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“Tell him to knock this off,” Garrett demanded, his focus still on me. “Or did you go straight to him and tell him about it all? I guess he’s better for you, yeah? Did you kiss him, like you did me?”
My mouth opened as if I was about to speak, but nothing came out to defend my dignity. I was frozen, embarrassment clamping down on my vocal cords. My lower lip trembled, and I finally stifled a painful sob as my mom’s hand landed on my shoulder.
“You’re making a scene Garrett. You don’t wanna do this,” Blaze said calmly, as a couple of other officers joined him, one of them being Sheriff Myers.
“Come on, son,” he said in a low voice. “You’ve had too much to drink. You can talk to Beth after you sober up. You were doin’ so good.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore.” His eyes bored into mine. “Theoneperson who knows the truth about me?—”
“Let’s all just stay calm and remain in our seats,” Pastor Frank’s voice boomed over the microphone. I turned my head to see why he would say such a thing, but the answer was right in front of my face.
“Disrespectful asshole!” Lucas Wilson shouted, storming toward the chaos with his fists in the air. People were jumping to their feet to get a better view, but I stayed sitting at the end of the pew, finding it hard to breathe.
Please don’t.
“Go back to your seat,” Blaze warned him as Sheriff Myers and another deputy were now dragging Garrett out. “Youdon’t wanna start anything. Show some respect to your ex-wife and her family.”
“Like you’re one to talk,” he barked back, though he did slow down.
The doors of the sanctuary slammed as Garrett was finally on the other side, leaving Blaze standing in the gap between Lucas and the exit. The tension in the room felt palpable as Lucas finally spun back around and headed back to his seat. However, though chaos might’ve receded, everyone’s necks were still craned in one direction...
Right at me.
I swallowed hard, catching Blaze’s expressionless face as he headed back to his post. He shook his head when he caught my eye, and I wasn’t sure whether to be offended or thankful that he was quick to shut Garrett’s tirade down. After all, Garrett’s words were slurring, surely no one took him seriously…
But my stomach churned nauseously anyway.
I sat through the rest of the service in a numb state, refusing to even try to process what had just happened. I mean, honestly, Garrett was probably just so drunk that he had no idea what he was doing… But still, he mentioned us together last night, and maybe it was just my paranoia, but if that didn’t catch the attention of the nosy Nancys of the town, then I wasn’t sure what would. Finally, the funeral was crowd was dismissed.
My mouth felt like I had eaten an entire tub of cotton balls as I stood to my feet, turning to my mom. “We’re not staying for the lunch, right?”
“Oh, no way,” Mom said quickly, shooing me out of the pew and into the sea of people. “We just need to get you out of here. You’re sweating bullets, and everyone is staring.”
“Am I?” I questioned, running my hand along my forehead.Sure enough, my fingers came back glistening with sweat. I had opted for a minimalistic black blouse and dark wash skinny jeans for the funeral, but apparently it hadn’t been breathable enough.
“Mrs. Young,” a woman’s voice called from behind us right as we made it to the double doors.
“Oh, Brittany,” Mom greeted, stopping off to the side to prevent holding up the traffic of people. “How have you been?”
I took a step toward the door, thinking I would just meet her at the truck, but she stopped me. Her hand grabbed my wrist, tugging me back beside her. I gave her a look, but she met my eyes with a warning glare.
“I’ve been better,” Brittany, a total stranger to me, replied. “This was quite a scene…”
“I’m so sorry,” Mom said, eyeing me. “This is Beth, my daughter, and Beth,” she turned to me, a forced smile on her face. “This is Garrett’s um, wife, Brittany.”
I nearly passed out as I took in the woman. She had dark, luscious wavy hair that cascaded down her back. She was wearing a black tea dress, perfectly fitted at the waist. “Hi,” I managed to choke out.
She gave me a disdainful smile. “It was just downright embarrassing of Garrett to come stumbling drunk in here like that. I should be the one apologizing.” She dabbed a tissue at the corner of her smoky gray eyes. “He’d been doing so much better, you know. We’ve really been praying for him.” Brittany choked up at the end, waving her hand at her face like she was trying not to cry. “He’s just been in such a dark place for so long.”
Mom reached out and squeezed her hand. “I’ve been praying for him. I can’t imagine how hard this has been for you.You’ve been through so much with him. I really thought when he met you, things were getting better, but it’s not your job to save him.”
Brittany nodded, once again batting tears away. “Yeah, I know, but it doesn’t make it any easier to see him ruin his life.” She turned to me then. “And I’m sorry that he’s drug you into his mess. I know how embarrassing it can be. The two of you have some history, I know. It’s interconnected with… Well, you know.”
“Yeah,” I said flatly. “Kind of.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “You don’t have to downplay it. We’re separated now, even though I keep hanging on—for whatever reason, I’m not sure. I think there was a reason I never even changed my last name. I knew the risk it was to fall in love with him.”
This woman is in love with him, and she looks like a saint.Brittany had fallen for him after everything had happened… And here I was, thinking that I had loved him the most all these years.
