Page 14 of Small Town Sizzle

“Miss Maya!” Chantelle exclaims, pulling me into a tight hug.

“Hey, Miss Maya,” Mason says as he also hugs me.

Mason claps Garrett on the shoulder, murmuring something I can’t hear. Chantelle starts asking me about Jazlyn, her voice warm and animated, and I let myself be pulled into the conversation, stepping away from Garrett and whatever minefield Ethan nearly dropped us into.

Kids start coming into the youth center. I watch as my daughter and Alex walk in, my father poking his head in to say hi before he darts right back out to his car. Mason and Alex immediately take charge of the kids and offer activities to keep their minds off things.

Greta touched a lot of lives, and for some of these kids, she was the only motherly figure they knew. She was also so kindand empathetic to all of them. You could see their sadness today. And I could tell by the look on Mason and Alex’s faces that helping the kids was more therapeutic than any therapy session would ever be.

“Man, that son of yours,” I say to Laura. “Natural born leader.”

“Alex, too. He’s really something.” She smiles. “Megs would be proud.”

I smile and nod, fighting back the tears that want to fall.

“You know, I really didn’t know that Ethan had a brother,” I say quickly.

Laura cocks her head to the side as she looked back at me. “Greta never told you why she built the youth center?”

“She said her son got into a lot of trouble as a teenager, and she thought if something like this had been built then, he wouldn’t have.”

“It was Garrett.”

“I thought she was talking about Ethan,” I breathe.

“No. Garrett’s the baby of the two of them. He had a promising career in football ahead of him, and an injury ended that. He acted out after. And you know, there’s such a stigma attached to men and therapy. Neither Greta nor I could reach him. He was so embarrassed by his behavior, he left town and never looked back.”

I had always assumed she meant Ethan and didn’t think to ask any more questions. I sit with the information for a minute.

“I don’t remember Megan dating him.”

“They were like an on/off thing in high school; they got close in college, I think. She tried so hard to save him.”

“That sounds like her.”

It would also explain how she had been attracted to such an awful man. Both of us have blinders and have always been drawn to broken men who need someone to take care of them. It gotboth of us into some really bad situations, but luckily I’ve been working really hard to get rid of that codependent side of me.

I look around the room. My eyes fall on Garrett as he walks around the center, looking at pictures on the wall and taking everything in.

He’s cute, I’ll give him that, but he’s not at all what I would expect of a son of Greta’s. Maybe his attitude at the drug store and gas station were because he was grieving his mother and not his normal demeanor.

Maybe I should give him another chance.

Chapter Four

Garrett

Maya is Megan’s little sister. That can’t be the same girl I remember. Megan’s little sister was a ratty, frizzy-haired, skinny girl with glasses and acne.

Maya looks nothing like that now.

“Are you sure that was Megan’s sister?” I ask Laura quietly a little later.

“Yeah, I’m positive,” she giggles. “She’s gorgeous, right? You seemed shocked to see her; why’s that?”

Gorgeous is an understatement. I keep my face neutral so that Laura doesn’t pick up on my thoughts.

“We had a run-in at a gas station in Culver City. Her dog tried to eat me.”