theotheraldrichâ:
âCâmon Dottie, you know it ainât anyone elseâs fault but mine. There wasnât anythinâ you couldâve done.â He took a more serious tone, shrugging his shoulders lightly. He had multiple opportunities to get out of the mess he caused, he just never took them. âAre you tryinâ to say Iâm one of your girls? I needed someone to talk to? Aldrichâs arenât big talkers.â Letting out a humorless laugh, he shook his head. Talking wouldnât have helped him in this situation. âOh, itâs worse. I didnât care before all you girls started yellinâ at me about how I was gonna end up ruininâ her life. Iâm serious. I was happy doinâ my thing, being a jerk, then yâall got in my head and made me have to think about the consequences of my actions. Iâm not used to that. Now I gotta worry about her gettinâ hurt and how beinâ with me is gonna impact her life. I donât think it will, not as bad as yâall think it will, but who can tell.â Maybe it was just wishful thinking on his part. âI appreciate you not thinkinâ Iâm all bad. Your eyes still look a little red staring back at me, feels like I got lasers pointed at me, but youâre talkinâ to me at least, so thatâs something.â
Suddenly the parking lot outside of Bushelâs didnât feel like the right place to be having this conversation. Dottie hated that she had to have this conversation in the first place. âSee I donât think like that, I think thereâs always somethinâ someone couldâve done in any given situation. And it ainât all your fault, you said she had some family issues. Sheâs usinâ you as much as youâre usinâ her, the problem is you shoulda known better than to get in as deep as you have, shoulda known better period. And as much as I appreciate that youâre able to care about what youâve done to her, youâre forgettinâ what youâve done to yourself. Frostfordâs a small town, you know that. And judginâ by the way everyoneâs talkinâ about your little rendezvous it ainât somethinâ theyâre gonna stop talkinâ about for a long time. I hate to say it Christopher but this is gonna follow you to your grave, you know that, right? Beinâ Sadie Lockhartâs ex ainât nothinâ compared to the new title youâve given yourself. Howâre you gonna recover from that? Thereâs not gonna be a single day that goes by without someone lookinâ at you and thinkinâ that youâre a creep. Whatâre you gonna do when you start losinâ business âcause everyoneâs scared to have you around their daughters? Youâre never gonna escape this girl,â she sighed. âAnd the people who you are friends with? Weâre never gonna be able to escape her either.â













