"It's 'spill' the tea, Grandpa."
I bite my lip to hold back a smile. My fucking kid, God, he's the best.
Addie doesn't hold back, though. She doubles over in laughter, then high-fives Coop.
"The tea, Mom. Spill it."
"Kevin—" I start.
"Fucking Kevin," Addie and Cooper say in unison, and then they high five again.
"I can't with you two," I say, pointing my finger at them. "You are a bad influence on him," I tell Addie through a laugh.
She waggles her eyebrows at me, and I can only shake my head. There's a reason she's my best friend, even though sometimes itseems as if we're polar opposites. She gets me, even if she doesn't always understand. Somehow she tends to know exactly what the moment needs, like now.
"As I was saying, Kevin…" I pause, waiting for the inevitable interruption, but it doesn't come. "He was in rare form last night. Hitting the hard stuff and hitting it hard."
"That's not like him," Addie says, for Mateo's benefit, I assume.
"Right, like normally it's only beer, and he's a dick, but nothing I can't handle. So he was hitting it hard, and I told Janessa to cut him off, but she never fucking listens."
"So how did you get fired? If she was the one not doing her job?" Cooper asks.
"Janessa is Gus' niece," Addie answers for me.
"That's all beside the point," I say. "It's what happened next. I wasn't behind the bar."
Addie and Coop both groan.
"Right? I should've known where the night would go. It was a sign, and I didn't listen." I pause and take a breath. "So anyway, I was working tables last night, and the asshole thought it'd be a great idea to grab my ass."
"Oh, that's really not like him," Addie says, taking a swig of her beer.
"Right? He always talks a big game, but he's always been pretty harmless. Albeit annoying as fuck."
"If he touched you, why are you the one getting fired?" Mateo asks. He leans forward in his chair, his lips pulled into a grim line. The look doesn't sit right with his normal demeanor.
"Well, that's the thing, I'm a 'touch me and I swing' person. So he touched me, I swung. He got a steak for his eye, and I got an escort out the door."
"Dude," Addie says, jumping out of her chair. "Was it worth it?" Her eyes are wide in the fire's light, and I can't help but wonder how many drinks she had before we got here tonight. Do I need to be concerned? Or am I reading too much into it?
She stares at me, eyebrows raised.
Was it worth it? I've been asking myself the same question and still don't know the answer. I protected myself the only way I knew how, but I also jeopardized providing for my son and myself.
"Well, I don't have a job anymore. So there's that," I say.
Mateo leans back and holds his hands in the air. "Not making an excuse for him, but um, his Ex-Step-Wife had her baby yesterday."
Laughter bubbles out of me. I shouldn't be laughing at someone else's misfortune, but my God.
"I'm sorry," Addie says. "Ex-stepwife?"
"Ex-stepwife?" Cooper repeats, a crinkle in his forehead. I can see the wheels turning in that too-smart brain of his, trying to solve the conundrum laid out before him.
"Explain, before my kid combusts, please," I tell Mateo.
He sips from a bottle of water and then pulls out his phone, tapping at the screen.
