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Lexie
“Thank you,Eric and Lexie. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Garrison held open the door to his shop for us. We’d dropped off a second load of dog food for the day after an emergency call around lunchtime that he had sold out of what we’d brought that morning.
He was quickly becoming our biggest customer.
“Let us know if we need to pare down your order since we brought extra this afternoon.” It was a stupid thing for a businesswoman to say, but profit wasn’t everything. I didn’t want to sell Garrison product he didn’t need.
“The way this is selling, we’ll need to double it.”
I gulped. We were going to need a bigger kitchen. And more hours in the day.
If you dictated the schedule, you could streamline the process.
Lincoln’s words came back as a big fat I-told-you-so to kick me in the pants. I shoved them out of my head and smiled.
“Just text me.”
“Why? You don’t answer your phone.”
My skin crawled. I didn’t want to turn around. Didn’t want to face the man I hadn’t seen in seven years.
“Or does she answer yours?” The voice was nasty, accusatory.
Garrison appeared taken aback.
“Bitch probably picks up on the first ring ’cause you got money.”
Oh no. How did he find us?
I whipped around. “That’s enough.” I glanced back at Garrison. “I’m sorry.”
He nodded and ducked back into the safety of his shop.
“Dad?” Eric stepped closer. “Did you get my letter?”
“No, shit for brains. I didn’t get your letter.”
My hand flew before I could think. The slap connected with my father’s cheek so hard, his head turned.
His eyes widened and then he laughed. “You are your mama’s daughter.” He rubbed his cheek.
My hand shook. “Let’s go, Eric.” I took him by the elbow, but he remained rooted in place.
“You’re not going anywhere with my son.” His tone was back to acid and it stopped me cold.
“You no longer have any children.”
Save your breath, Lexie. It’s pointless.
“Not sure that’s what the state of New York thinks.”
“Stay away from us.” I tugged on Eric’s elbow and thankfully he followed me.
I wobbled as we walked the short distance to the van.
“Shit for brains. Shit for brains.”
