Top Dog

“Funny, since I don’t see a ring on your finger.”

I looked down at my hand before I shoved it into my coat pocket.

“Please, can we talk?” Daryl asked.

“I told you. I don’t want to talk to you. Go home. Go back to your life,” I said.

“Not unless you’re coming with me.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you, Daryl. You never supported me, only beat me down and told me how stupid my art and my ideas were. You’re an elitist snob.”

“You used to love that ‘elitism’ in college,” he said.

“Well, when people graduate college, they grow up. Like me. I just had a wonderful interview with the gentleman who owns this gallery. I’m in the running to purchase it. What the hell are you doing with your life?”

“A gallery?” he asked, snickering. “You talk about growing up, and then you tell me you’re still chasing that silly dream?”

“Holy fuck, Daryl. Think about what you just said. If you really can’t see why I won’t take you back, then you’re a moron.. Another trait I don’t find attractive. Now move.”

“I don’t think so. I haven’t had a chance to say my peace.”

Daryl stepped in front of me, and I tried to get around him. With every step I took, he backed up. Every time I bobbed, he weaved. He wasn’t moving, and he wasn’t leaving me alone. I felt trapped on an open fucking sidewalk in the middle of the one town I had managed to preserve as safe.

“She told you to move.”

A tingling sensation crept up my neck as Brian’s voice hit my ears. I turned around and saw him holding Lanie as they stood behind me. What the hell were the two of them doing here?

“Brian?” I asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Lanie wanted to surprise you with lunch after your meeting,” he said. “There’s a pizza place a few doors down from the gallery.”

Daryl was snickering behind me and I rounded on him. “What the fuck is so funny Daryl?” I snapped.

He shook his head and looked at my with eyes full of pity. “You used to have so much promise when we first met Amanda. Now look at you. Stuck in this shit town, with your lumberjack and his kid? Wow. I’ve heard of rags to riches, but not the other way around.”

“You’d better watch yourself,” Brian said, his voice low and dangerous.

I turned to him. “Why don’t you and Lanie grab that pizza and head back home, I don’t have much of an appetite right now. I can handle this,” I told him. The last thing I wanted was for Lanie to see her uncle taking a swing at Daryl.

Brian’s eyes bored into mine, but I stood my ground and nodded to him. Finally, he turned on his heel and walked with Lanie toward the pizza parlor.

I turned back to Daryl, who was appraising me with a low whistle. “So you do still have some spunk left in you,” he said. “Looks like your lumberjack isn’t so tough after all.”

I laughed out loud at his comment. “Please. Brian is three times the man you are Daryl. Just because he chooses not to lay you out right here on the street in front of that little girl, doesn’t mean he isn’t tough.”

Daryl shook his head. “It really is sad, Amanda. I could have given you so much more than this.”

“You couldn’t, or wouldn’t, give me your support, and that’s the only thing I ever really wanted. Go back to New York Daryl. It’s over,” I said.

I pivoted and walked to my car, sliding behind the wheel and picking up my phone. I needed to talk to Sarah. She was always good at helping me sort things out. I started the car and headed back up the mountain.

CHAPTER 22

BRIAN

After the encounter on the sidewalk yesterday, Lanie and I had grabbed our pizza and brought it home. She had asked several questions about who the man was, and I told her he was an old friend of Amanda’s.

“Hmph, friends ‘pose to be nice. He not nice,” she had answered.