Page 27 of Scout Takes the Lead
“No, that’s the other good thing. I’m the assistant manager at a club in Miami now, in Wynwood. A really happening neighborhood, busy all the time.”
“That probably takes up a lot of your time,” I said. “I hope things keep going well for you. I really need to finish my shopping.”
“Wait, Grace. Can we have a drink sometime? For old times’ sake?”
Garrett and I went to bed after the second date, and the sex was explosive. He was a skilled lover, which should have been another red light. A guy who’s had a lot of practice is probably someone who jumps from girl to girl. But Garrett was totally attentive to me. We texted off and on during the day and I drove over to the casino to see him on his breaks. We often found ourselves stuck away in a back corridor making out. I felt wild and carefree with him. Until the first time he slapped me during sex. “Hey,” I said. “I don’t like that.”
“Sorry, I don’t know where that came from,” he said. “My bad.”
That was the beginning of the end. Garrett began to get very possessive, wanting to know where I was all the time. He installed an app on my iPhone called “Find My,” so that he could see where I was.
One day I told him about an older man, a very successful businessman, who needed help training his beagle, which is the most headstrong breed I’ve ever worked with. I tried to explain about the dog’s behavior, but all Garrett wanted to know was if the client was handsome, if he was rich, if he had an expensive car. “Do you want to date him?” he asked. “Yuck. He’s like fifty years old.”
“Some women like that. Being arm candy to a rich guy.” From then on, any time I ever mentioned a guy whose dog I was training, he got very jealous, sure that I was having sex with the guy instead of working with the dog.
The last straw was when he tried to restrain me when we were having sex. I was tired, and he’d already come once, and I wanted to stop, but he held me down. He wasn’t all that strong, not as muscular as Alex, but he was still stronger than I was. I began to get a panic attack, wondering if this was the way my parents had interacted. I was determined not to fall into that trap. That gave me the strength to push off him.
“I can’t do this,” I said. “I don’t like being pushed around, I don’t like feeling that you have me on a lead. We’re done.”
As soon as I got home, I deleted the Find My app from my phone. But he kept calling and texting me, until I blocked his number.
“I’ve changed, really,” he said. “I wish you’d give me another chance.”
I looked at him. He was still handsome and charming, and I was glad things were looking up for him. But he was working at a nightclub, which meant he’d be exposed to a lot of other women, many of them beautiful. He was starting a whole new life, and I didn’t see myself in it.
“I don’t think so, Garrett. But I wish you a lot of luck.”
I pushed my cart away, and he didn’t follow me.
I needed some bottled water, but when I got to that aisle my hands were shaking, and I abandoned my cart and headed for the door. I didn’t see Garrett or Lily again.
When my mother was younger, she was a smart, sexy Latina, willing to leave her island behind to get an education and make a new life for herself. I know that’s what attracted my father to her. He was an ordinary-looking guy, only about five-seven with blonde hair that was already thinning in his twenties. In pictures of them as a young couple, you can see how proud he is to have snared such a beautiful woman. And she was happy to have found a hard-working man who would take care of her and her children. She’d experienced economic hardship in Puerto Rico and was happy to put it behind her.
Back then I thought it was magnetism. My dad loved to be touching my mom—-holding her hand, or his arm around her shoulders or her waist. I thought that was love, but maybe it was possessiveness. He recognized how beautiful she was and wanted to make sure that the world knew she was his.
I didn’t want to be anyone’s possession. I hadn’t dated anyone since Garrett. Alex was the first guy I had any real interest in. But was he another heartbreak in the making? He was strong enough to hold me down if he wanted. And he was broken, and maybe he couldn’t be fixed by a service dog and some therapy. Did I want to open myself up to that kind of drama again?
I called Becca as soon as I left the grocery. “You busy? Want to go for a walk?”
“Perfect timing,” she said. “I’ve been obsessing over a sestina and I can’t find a good word that rhymes with randy and I need to take a break.” She sighed. “I probably just need to get laid. But a walk will help.”
“Bring the boys,” I said.
I picked her up a few minutes later and we drove over to South Lake, near the Somogyis’ house. Dogs weren’t allowed on the Broadwalk, the paved walkway that runs along the beach. Since I’d met Garrett there I didn’t want to go back there immediately after seeing him.
“I saw Garrett today at the Publix,” I said, as she climbed into my car. She had Navajo in his carrying pouch and Henry in her arms.
“OMG,” she said.
“Exactly. He told me he’s changed, and he asked me out again.”
She turned to me after she closed the door and fastened her seat belt. “What did you say?”
“No. But it freaked me out. I had to get out of there as soon as possible.”
“Did he have Lily with him? She’s such a sweet dog.”
“He did, even though he shouldn’t. He told me that his parents had brought in some cousins from Hong Kong to run the restaurant, and he’s working at a nightclub in Wynwood.”
