Read Online Play Nice (Make the Play Book 3) by Amber Garza - Free Book Online Page B

to be with them. To have a friend to hold me up, to defend me, to care about me.
    But it’s my fault. Clearly, I don’t know how to be nice.
    Henry was wrong. I’m not kind.
    And my grandpa would not be proud if he could see me now.

HAYES
     
    “How did it go?” I ask when Mom and Grandpa get back from picking up coffee. The question is mostly directed toward Mom. I know how hard it can be taking Grandpa out lately. Especially for Mom, since she’s a worrier. She always freaks out thinking he’s going to fall and hurt himself.
    “I met a girl,” Grandpa responds after getting settled in his recliner.
    “Go Gramps,” I say with a slight chuckle.
    Wearing a smirk, Mom shakes her head. “Here you go.” She shoves a paper coffee cup into my hand.
    “Thanks,” I say, lowering myself down on the couch. Mom sits down next to me, holding her own cup of coffee.
    “Wait until you hear who the girl is,” Mom says, nodding in Grandpa’s direction. “Tell him, Dad.”
    “She was a sweet girl. Goes to school with you,” Grandpa says.
    “Wow. Robbing the cradle,” I tease, lifting the coffee to my lips and taking a sip.
    “Her name’s Ashley,” he says.
    Coffee spews out of my mouth. “Ashley?” Raising my brows, I look to Mom for help.
    She shrugs.
    “Ashley McIntosh?”
    “The one and only,” Mom replies.
    “And you described her as a ‘sweet girl’?” I ask Grandpa.
    “She was. I almost fell over, and she came over to help me. Then she sat down and talked to me for a bit.”
    None of this sounds like Ashley at all. “You’re sure it was Ashley McIntosh?”
    “I saw her too,” Mom confirms.
    “I mean, I knew Ashley was into older guys, but I never thought…” my words trail off as I break into laughter.
    “Oh, it wasn’t like that.” Grandpa waves away my words. “I reminded her of her grandpa.”
    I freeze, the laughter dying on my lips. “She told you that?” In all the years I’ve known Ashley, she’s never shared anything about her family. And from what I understand, she doesn’t readily offer information about her family to anyone else. But in their short interaction she spilled her guts to my grandpa?
    “Yeah.” He smiles. “We had a nice conversation.”
    “Really?” I’m dumbfounded.
    “She did seem…different,” Mom adds.
    “Your mom told me that Ashley hasn’t always been very nice to you,” Grandpa says.
    I snort. “That’s putting it mildly.”
    “She’s not the monster you think she is, Big Guy,” he says, causing me to wince. Man, I really hope he didn’t call me that in front of Ashley. “The girl I met today was sad, not mean.”
    His words pierce my heart. So Grandpa had seen it too. The sadness that lived in Ashley’s eyes. She tried to mask it, but it was still there. Even her tough exterior and bitchy attitude couldn’t squash it completely. “She’s had kind of a rough time lately,” I explain. “Her boyfriend was the guy who kissed Talia.” I’d finally told my mom about my break up with Talia last night, so now we could talk about it freely in front of her.
    “I see.” Grandpa nods, touching his index finger to his chin.
    Mom rests her hand on my shoulder. “To be fair, she hasn’t just had it rough lately. She’s always had it rough.”
    The rumors around town about Ashley’s family weren’t complimentary. But Mom had inside knowledge about Dr. McIntosh from her job at the hospital.
    “A lot of people have difficult home lives. Look at Christian Alcott,” I point out. “Hell, our family has even been through the ringer, but Chris and I don’t go around treating people like crap.”
    “No.” Mom slowly shakes her head. “Chris beats people up and you make jokes.”
    I recoil from her statement. “What?”
    Her face softens, and she touches my arm lightly. “Everyone copes with their problems differently. When your dad and I split up you started making jokes all the time, and you have ever since. You use humor as a way to