Always Us (The Jade Series #8) (39 page)

“Alex’s nieces are so cute,” Sara says.

“Cute?” Alex gives Sara a funny look. “On Thanksgiving, they took Caleb and we couldn’t find him. And then they put some girly headband on him and almost painted his nails.”

She laughs. “They were just playing.”

“You need to have him hang out with your nephews,” Garret says to Alex.

“They don’t want to be around a baby. They want to be outside playing ball. But my nieces go crazy whenever someone brings a baby over.”

“Can I get you something to drink?” The waitress stands next to Caleb at the end of the table. She’s a cute blonde, wearing black, very tight shorts and a white cotton shirt with the sleeves rolled up and unbuttoned to the point that it shows a lot of cleavage. It’s a revealing uniform, which means she probably gets good tips from the college guys hoping to get a date with her.

Sara and I order soda and Alex orders a beer. Then Garret orders a soda and the waitress says, “You sure you don’t want a beer? They’re on special tonight.”

“No, thanks.” He looks at his menu.

“Have you ever tried one of our craft beers? If not, I can bring you some samples so you can see which one you like.”

“Thanks, but I’m not quite 21 yet.”

“Oh, sorry.” She points to my hand. “I saw her ring and thought you two were married.”

“We
are
married, but we’re only 20.”

She gives us that confused look people always give us whenever we tell them we’re married. But then Caleb distracts her by pulling on her shirt and smiling at her.

“Hi, sweetie.” She leans down and her cleavage is practically in his face. He stares at her boobs, which is kind of funny. She looks at me and says, “He’s so sweet. What’s his name?”

“Caleb. But he’s not mine. He’s hers.” I point to Sara.

“He’s really cute,” the waitress says to Sara.

“Thank you.”

The girl seems flustered as she straightens up and turns to Garret. “Did you decide what you want to drink?”

“I think I ordered a Coke.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Sorry. I’ll be right back.”

She leaves and Sara laughs. “I told you being a waitress isn’t easy. You have to be friendly, but you can’t make assumptions about people. It always gets you in trouble.”

“I forgot you guys are only 20,” Alex says. “You seem older. Maybe because you’re married.”

“Yeah, we’re old married people now,” I say, looping my arm with Garret’s. “It’s almost our six month anniversary. We’re not even newlyweds anymore.”

“Yes, we are.” Garret leans down and gives me a kiss.

Caleb squeals and we all look over at him. He’s pumping his arms up and down and staring at the floor, where his toy fell.

“I got it.” Alex gives it back to him, then tickles Caleb’s belly. “I saw you checking out that girl. I think she’s a little old for you.”

“He was totally checking her out,” I say, laughing.

“I know, right?” Sara laughs, too. “He couldn’t stop staring at her boobs. I thought he was going to reach out and grab one, like he does to me all the time. I would’ve been so embarrassed if he did that.”

“You might want to work on being a little more discreet next time,” Garret tells Caleb. “You can get away with staring like that when you’re nine months old, but later, if you look at a girl like that, she’ll slap you.”

We all laugh.

The waitress returns with the drinks and Caleb stares at her cleavage again as she leans over to set our drinks down. Sara and I start laughing. I don’t want the waitress to think we’re laughing at her so I try to stop, but Caleb won’t look away from her chest and it’s just too funny.

When she leaves, Sara says, “Maybe he thinks they’re balloons. Or some kind of toy.”

The guys laugh.

“I think guys a lot older than him also think they’re toys,” Alex says.

Sara rolls her eyes as her cheeks turn pink. “We need to change the subject. And if he does that again, you need to distract him.”

“It’s nature, Sara,” Garret says. “You can’t stop it.”

“Boys.” I roll my eyes and she laughs.

Sara and I ignore the guys and she tells me more about Alex’s family, while the guys talk about football. Of course. What else would they talk about?

Our food arrives and we continue our separate conversations. During dinner, I notice Alex bringing out a jar of baby food and some finger foods for Caleb to eat. He feeds Caleb in between eating his own meal. It’s like Caleb is his own kid. Sara glances over at them now and then, but otherwise just keeps talking.

It’s nice seeing Alex helping out with Caleb like that. It makes me think that maybe Alex might consider marrying Sara someday. I think she’d like that. I guess I don’t know. She’s never shared her opinion on marriage.

