab either side of her face. “Hey, I know. It’s okay. I’m sorry I even brought it up. But you have to understand how hard it is for me to hear someone talk about you like that.”

She takes a deep breath. “I know. I just need you to let me handle Judd in my own way. Please. I’m just trying to keep the peace.”

“Do you really think he would try to take the kids?”

She rolls her eyes. “Probably not. As much as Judd loves his kids, I don’t think he wants them full-time. Heck, he didn’t want them full-time when he lived with them. The only reason he would ever even try would be out of spite for me.”

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