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“What are you doing here, Grey?”

With my hands in my lap, I looked up towards her

“Guess I’ that vodka after all, am I?”

She pursed her lips in displeasure “No Now, out with it Why are you here?”

“What?” I replied “Can’t I pay a visit to ood friend?"

As I spoke, Katy’s hair bounced fro down at ave her away She’d already spoken to Maddie about what happened between us Well, if nothing else I could save so into a whole back story with her

“What did you expect her to say, Grey?”

“Yes?” I replied with a rising tone “What the hell kind of question is that, Katy? Why wouldn’t she want to marry me?”

Katy didn’t respond but instead let out a deep exhale She passed bya seat in a chair to my left As she did, she swept her skirt under her rear and crossed her legs, turning her upper body towards mine

“Grey,” she began “You really can’t be this much of an idiot Rich, successful, worldly? It’s not possible You couldn’t have done a much worse job of this if you tried”

Leaning away froust as she continued to chastise me

“You cannot deation you have”

I shook , Katy This is a ‘no lose’ deal for Maddie And the baby”

“Grey, Jesus!” she said as she lifted both aret it? This is not a ‘deal’ Okay? Can you just, for once in your life, not see everything in ter?”

Scowling, I sunk back into the chair Katy’s expression conveyed sincerity and while she enuous wasn’t one of them I chewed the inside of my lip for moment or two as we looked at one another in silence Overhead, the florescent lighting buzzed as I stared at her

“All right,” I began “Fine I’ Explain this to me"

Katy remained silent for several in

“Let’s just get this over with, Katy” I said, interrupting her self-imposed trance

Katy nodded and flashed a curt smile of uncertainty to her lips before she started to speak

“It’s like this, Grey,” she began “Maddie doesn’t want to beto do’, and she certainly doesn’t want to be a pawn in your fae is about the love two people share You do understand the difference don’t you?”

I shook et oddamned time for ‘love’, and more than half wind up divorced anyway I never said I didn’t care about her I do I care about Maddie in a deep way”

“Mested I hadn’t done a good enough job of explaining et my point across

“Ito be married to e any of the other things that happen because of it In other words, I’ care of her and the baby, and she’s still helping randfather’s will It seeame of semantics to me”

“That’s just it, Grey,” she said, as she reached across and wrapped her hand around my forearm “It makes all the difference in the world”

I scoffed “So, what? So none of the other thingsto do what needs to be done to care for her and my child? That’s all a load of shit?”

Katy shook her head “No, I never said it was, Grey You’re doing the honorable thing No one is disputing that at all It’s just that, well, the way you’re going about it is wrong”

We all odda scolded or corrected by Maddie’se of my tolerance for bullshit But before I could reply and tell her what I thought of all her nonsense, she continued

“If you love her, then do this the right way, Grey Don’ther a favor for God’s sake Do you have any idea how utterly unro like that is?”