Chapter 16: Served

Padraig went down to the yard in his bare feet and his T-shirt, and I followed him as far as the bottom stair.

Travis lowered the phone when the light over the shop door came on.

"There she is," he said. "Nothing between you two? That's what I heard."

"Get off my property," Padraig said.

"Your property." Travis laughed. "I have your truck, I have her car, and I have the time. Past two in the morning."

I stepped out onto the gravel.

"Take another one," I said. "Get the dog. She's been here too."

"Althea, you're making this easy."

"Making what easy? You're drunk. You drove here from my house. You drove here, drunk, with a phone full of pictures of your brother's door."

His grin slipped a little.

"I'll have this in front of a judge by Monday," he said. "Abandonment. Adultery. You're done."

"You named Padraig on a petition three weeks ago and then asked for a test that proved you wrong."

"That was different."

"Go home, Travis."

"I don't have a home," he said, and his voice cracked. "You changed the locks."

"You gave it away in March."

He got in the Honda.

He drove out over the gravel too fast and clipped Padraig's mailbox on the way.

Padraig stood watching the taillights.

"I'll fix that," he said, to nobody.

I took his sleeve and led him back inside, and neither of us said a word about the couch.

He slept in his bed with the door shut.

I slept on the couch with a beagle on my feet and my mouth still tasting of him.

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