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Dino scoffed. “Leave you be? Then why the heck did you even bother coming out tonight?” Dino finished off his whiskey and cola and slammed the glass down on the bar, clearly pissed that his best friend wasn’t in the mood for fun. “I always thought you and Lorelei had this perfect thing going,” Dino said. “I thought you two were one of the lucky couples. I guess I was fuckin’ wrong about that. What’s she done, eh? She screwing someone else?”
That hit too close to home. Vince shook his head, barely able to contain his rage. “You leave her out of this. This has nothing to do with my wife. She’s an angel sent from the heavens.”
Dino’s right eyebrow rose, causing a rush of wrinkles to break out across his skin. Clearly, he wasn’t impressed with that statement. “You’ve had too much to drink,” Dino said gently. “Listen to the way you’re talking.”
“Piss off,” Vince muttered. “You don’t know shit.”
“What is wrong with you? I’m actually startin’ to worry.”
“Nothing,” Vince’s voice squeaked as he tried not to break.
Dino hunched over the bar and looked into Vince’s eyes.
“It’s fine,” Vince sighed. “Just drop it.”
“You gotta let it out. It’s eating you up inside, brother.”
Vince took a deep breath, steadying himself. Dino wasn’t going to give up. That was one of his best and worst qualities. No matter what you wanted, he was going to chase what he was interested in.
“We’ve been seeing this girl,” Vince admitted.
“We?” Dino asked.
“Yes. Claire. She’s great; we’ve been having fun.”
“Both of you?” Dino asked. “You …andLorelei?”
“Yes. But Claire’s mother found out about everything and she’s taking Claire across the country.”
“Wait,” Dino said slowly. “Wait a second. Is she underage?”
“No. She’s eighteen. But her mother is paying for her college, and she’s decided to move her away so we can’t be together.”
“Jesus frickin’ Christ.”
For a moment, Dino stared at the back of the bar. Vince kept his head down as he watched his best friend wrap his head around it.
“Are you for real?” he asked suddenly. “Or is this one of your weird jokes I don’t get?”
“For real,” Vince said.
“Jesus.” Dino sighed before downing his whiskey. “If having a side chick is so important, why not get another girl?”
Vince stared at him. “It’s not like that,” he said harshly. “I can’t just go out and find someone else. It’s …”
“Complicated,” Dino answered for him. “Got it.”
“I just miss her,” Vince said. “Lorelei misses her. It’s been an awful couple of weeks.”
“Has this Claire left yet?”
“I don’t know. I’ve not heard from her. She could be anywhere. We just don’t know.”
“I mean,” Dino started, before pausing to let out a huge gust of air, “if her mother is taking her away, there’s not a lot you can do, is there?”
Vince shook his head. “She was going to live with us. We were going to pay for her college so she could be local but Claire’s mom got scared and put a stop to everything.”
“She’s eighteen,” Dino said. “If it’s what she wants, she’ll find a way to come back.”
