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She rolled her eyes. “You always say that. Just come with me to counseling. I don’t want to give up, if you don’t.”
He spun around to face her. “Idowant to give up. I don’t love you, Brittany. I don’t understand how clear I have to make it.”
“You’re so contradictory.” Her expression broke as fresh tears slipped down her cheeks. “I don’t understand you.”
Ignoring her, he slipped from the garage into the office area of the shop. “You need to go home.Delete my number, block me, whatever. Whatever I’m saying when I’m drunk, I don’t mean.”
“My nana says that drunk people always tell the truth.” She grabbed his hand, and he jerked it away from her.
“Nope, not in my case. Don’t trust a word I tell you.” He continued out of the mechanic shop, while Brittany followed him, her Nikes squeaking on the pavement as he locked the door. “You gotta just sign the papers and move on. We’ve been over for years.”
“According to everyone in this stupid town, we were over before we ever even started,” she choked out. “All I’ve heard since Peter Young passed is howBethis back in town, and according to the rumor mill,youwent after her.”
Jeez. There are eyes everywhere.
“I didn’t go after her,” he said plainly, making his way to this truck. Her brand-new Tahoe was parked next to his old truck, and he gestured to it. “Go home, Brittany.”
“Then come with me.”
“I got my own place, which you need to stay away from. No more showing up there.Leave me alone,” he reiterated to her for the hundredth time. “I’ll get a restraining order.”
“And then continue to blow my phone up,” she reasoned, frowning. “I just want to know you’re okay. Is that acceptable? Can I at least know that? Please.”
He threw out his arms. “Here I am, living and breathing. You can go now.”
“You’re always such a jerk when you’re drinking,” she muttered.
Garrett glared at her. “Stone cold sober right now.”
Her lips flatlined. “So it’s true then, huh? You and Beth Young? Or is that another Sarah and Garrett situation?”
He looked Brittany dead in the eye. “You really shouldn’t be talking about a dead person like that. It’s disrespectful.”
Her eyes went stark wide, and she took a couple of steps back from him. “What?”
“Yeah, surprised you don’t know about that yet. The whole town is talking about me being sober foroneday, and talking to Beth Young, but no one has mentioned Sarah’s death to you? Or is it that you’ve been constantly poking around this town, trying to keep tabs on me?”
She shook her head, her expression softening. “What happened to her, Garrett? I can’t… I just…” Her voice trailed off. “I just saw her a couple of days ago.”
Garrett shrugged, having forgotten all about the body found at the furthest northern point of the county. “No idea. I don’t like listening to my dad talk about his investigations. You know that.”
“I should call her grandma,” Brittany was somewhere else mentally, her face contorted as she grew more upset. “Make her a casserole or something.”
“Yeah, that’ll make ‘em feel better,” he snorted, popping open the door of his truck. “You go do that and leave me the hell alone.” He climbed in and shut the door, clicking the lock into place. He hated being so cold to her, and momentarily, he felt guilty about it…
But it was for the best.
Brittany needed to move on, and as much as he hated it, thewhole townwas right. They’d never been compatible. Something had always been missing between them, though it was hard to say what it was. Well, to everyone but him. He’d always known, but if he said the truth out loud, he’d sound like an even bigger jerk. Or maybe just a nutcase.
He pulled out of the parking lot with Brittany not far behind him, but as he turned right, she thankfully took a left, heading back toward her own house. He’d had his place for nearly two years now, and the marriage had only survived a whopping two years—and that was only because he tried to play the good husband for the first year, trying to stay sober.
Which really just meant he got good at hiding it.
He stomped the accelerator, whizzing past Outlaws. He wasn’t in the mood to set foot in a bar full of judging stares. If Brittany knew about him seeing Beth today, then that meant mostly everyone else did, too. It’d smear Beth’s image in the town, and that was the last thing he wanted. Really. Whathadhe been thinking? And was it worth it? Did he even get his closure?
The red and blue lights flickering in his rearview mirror broke his thoughts, and his eyes went straight to the dash. He wasnotspeeding. Why be pulled over? He sighed, hoping it was his dad doing a check on his sobriety, which he’d probably be pretty pleased with.
But as the shadow made it to his driver’s side window, he grimaced.
