Dean Briggs:She actually tried to set me up with someone else. Thanks for asking.
Ryan Kim:Oh, whoops.
Robert Colt:Sorry about that, kid. That’s a sad update. Drink the pain away?
Ryan Kim:That’s terrible advice.
Robert Colt:Well, his kid isn’t here yet, so he might as well!
I lostmy third hand in a row when Clyde let the cards hit the table and stared medown.
“All right, kid, I’ve let you have some time to be emo over whatever the hell happened. But now it’s time to talk about it.”
His words were so out of character it finally knocked me out of my thoughts. “Emo? Really?”
“I’m hip with the times, and I’m also concerned about you. You told me you were busy in Strawberry Springs, but I knew that you were inseparable from that girl you got pregnant. Now all of a sudden you wanna be here, so something happened.”
“Can we just keep playing cards?”
“This isn’t playing cards. This is me mopping the floor with you. Usually, we’re pretty evenly matched.”
I sighed. “I don’t wanna talk about it. It’s better if I pretend it’s not happening and move on.”
“Yeah, that seems to be going well.” Clyde said it flatly. “At what point of depression do I call your mom?”
My gaze shot up to his. “You wouldn’t.”
“If you stay in denial, nothing’ll get better. You need totalkabout it.”
“There’s nothing to say.”
“Let me be the judge of that.” He leaned back in his chair. “It’s girl problems, right? You’ve only looked this sad when it was that.”
I blew out a breath. “Yes, it’s girl problems.”
“You and Grace?” he asked.
I could only nod. “She ... I?—”
“You fell for her, didn’t you?”
I swallowed. “How did you know that?”
“There aren’t many words you would struggle that hard to say. Are you here to try to stay in denial about it, or did something else happen?”
“She tried to set me up with someone else.”
“Oh.”
“I tried to tell her what I felt, but I didn’t get it out beforeshe told me she knew what kind of guy I was and that I should call someone else.”
He sighed. “Shit, kid.”
“Yeah.”
“What did she say when you told her about your feelings?”
“I didn’t need to. She made her half clear.”