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“Brooks,” Morgan spluttered, “I think it would be best if we went somewhere and discussed these over exaggerations.”
Brooks looked down at her as if she were the scum of the earth. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I think you should take your brother home, and I’ll make sure Grace gets home safely.”
Oh no he wouldn’t. “No thanks.” I threw the valet ticket at Julian before spinning around and marching toward the door as several patrons gave me looks of pity. I truly felt pitiful. No doubt we had all made a terrible scene. Not that I cared. I would never be coming back to Manresa’s. I would keep my all-American food and real friends, thank you very much. I grabbed my phone and, through blurry eyes, clicked on my Uber app.
I flung myself through the door and into the sultry night air, walking as fast as I could away from the restaurant. The tears finally began to fall and covered my cheeks. I was an idiot to believe that maybe I’d had Julian pegged all wrong. Worse, I had spent too many years foolishly loving someone who never had any intention of loving me back. Brooks had lied to me, humiliated me, and hurt me at a tender age. However, I’d still opened the door to him when he’d come back into my life, despite the fact that he hadn’t even recognized me. And here I had felt sorry for him because of the truth he had discovered on prom night. Yet he had only used it as an excuse to do what he had really wanted that night—to sleep with Morgan. He never gave me a thought. Ever.
“Grace.” Brooks gently grabbed my arm.
I yanked myself away from him. “Don’t touch me. Don’t talk to me. Just don’t,” I cried.
“Please, let me take you home.”
I took a good long look at him, truly recognizing him for who he was—a selfish, self-centered jerk. “I never want to see you again.”
“Grace, I was eighteen years old. You’re going to hold that against me? You have no idea what I went through that night.”
“You’re right, because you never gave me the chance. And that’s the difference between you and me. I gave you every chance to see I was the girl who truly loved you and wanted you to be happy. But you were too blind to recognize it because all you ever see is yourself. Did you ever once stop to think about how much you hurt me? Do you ever stop to think about anyone other than yourself?”
His mouth opened as if he were going to speak, but all that came out were a few splutters.
“Save your breath. There’s nothing you can say to me that’s worth hearing. But let me thank you for sparing me from wasting any more time on you. Goodbye, Brooks.”Chapter Twenty-Two“Oh, Momma. I’m done with men.” I dropped to my knees on the grave of my mother, in my evening gown and all.
The Uber driver thought it was creepy to drop me off at the cemetery, but I think he was more than relieved to have me out of his car after all the weeping and wailing I had done on the forty-five-minute drive back to Pecan Orchard. The cemetery was only a few blocks from our house and a place I frequented. Especially when I was upset. Momma was a good listener.
I outlined her name on the heart-shaped headstone that was embraced by a granite angel. Fiona Cartwright. Beloved Wife to Stephen and Mother to Grace. General Hospital’s Biggest Fan. I giggled every time I read that last line. I swore I sometimes heard Momma laughing along with me. Just like I could feel her heart break for me now.
“What did I do to be treated so cruelly?” I landed on my butt, kicked off my sparkly heels, and began to pick the cool grass around me. The sun was about to go down, and the last rays tickled the headstones all around me, making them glitter. Not like vampires per se, but in a beautifully muted way.
My stupid phone kept going off with texts and calls from Julian. I finally reached into my bag and turned it off. There was nothing he could say to me to excuse what he had done. He had been like the butcher tonight, leading me, the lamb, to the slaughter. Okay, so I was a cheeky lamb and I’d held my own pretty well, but still.
Now all his cryptic comments made sense. He’d been playing me on behalf of his sister. That family needed some serious therapy. Like the shock kind. I was probably going to need some counseling after my brush with the Bronsons. And Brooks definitely needed to set up a therapy session, stat. How could he be so taken in by Morgan, now and back in high school? I was ill thinking about them together the night he’d stood me up. I knew it was twenty years ago, but he was supposed to have been my friend, and he had thought only of his own desires with no thought for me and my feelings. Perhaps I’d failed back then to recognize how selfish he was. Maybe I’d been blinded by love. The shades, though, had come off, and I would no longer be fooled by him. Or any man.
