Page 4 of Without You

She falters, her smile dropping for a second before it’s back.

“Let’s just get on with this, shall we? You need money? Is that why you’re here?”

What a bitch. Johnny actually coughs the word behind me. She knows damn good and well I might not be in the tax bracket that she wanted so desperately to live in — or, wasn’t, anyway — but I make pretty good money and bonus for me? It started with me. No money backing me when I decided I wanted to open my own shop. No daddy’s inheritance to get me started. I worked my fingers to the bone working construction, roofing, laying cement — whatever it took — by day and as a mechanic at night. I took on side jobs and did them in my own garage for over ten years, not getting to sleep until the early hours of the morning, only to have to be up and alert by six ready to do it all over again.

“Yeah. That’s it. I’m praying that you kept a spare twenty in your wedding dress and I came over here to see if you could give it to me. Fuck no, I don’t need money.”

She rolls her eyes and scoffs. “Right. So what is it then?”

“I wanted to congratulate you, like I said.”

I’m being aloof only to piss her off further. I might have started it but her snarky comment about me needing money then her clear dismissal of me saying I don’t need it pissed me off, too. Eye for an eye, I guess you could say. We were always pretty good at that. Growing up the poor kids in a rich kid town, we knew how to use our words to get our point across if someone was making fun of us.

“Thanks, man. Appreciate it.” Cameron swallows hard after saying those four words, like he just poked a bear and is terrified of the ramifications of it. Another glaringly obvious difference between us. I would have said it along with a satisfied smirk knowing that I was getting to the girl. Cameron’s voice trembled.

I glance at Hannah but her mask doesn’t cover the twinge of annoyance that brought her. It almost brings me a bit of happiness, but I’m a big enough person to admit that I don’t want her settling. Cameron might bring her financial stability, but I pray there’s more to it than that.

Looking behind me, Johnny nods once, encouraging me to do what I set out to do. He now has a plate in his hands, too. Johnny lifts his fork in my direction and says around a mouthful of food, “Chad was right. This is fucking delicious. You need some before we leave.”

I shake my head and turn around.

“Hannah.”

“Brody.”

“Congratulations on your wedding.” I wonder if she realizes that I said wedding and not marriage. Because that’s what she’s all about. The show. The party. Not what comes after.

“You said that already!” she shouts.

Several times, actually. Just to annoy her. It worked, too. Looks like after all these years, I still know how to set her off. “I know. I know. I just… I also needed to tell you thank you.”

“Thank you?” she asks, skeptically.

“Yeah. Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Well, you see, since I wasn’t distracted by you, I focused on my work.”

She rolls her eyes. “Oh, good. Your fabulous job as a mechanic. Bless your heart.” She giggles like she just really dug in there. She says the word mechanic like it’s a curse word. What she doesn’t realize, is that not a single other person in this room is laughing with her. Not even Cameron’s seemingly stuffy family. She’s only acting like a snob and no one missed it.

“That’s right. My job as a lowly mechanic. The one that I’m so damn good at, it caught the attention of this fancy shmancy big wig,” I say, letting my southern twang really hit home. If she thinks I’m nothing more than a redneck hillbilly, I can act the part. I shrug as if I’m stupid. “They used a lotta big words I didn’t really understand but I signed the contract anyway.”

Oh, that gets her attention. Her back goes straight and she narrows her eyes. “Contract?”

“The one with lotsa numbers. Yeah. I don’t really know what I signed, since I’m a hick, and all, but hopefully that doesn’t bite me in the ass.”

“Cut the crap, Brody. What contract?”

Chad and Johnny chuckle behind me. “She’s about to blow, my friend. Better wrap it up so we can get on with our night celebrating.”

“Celebrating what?” she huffs, irritated with me. I’m not even embarrassed to say that it makes me a little happy.

I look at my friends briefly and then a quick glance at Katie because I can’t seem to take my eyes off her. She smiles and I want to say screw it, drop the microphone, grab her hand and drag her out of here so she can join us for the night. But that’s not why I’m here. And I know that will only cause problems. Or… more problems, anyway.

“Seems like you’re right, boys. All right.” I take a deep breath and look to Hannah and hold her eyes so I know she’s paying attention to what I’m about to say. Thinking about the song, I take a few steps and steal Cameron’s glass of champagne and lift it to my lips, chugging down half of it before returning to my spot by the guys. “Ahh. Good booze, Hannah.”

Her jaw clenches and eyes narrow. “Okay, okay. I’ll get on with it so you can get on with your night. I just wanted to let you know, before you saw it somewhere else, life might get a little crazy around here. For me, anyway. You see, I did some work for a guy who spread the word to some of his friends. Seems as though these friends have quite deep pockets. The Nashville kind of deep pockets. They started talking, think my work needs to happen on their trucks and whatever else they drive. The vehicles that end up in their country music videos.”

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