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“I don’t want that,” he said.

“Yes, you do. You proved it tonight, again. The situations keep coming up, and I keep letting them go, and now I’m finished. The wedding is off. Tell your brother not to cut into your mother’s wedding dress because this girl isn’t wearing it.”

Standing with his mouth agape, Maggie’s words stunned Justin.

“Go away. Sleep above the barn tonight, or go home to your dad. I don’t want you around me.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“One hundred percent. The longer you stand there, the angrier I’m getting.”

“Let me get some clothes, and I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“No, I want to be free to come downstairs without having you make me feel like shit about myself.”

“Is that what I do to you?” he asked.

“When you disregard my feelings in favor of spending time with Amber, yes, you make me feel like shit.”

“That is not my intention, Maggie. She means nothing to me.”

“You don’t want me monitoring your every moveisn’t that what you said?”

“I didn’t mean it that way. You embarrassed me out there.”

“Ha! I embarrassed you, did I? Get out, Justin.”

She waited for him to make a move, and getting his clothes out of their shared bedroom was not an option.

“Never mind,” he said, grabbing his truck keys off the key hook.

She watched him leave, and a tiny smidgen of regret hit her, but she ignored it. If he picked up Amber and had a go at her again, it was better for it to happen now than after the wedding Maggie really didn’t want.

***

Car lights and a diesel engine got Vic’s attention. He was fixing himself a snack of cheese and pepperoni when the gate opened and Justin’s truck came through. The gate closed automatically when Justin pulled into the lot and shut the lights off.

“Pop, you up?” he called out.

“I’m up, eating and drinking, my single-person behavior. I read that’s what it is called.”

“Yes, and I’m going to do the same. Maggie kicked me out, so I’m spending the night here, if it’s okay.”

“Son, don’t leave her.”

“Nah, that’s okay. I could have stayed in the apartment, but the satellite isn’t hooked up yet, and I want to watch Naked and Afraid.”

They both barked out a laugh at that.

“What do you have to eat?”

“Everything,” Vic said. “After Rose said she wasn’t coming back, I ran up to Spencer’s and got all the high-cholesterol food she won’t let me eat.”

“That and beer. I’ll regret it tomorrow, but too bad. You got any sweatpants I can wear? I’ll wear scrubs in the office.”

“You know where to look. But you probably have something in your old room,” Vic said, taking his tray of food and placing it on the coffee table. He aimed the remote at the TV and prepared to watch Naked and Afraid, also his favorite.

Justin found that in his old bedroom, nothing had changed. He flipped on the bedside lamp, a carved wooden cowboy on horseback, the horse up on his hind legs, the cowboy holding his hat in a frozen wave while the other hand held the reins. The reins were leather shoestrings. Justin remembered his mother replacing the reins when their old house cat, Browser, chewed them apart. The current reins had signs that the cat had attempted to bite through them, as well.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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