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I had to get the hell out of there.
When Todd ignored her, it pissed me off. When he paid attention to her, I wanted to yank him away. The only thing that made it enjoyable, aside from seeing Grandpa enjoying himself, was being near Lana.
If Todd hadn’t been there, I could have pretended they weren’t together. I might have made it through the day that way.
“I need to meet Brent at the bar, but I had a great time, Grandpa”, I said, giving him a hug. It felt like shit to leave early, but it was better than staying there watching Todd kiss Lana. The guilt of leaving was better than that, by a mile.
“Can you get him settled?” I asked Todd, who was already on his phone.
Todd nodded but held his finger to his lips so I wouldn’t interrupt his conversation. Probably his drug dealer again. I wanted to slap the phone right out of his hand, but I bit my lip and turned to Lana instead.
“It was great to see you again.” I put my hand on her shoulder, realizing I hadn’t thought about what she might need. “Do you need any help getting James back and settled?”
It might have been wishful thinking on my part. But I thought she looked disappointed. “No, I’ve got it. You go on to your meeting.”
“It can wait, if you need some help.” Damn it, why didn’t I ask before I said I had to go? “A few minutes won’t matter.”
“I’m fine. But thanks. And Todd’s here.” She took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. I think she knew Todd might as well not have even been there. She gave me her sweet little smile. “Really great to see you too.”
I walked to my car, pissed at myself. But mostly pissed at Todd because it seemed like he didn’t appreciate how lucky he was to have a woman like Lana.
* * *
“What do you think?” Brent asked, pushing some glossy photographs toward me, then combing his fingers into his beard. “I know it doesn’t look like much, but this would be the taproom, and this could be a place for merchandising, where we sell T-shirts, can cozies, keychains, that type of thing.”
We sat at my bar, Brent with his file folder of photos and documents spread out in front of him. He’d taken photos of a property that he thought would be perfect for the brewery we’d been talking about opening for months.
“Looks promising,” I said, wishing my heart was actually in the conversation.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about Lana and how good she’d looked in the park. How great it had felt to be near her again.
How pissed I was that Todd was dating her.
It should have been me.
Fingers snapped in front of my face, startling me back to the present moment. “Yo, Jakey. Am I losing you?” Brent asked with a laugh.
“Sorry man. Been a long day.”
“Clearly. How’s he doing?” Brent asked.
He obviously thought it had been long because of my grandpa. I’d known Brent most of my life, and I’d told him about Grandpa’s slowly failing memory. He’d even gone with me a couple of times to visit.
“About as you’d expect. Really good spirits though. He was fine.” I took a long drink of beer and sighed. “Todd and his—his girlfriend were there too. And her grandpa.”
Brent nodded knowingly. I hadn’t really told him about Lana. But he knew Todd almost as well as he knew me. “He showing his ass?” Brent said with a smirk.
I shrugged. “Isn’t that what little brothers do? Let me see those other pictures again.”
I shuffled through the photographs, wanting to change the subject and get my mind off Todd and Lana. Unfortunately, another subject I didn’t want to talk about came up.
“How soon do you think it’ll be before the divorce is final?” Brent asked. “Not to push or anything. I know it sucks. But I also know you can’t really invest in this until you know how the numbers are going to come out.”
I raked my fingers through my hair. “I’d really hoped I wouldn’t have to sell this bar, but my wife’s lawyer is apparently more skilled than mine.”
We both had a bitter laugh about that. Brent had been divorced for a year. He knew what it was like to get raked over the coals.
“Until the sale’s in-progress, probably with a final offer on the table, I don’t really know what I have to play with. I can’t pin my banker down until I know where I’ll stand. I know I can get the financing, just not how much.”