We order dessert, and as we’re waiting for it, I decide we need to do this double date thing again. We all get along really well.

“Dinner’s on me tonight,” Alex announces.

“You don’t have to do that,” Garret says.

“You guys really helped out Sara and Caleb and I want to show my appreciation. I tried to get her out of that apartment for months and she wouldn’t accept my help, but you finally convinced her to move, so I owe you.”

“Thanks,” I tell him. “That’s really nice of you.”

Caleb starts fussing and Sara nudges Alex. “Can you take him out of the high chair? He’s been in there too long.”

Alex lifts him up and hands him to Sara. The three of them already look like a family. Sara and Alex look like they go together and Caleb could easily pass for Alex’s kid.

Dessert arrives and halfway through eating it, I’m stuffed.

“I can’t finish that.” I push my brownie sundae away.

“Their desserts are huge,” Sara says. “We should’ve split one.” She holds Caleb up to Alex. “Could you take him? I need to wipe his sticky face.”

He takes Caleb, whose chubby cheeks are covered in chocolate ice cream. As Sara’s cleaning up Caleb’s face, a guy stops by our table.

“Sara,” he says, trying to get her attention.

She looks up at the guy. Her expression is a mix of shock and panic.

“Brandon. What are you doing here?”

He nods toward the bar. “I’m getting a beer with Kyle. I came down to see him for a couple days.”

“Okay. Well, have fun.” Her eyes shift down to the table.

She seems really uncomfortable. Maybe she used to date this guy. He’s not much taller than Alex, maybe 5’10, but he’s much wider, with a muscular, stocky build. He’s got short, medium-brown hair and dark brown eyes and stubble along his face. He’s wearing khaki shorts and a bright green polo shirt that looks too tight on his arms.

“So how’ve you been, Sara?” He directs his body toward her, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You should get back to the bar.” She tosses her scrunched-up napkin on the table. “We were just leaving.”

He peers down at Alex. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

Sara glares at Brandon but he doesn’t notice. His eyes are still on Alex. She says really fast, “This is Alex and those are my friends, Jade and Garret.”

Brandon points to Caleb, who’s still on Alex’s lap. “Is that our kid?”

“Yes.” Sara takes Caleb and holds him against her chest.

Holy crap! That’s Caleb’s dad? Sara never told me his name. She hardly ever talks about him.

Before I even knew who this guy was, I could tell he was an ass, just by the way he came over here and acted like we should all stop what we’re doing and pay attention to him.

“Let me see him,” Brandon says.

Sara slowly turns Caleb around and sits him on her lap. “His name’s Caleb.”

“Who came up with that stupid name?”

I see both Garret and Alex tense up.

“Obviously,
I
named him since you weren’t around for his birth.” Sara sounds pissed. Good for her.

“You’re the one who wanted it. I gave you the money to take care of it.”

“You need to leave,” Alex says to him.

“Who are
you
? The new boyfriend?”

“Brandon, just leave,” Sara says. “Go back to the bar.”

He leans down in front of Alex, placing his palms on the table. “Are you trying to play dad to my kid?”

Alex looks him in the eye. “You’re clearly not interested in the job.”

Sara holds Alex’s arm. “Alex, just ignore him. He’ll go away.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Brandon says, a big smirk on his face.

Alex keeps quiet. I can almost see the wheels spinning in his head as he tries to figure out what to do. Sara doesn’t want him to get in a fight, but Alex wants to stand up for her. And I’m sure he’d love to beat up Brandon for leaving Sara alone with a baby and no money. The problem is, Alex isn’t a fighter.
 

“Just leave,” Alex says, staring at Brandon.

“Make me, tough guy.”

Even if Alex wanted to fight him, there’s no way he would win a fight with this guy. Brandon may not be much taller than Alex, but he’s way bigger.
 

“You gonna just sit there, or are you gonna do something?” Brandon says, trying to provoke him.
 

Alex doesn’t answer. He seems nervous, his eyes darting everywhere but at Brandon.

“Alex.” Garret waits for Alex to look at him. “You mind if I step in?”

“Go ahead.”

Great. Just what I need. My husband getting into a fight.

“Garret, don’t,” I say quietly to him.

He gets out of the booth and stands next to Brandon. He looks like a giant next to Brandon. Garret’s a lot taller and he’s been working out constantly to get his shoulder back in shape, so he’s really muscular. Way bigger than when I met him.

