It wasn’t until I heard Sarah Jo’s voice that I snapped out of it and set my chair on all four legs.
11
Sarah Jo
Gracie was the one who called me. Her sister-in-law was in the bar while it was happening and texted her about it. So I had already heard the play-by-play commentary. My brother had lost his shit in the middle of Cecil’s, and according to Gracie’s sister-in-law, the reason for his high-speed come-apart was the fact that Luke Maddox stood up for me. She had been sitting at a table near the bar and heard most of it. And that Ryan had punched Luke in the face.
It was humiliating. I was concerned about Ryan, but it was not a good time for me to go try and calm him down since he was throwing tantrums all over town apparently. All I knew was I had to go find Luke and make sure he was okay. He was caught up in a private family matter, and he had even stood up for me when my brother was talking shit about me in a public place. I was so embarrassed. There was no way to contain the damage. Everybody would be talking about it. And me showing up at Cecil’s to talk to Luke would only add fuel to the fire. But I didn’t care. I needed to see him.
His dad was behind the bar, “Your brother’s already been here and gone,” he said gruffly.
“I know, sir. I’m sorry about that. I was hoping to speak to Luke.”
“He’s back in the kitchen. Supposed to have a steak on his eye.”
“Thank you,” I said.
I made my way back to the kitchen. It was late enough they were done serving food, so the only person back there was Luke. He was sitting down with meat on his face. I felt my heart lurch. I felt awful about it. My brother had come in mad at me, and he’d taken it out on Luke, his oldest friend. Luke, who didn’t deserve to take the brunt of Ryan’s anger. Luke, who had done nothing but be kind and considerate to my family for as long as I could remember. I barely knew how to begin.
“Luke,” I said. “I heard what happened. I just wanted to come by and say I’m sorry about all this. I know I’m probably the last person you want to see right now. I just want to say I’m sorry, and I’ll go.”
“This isn’t your fault. You didn’t hit me or make an ass out of yourself in front of God and everybody,” he said.
“That’s kind of you to say. I love my brother, but sometimes I’d like to kick his whiny ass.”
“Yeah, you and me both,” he said. “And if we’d have been anywhere other than in my parents’ place of business, I might have.”
“I heard that you stood up for me. That’s what got him so riled up.”
“He walked in riled up,” he said ruefully. “It doesn’t matter what we argued about. You didn’t do this.”
“No, you’re right, I didn’t. But I still feel bad that he took his anger at me out on you. He probably came here to see you and figured that —”
“That I’d be there for him instead of telling him he was being an ass? Yeah, he probably thought so. But I wasn’t gonna put up with him talking bad about you, not after everything you’ve done and everything you gave up to come back here. It’s bad enough he doesn’t pitch in and help more. Him criticizing you, talking about you that way was too much for me.”
“Maybe I should’ve just stayed at school,” I mused.
“If you’d stayed gone, where would your dad be? None of this is on you. Any trouble between Ryan and me is between Ryan and me.”
“Yeah, except you got caught up in the trouble between Ryan and me. You got dragged into a family argument. I’m sorry,” I said again.
“Stop apologizing.”
“Okay, then I’ll go and leave you to it.”
I turned to go.
“Stay,” he said.
I looked over my shoulder at him. He was so handsome, so much the same boy I’d crushed on for so long.
“I wish you’d stay,” he said.
I opened my mouth, but no words came out.
“I defended you because you’re worth defending,” he said, “and because he was wrong. And because you’re you. I’d do it again and again, even if he’d clock me every time. Okay, eventually I’d kick his ass, because I only have so much patience. My point is, there was never a question of me agreeing with him, backing him up on this. He is my best friend, which means I care enough to call him out on his bullshit.”
“He’s a good guy having a rough time, and it’s not bringing out the best in him. I know it. So I shouldn’t be here. I should go check on my brother.”