Page 3 of A Case of You
She frequently came over to the house to have dinner or spend time with them as a family, usually once or twice a week. She wasn’t dating now, trying to regain her sense of self and desperate not to make the same mistake she’d made after Brandon had divorced her.
When he emerged from the bathroom, he grabbed a jacket and had Emma walk with him to the front door, since he needed her to move her car anyway. “You and Grace help Stuart keep Jeff in bed when Nate’s done with him, okay?”
“Will do, Dad. He’s really bad today, isn’t he?”
“Yeah. Maybe watch TV in there with him or something after Nate’s done, huh? I don’t even want him out on the couch.”
“We’ll think of something.”
He kissed her forehead. “Thanks, kiddo. Why don’t you go ahead and park behind Stuart, since you leave before him?”
She grabbed her keys and headed out to move her car. Jeff’s truck always sat parked close to the house, since he didn’t have to go to work now. Emma usually parked behind someone else, so she could get out when she had to leave at the asscrack of dawn for her swim practice. Brandon sometimes had to leave before Stuart, depending on which store he had to go to on any given day. He was a district manager for a large bulk warehouse chain and oversaw five stores between Sarasota and Ft. Myers.
As Brandon drove toward I-75, he realized he needed to get onto the interstate south of Tracey’s location. The dividers on the highway would prevent a U-turn. So he made his way south to Clark Road and got on there, staying in the right lane and running below the speed limit so he wouldn’t miss Tracey’s car and have to do it again.
The rain picked up as another band of weather from the frontal system blew through, gusts of winds buffeting his car and making it even more of a challenge. Then he spotted flashers on the shoulder ahead. When he pulled over he kept far to the right, parked behind her so the wrecker would be able to pull in front of her car to load it, and turned his emergency flashers on.
He flashed his headlights at her. A moment later, she poked her head out, realized it was him, then dashed around the front of her car, taking the long way around to the passenger side to avoid the highway.
He bumped up the heater as she yanked the passenger door open and dropped into the seat. “Brrr! Oh, my god, thank you so much!”
“It just stopped running, huh?”
“Yeah. I was lucky no one was next to me and I could coast over to the shoulder. I’m sorry to pull you away from Jeff.”
“It’s okay. Stuart and the girls are there with him.”
“Is he all right?”
“He overdid it yesterday in the yard. So how are you getting to work tomorrow?”
“I haven’t even thought that far ahead. I might have to book an Uber or something.”
“I’m taking tomorrow off to take Jeff to the doctor, but that’s not until eleven. I can run you in.”
Her eyes widened. “Really? Thank you.” She threw herself across the seat to hug him. “Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.”
“I’d ask Emma to loan you her car but she’s got swimming, and I’m not going to make Stuart get up that early to take her and Grace to the pool.” Even though Jeff was his husband—and slave—Brandon wasn’t going to volunteer Jeff’s truck for use without asking him first.
There was such a thing as not being an asshole, sadist or not.
“No, it’s okay. Thank you.” She ran her hands up and down her arms, a laugh escaping her. “A year ago, if you’d told me we’d be sitting here like this, I would have said you’re nuts.”
“Right?” He leaned his seat back a little. “How’s the divorce coming?” He tried not to talk to her about it around Emma, not wanting to get their daughter’s anger up.
Rightfully so. The man had been an asshole and treated Emma like crap, the main reason she and Tracey had so many problems the last couple of years.
Well, that and the fact that Tracey hadn’t stood up to Pat to side with Emma when she should have.
“Final hearing’s in two weeks. Considering Pat’s too busy dealing with his legal issues from threatening our former landlord, he hasn’t even responded to the divorce. Well, he responded when I first filed, but the first attorney dumped him as a client when Pat couldn’t pay him. It’s basically going through uncontested at this point, now that he can’t afford a divorce attorney and his criminal attorney doesn’t handle divorces.”
“Nice.”
“I know, right?” A sad sigh escaped her. “I know I shouldn’t have married him. I take full responsibility for that.”
“I didn’t say a thing.”
“I know. And I appreciate that. You had every reason to hate me for how I behaved, but you were the bigger person.”