Garret holds his hand out. “Garret Kensington.”

Brandon looks confused. He wasn’t expecting the handshake, but he shakes Garret’s hand. “Brandon Lintz.”

“That’s lesson number one. When you’re introduced to someone, you look them in the eye, you shake their hand, you smile. Basic manners.”

“What the hell does—”

“Lesson number two.” Garret glances over at Sara. “Cover his ears.”

“What?” Sara’s confused.

“Cover Caleb’s ears.”

She does, and Garret continues talking to Brandon. “Lesson number two. You treat the mother of your child with respect. I don’t give a shit if you don’t like her, don’t want to date her, don’t want to marry her. The woman gave birth to your child. By herself. With no support. And you’re going to treat her with respect.”

“I didn’t even want the fucking kid. I told her to get rid of it.”

Garret checks to make sure Caleb’s ears are still covered. “You think she didn’t deserve a say in that?”

He waves his hand at Sara. “The bitch got her way. The kid’s right there.”

“Already forgot lesson number two, huh? You’re clearly too fucking dumb to comprehend any more of my lessons, so we’re done for today. Now do as Sara asked, and Alex asked, and get the fuck out of here.”

“I get it.” Brandon laughs. “You and Sara. Makes sense.” He looks at Alex. “I didn’t think she’d go out with that loser.”

“Alex is her boyfriend. Not me. And before you open your mouth again to show us how fucking stupid you are, turn around and walk your ass out the door.”

“I’m not leaving. I still got a full beer left at the bar.”

Garret sighs. “I’m not going to say it again.”

“I don’t give a fuck how many times you say it. I’m not leaving.”

Caleb starts crying.

“Get that thing to shut up,” Brandon says to Sara.

Garret gets in Brandon’s face. “I didn’t want to hurt you, but what the hell? I love beating up assholes like you.”

“Garret, no!” I scoot to the end of the booth. “You’ll get arrested again.”

Brandon steps back. “You got arrested for fighting?”

Garret slowly smiles. “Yeah. I did. Arrested and thrown in jail. For beating up an asshole just like you. The guy had no manners. Treated women like shit. I started punching him and I couldn’t stop. I have a bad temper and my rage just took over. I broke his nose, bruised every square inch of his body, and pounded his face in the wall so hard he went unconscious.”

Brandon looks scared. Like seriously scared. He takes another step back. “And you only got jail time? You should be locked in prison for something like that.”

Garret shrugs. “I’ve got friends in high places. And friends in places you’d never want to go, unless you had a death wish.”

Brandon’s staring at Garret, breathing fast. I think I even see his forehead sweating. That story about Garret beating up Blake really freaked Brandon out. Hearing Garret describe it, it did sound pretty bad and yet that’s exactly what happened. Damn, my husband’s a real badass. Not that I like him beating people up, but Blake deserved it.

“This is bullshit,” Brandon says, walking backward, away from Garret. “I’m outta here.”

Garret watches him. “Hey. Before you go, I need you to apologize to Sara.”

“For what?”

“Breaking up with her when she got pregnant. Leaving her with nothing. Not paying child support. I could go on all day.”

Brandon looks at Sara, then back at Garret. But he doesn’t apologize.

Garret crosses his arms over his chest, which makes his biceps appear even bigger. He keeps his eyes on Brandon, giving him a look of warning.

Brandon lets out an annoyed sigh and looks at Sara again. “I’m sorry, Sara.”

Sara’s too speechless to answer.

“See? That wasn’t so hard.” Garret nods toward the exit. “You can go now.”

Brandon turns and walks out the door.

A guy from the bar yells, “Brandon, where are you going?”

Garret checks who it is, then sits back down in the booth. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
 

“What?” I ask him.

“Brandon’s friend is Kyle, the guy who keeps calling me, trying to get me to introduce him to my dad.”

“Brandon used to be on the football team with Kyle,” Sara says. “They’re good friends.”

“I knew I hated that guy.” Garret takes a drink of his water.

“Did you really get arrested for fighting?” Alex asks Garret.

“Yeah, but it was back in high school. I made it sound worse than it was.”

I’m glad Garret didn’t tell him the truth. I don’t want Sara or Alex thinking Garret’s violent.