Page 132 of Don't Go Faking My Heart

Granny Belle shrugs. "You're in love with her. Of course you hate her ex."

"And rumor has it," Mrs. Beaty says, "he was a manipulative S.O.B."

"But I wanted to hurt him."

Mrs. Beaty studies me. "Are we talking torture or socking him in the jaw? Those are two very different things."

"I did punch him."

"In the ice rink," Lola Nina says.

"No, here, too!"

Granny Belle shimmies like she's reading a steamy novel. "Ooh, I heard about that! He grabbed Ms. Ashley and you taught him never to grab a lady."

"Especially yours," Mrs. Beaty says suggestively. "Romantic."

"It's not romantic! I wanted to hurt him!"

They all look at me. "So?" Lola Nina asks. "I almost ran Rose here off the road tonight for taking too long at the stop sign."

"We drove here together," Mrs. Beaty says. "But she's right. We all get angry. It's what you do with your anger that matters. And from where I'm sittin', you don't do much."

"You don't understand. When Teddy humiliated Ash at the chamber of commerce meeting, I intimidated him. I threatened him."

Mrs. Beaty rolls her eyes. "I'm gettin' bored, sugar. I'm not sayin' you don't have a protective streak, because you do. But I've taught enough boys and known enough men to know you're not an exception. Didn't Tripp try to lay Teddy out for what he said about Jane? And wasn't he out on the ice with you pushing and shoving your girl's rotten ex?"

"Sure, but?—"

"But nothing." Mrs. Beaty takes a long sip of her drink.

"Work on it," Granny Belle says. "If you think you're too overprotective, go see someone about it. Join one of the groups at church and talk about it. But think about something, young man. Everyone you 'threatened' was tryin' to make your girl feel small or tryin' to hurt someone you love. You were protecting the vulnerable. Arlo, on the other hand, targeted them. He preyed on them."

Mrs. Beaty nods. "Big difference."

"The only thing you have in common with Arlo," Granny Belle says, "is DNA. And you share a lot of that with a banana, too."

Maybe it's the fact that these women have all tutored and taught me at pivotal times in my life—elementary school learning I have dyslexia and getting the resources I needed; high school and having a teacher believe in me and push me into college; grieving my sister's death and receiving the support at church that helped me keep going—but it's impossible not to listen.

It's impossible not to … not to …

Believe them.

I actually believe them.

"I'm nothing like Arlo," I say. I start weeping. "Nothing."

All three of them wrap their arms around me and let me cry.

"Such a good boy," Mrs. Beaty says.

I laugh. "Thanks. I try."

When I've cried myself empty, Lola Nina wipes my face with the napkin. "Now don't you have a woman to go kiss and make up with?"

"One of her friends is going through something. I'll give her some time?—"

Granny Belle gives an eye roll worthy of a GIF. "Sugar, enough. You've punched every spot on your Good Guy card. You get a free pass."

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