Page 48 of Reformation

I jolt out of bed at the sound of fists on my front door. I’ve never been a heavy sleeper, another byproduct of my wonderful childhood, and I reach to grab the baseball bat as I check the time.

Three in the morning. Who in the heck is knocking on my door at three in the morning?

Could it be? Did she also figure out where I live?

No. No way. And plus, even if she did, I doubt she’d be polite enough to knock on the door before she blew my life up.

I approach the door, bat in hand, but take a look out of my peephole.

And that’s when my heart breaks.

Garrett. Standing on my front porch. Looking more defeated than I’ve ever seen a man look.

I hurry up, put the bat down and open the door.

“Garrett? What are you doing here?”

I take that back. This is the moment my heart breaks.

“They were fucking when I was in the hospital.”

I don’t even ask another question, instead, reaching for his arm to bring him into my house.

“What do you need?”

“Nothing. I came packing.” He holds up a bottle of scotch that I didn’t even realize he had. After he plops down on the couch mid-drink, I realize that he’s probably had more than a few swigs of it.

“Are you drunk?”

“I’m not drunk. I’m pissed. And… and a little drunk.”

I go into the kitchen to get us each a glass of water. I had wanted to stay with him tonight after he dropped me off, but considering he didn’t say a single word to me the entire way home, I figured he needed to be left alone.

Once I realized what was going on at the restaurant, the next few minutes were a blur. Garrett stormed off, and I was honestly shocked that he was still there when I got to the parking lot. I was on “watch Charlie duty” as Mark settled the bill. I made sure she didn’t physically go over to Trevor and Annika and kill them with her bare hands, but I did hear all the ways that she wanted to hurt them.

Again, I really need to ask her what she does for a living.

I sit down next to him and put the glasses of water on the coffee table in front of us. “Tell me what happened.”

Over the course of the next hour, I finally get everything out of him. That he went to the office to see what he could find. The texts. The receipts. The photos.

“I almost died, Paige. I almost fucking died. And two of the people who were supposed to be there for me were screwing behind my back. How fucked up is that?”

“I don’t have words, Garrett. I am so, so sorry.”

It’s the truth. I don’t have words. What Trevor and Annika did to him is horrible, and that’s without the fact that during the start of their affair he was in a hospital, recovering from a surgery that was needed to save his life.

I take his hand because I don’t know what else to do right now. I stare at our fingers, now laced together, and wish I could come up with something to help him through this. I’m a helper. A fixer. I want to do everything in my power to make people’s lives better. But right now, I don’t know what I can do.

When I look back up at him, it hurts my heart. Tears are forming in his eyes, and I know he’s doing everything in his power to hold them back.

“Let it go, Garrett. It’s me. You’re safe. I’m here for you.”

And he does. This man… this successful, gorgeous man who has taken his second chance at life and made something amazing out of it, is crumbling in front of me. I doubt the old Garrett would have felt this much. This Garrett is vulnerable and caring.

Which is why this breaks my heart even more.

“This is some fucked-up karma, isn’t it?” he says, wiping away the tears. “Because I cheated on Michelle, this is karma getting her payback on me?”

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