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“Not enough.”
“I think you have. You look and smell like dog shit.”
“Appreciate that.”
“Man, stop this!”
“Stop yelling at me, or I’m going to knock you on your ass.”
“I can take you.”
I half-laughed. “You’ve never been able to take me.”
“When you’re drunk, I damn sure can.”
Jackson stepped up to me, grabbed my glass of whiskey out of my hand, and threw it down onto my floor, shattering it. I pulled back my arm to punch him in the face, but he nailed me first. I stumbled backward and landed on my ass in my open doorway. Then I laid down and closed my eyes as my head spun.
“You’re slowly killing yourself, drinking like this,” Jackson said.
“I already feel dead.”
“But you’re not. Come on. It’s time for us to have the talk of talks about your high school sweetheart.”
I opened my eyes to see my brother leaning over me. He grabbed me underneath my arms, and I held onto him as he helped me get back on my feet. Then he walked me to my living room, and we sat on the couch.
“You’re tearing yourself up over Riley when you don’t have to,” he began.
“What?”
“Man, she’s talked to Rachel so many times and swears nothing was going on between her and Chad. Rachel believes her, I believe her—hell, everyone does. Why can’t you?”
I shook my head. “I just can’t.”
“Why? You know Riley.”
“I thought I did. She fooled me again.”
“She did nothing of the sort.”
I pulled my eyes away from Jackson and stared at my TV, which wasn’t on and hadn’t been, but the screen suddenly lit up.
Rosalie.
“Yeah, my ghost is still here,” I said.
“Mine is still around, too, turning on lights in my house after Rachel and I go to bed.”
My brother grew quiet, and my mind returned to Riley. I thought about the last time I saw her. When I pulled into her driveway, the horror on her face was to be expected because she hadn’t expected me to catch her with Chad. I arrived early at her duplex because I wanted to surprise her, but I was the one who was surprised.
That day haunted me, especially the tears Riley cried as I ended our relationship. My heart wanted to believe she’d been faithful to me and hadn’t messed around with Chad, but my head wouldn’t allow it.
Even if she had been faithful, I believed she would’ve grown restless again and wanted more in time. More than me, more than our hometown. By calling it quits with her, I sped up the second heartbreak I was sure to receive anyway.
“Brother?” Jackson said.
I looked over at him. “What?”
“I want you to dig deep within yourself. You know the truth about Riley.”
