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“Can’t or won’t?” She scowls “You knohat? That’s fine You’re obviously not the kind of guy I thought you were”
She roceries and takes a seat on the steps of the s the n to let in some fresh air Already, I fe
el the effects of the energy shot kicking in The twitchy fingers The racing thoughts
Don’t look at her, I tell et back on the road
But as I shift into reverse, ged with her shoes off Even fro her as she rubs them
I’ barefoot in the grass After ot a job with a real estate co places I put on a suit and traded nized me when I came back for Christmas
That was the last timeeach other before a heart attack took him out
Jack had the nerve to show up at my dad’s funeral, with his wife and kid in tow He tried talking toaift toa scene, and that’s when I noticed Jack’s little girl playing by herself on the lawn, not ten feet away froe, with big feet and unruly hair the color of almond skin I watched as she peeled off her shoes and socks and thought, soirl But she wasn’tto sit with her in the grass, I got in my Lexus and drove off
Which is exactly what I need to be doing now
Shaking off thelot
My pulse gallops as I lean on the gas Trees fly past in a blur I crackof the drive A ht surfaces like words whispered in my ear What if you hadn’t driven off?
What if I had sat down in the grass across froirl and introduced myself? What if I’d helped her with her shoes, taken her hand, walked her back inside, and listened to what her dad had to tell s up
Or, maybe I could’ve been there for him when he needed me
When I asked Jack Benson’s lawyer how my old friend had died, the lawyer said he’d been killed in a bank holdup Apparently, the killer was still at large, as were his accomplices
There’s no guarantee that things would’ve gone down differently had I been there Maybe we’d both be dead right now But growing up, nobody ever tried to fuck with Jack, because they knew if they did, they’d have to fuck with er I’d coher part of tohere I’d learned early on how to throw a punch, and more importantly, how to take one