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“Then what’ll I do?”
“Get another one?” I nodded, sure I’d made my point despite her lack of response. But I selected my next cut carefully, choosing the more tender side of the ribeye so I wouldn’t have to chew too long in case she came at me with another question.
“It’s not that simple, Ryan.”
“Why not?” I barely caught the bit of meat that tried to fly out of my mouth. She noticed because she smiled, and instead of being embarrassed, I was glad it happened. I hoped she’d smile again.
“I’m new. Not a lot of companies welcome people who don’t have a long list of businesses they’ve helped scale to expectations. All I have on my resume is a mom-and-pop, and they didn’t want to do anything but have someone posting on their social media with pictures of their dog running around the store.”
“Are they good pictures?”
She laughed softly, but it wasn’t as genuine as the one from earlier. “Not something I’d make a living selling prints of. I helped out with their SEO and, of course, did a lot more than post dog photos, but they weren’t looking to expand. Just to remind people they were there.”
I chewed the leaner bite slowly, clutching the knife and fork as I stared at the single bulb dangling a foot or two above our heads. Wasn’t she someone I needed for my business? I wasn’t sure how weird it would be to hire someone I was sleeping with—slept with—but if she needed a job, I had one.
“You didn’t answer when I asked if you were okay.”
The offer died on my tongue as my thoughts drifted back to the reality I was returning to once she and I said our goodbyes. I felt like I could trust her. Like she would be honest and tell me the truth. Once I told her everything, though, our fun would end.
“I told you about Darlene. Somewhat. Did I mention how we met?”
She shook her head; her lips pursed softly as she waited.
I nodded at my plate and cut my next bite of meat. She took that moment to finally bite into her sandwich. Her face scrunched with the crunching sound of toasted bread, and I couldn’t help smiling at how she chewed the large bite. “Good?”
She nodded, but she blinked around another mouthful as if to tell me to continue.
“We met in high school in Waco. Normal stuff. Had a class or two together. We became friends but didn’t start dating until college. She was getting into pharmaceuticals—selling medicine and junk to doctors—so she wasn’t in college long, but I quit before the first year. Just wasn’t my thing.”
“You said you worked for a corporation?”
“Yeah.” I leaned back in my seat, dusting off my shirt, only to realize nothing was even on it. “Just sales stuff. I was a pretty good talker. Didn’t sell a lot, but whatever. Paid the bills. She moved to Dallas with me. It was a bigger town, bigger clientele.”
Christie nodded as if she understood something.
“Darlene supported me when I made the move. Worked at a branch here until I didn’t, but when we had James, she worked less and less until it was all on me.”
“Well, she had to, didn’t she?” Christie asked. “Someone had to take care of him.”
“Yeah, but after a while, it was more about what she was doing and what I wasn’t. I didn’t get much of a chance. I wasn’t absent if that’s what you’re thinking—”
“I wasn’t.”
“—I just ended up having to work a lot to stay steady. And living here is expensive as hell.” I shook my head. I couldn’t make more excuses. “When I started the landscaping stuff, we fell behind on bills, but even when we caught up, there just wasn’t enough time, you know? Always so much work, and I didn’t want to turn anything down. I didn’t want us to go back to not paying bills, not even for a moment. It was pressure. I don’t do well with pressure.”
“And you feel like Darlene pressured you?”
“We did a lot of dumb things before we were ready. Not that I’d ever regret James—I don’t. I love my boy. But I spent a lot of time buying and then keeping us in a house, furniture, a nice, safe car for her and the kid, clothes, and now that we’re divorced, she gets to keep it all, and she’s moved on to someone else. That’s fine. I don’t care, but she will not let it go. It’s still about making me look like a horrible father, and I’m tired of it.” My chest filled with the anger I’d suppressed all evening. “I just want to be there for my kid, but she never lets me forget how often I screw that up, and I’m tired, just so fucking tired of her shit and her lying and—I’ll take her through hell in court before I let her take James from me.”
I saw it in her eyes before I realized what I’d said. Shock, wonder, confusion. I’d put a lot on her with that last part, but that was what it boiled down to. The thought of suing James’s mother bothered me. I still hadn’t finished discussing it all with Jerry. But more and more, I felt like I could win this, and not knowing her next moves made me feel like I didn’t have much choice.
Christie still hadn’t said a thing. The weight of her gaze made me feel small, almost nonexistent, but I couldn’t figure out why. “She’s given me so much hell for not having time, but Christie, you don’t understand. She’s been playing everyone. Even her new boyfriend, she’s cheating on him. I’ve been finding more dirt on her just in the past few days that I—”
“Dirt?” Her condescending tone made me cringe. “Are you serious, Ryan?” Her tone softened, and I shoved back the fighting voice that seemed to instinctively rise to the surface. “There has to be another way, Ryan. I can’t imagine she’d want to take James away from you.”
I scoffed. “Why, because you know her?”
Then it hit me. The guilty look forcing her attentive gaze to the table made me wonder, but she’d picked up her fork quickly like she was going to take a bite—of what, her sandwich? But how would that even be possible unless...
