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That little gesture froze me for a second. When I recovered, I lifted my water glass and sipped. “The floor is yours.” I sat back. There didn’t seem to be any way to avoid this, and the damage had been done.
“I need to apologize,” he sighed.
That shot me forward in my seat. “It’s a little late, I’d say, or maybe you weren’t listening when I said you just ruined things for me. I needed his help.”
“For a few things,” he continued. “First, I believed Grace instead of you when you said you’d left your boyfriend—what’s his name?” He twirled his finger at me.
I rolled my eyes. “Kevin.” I didn’t add any of the colorful adjectives I had for him.
“I should have believed you when you said you were on your way to your mom’s in Florida, but Grace’s story… She said you were just gaining leverage… That sounded more…like the girl I thought you were. My mistake.”
“So, why the turnaround?” This change of heart was weird. “I know. Marge said you and Devlin are on different sides of some stupid town feud. So, you see us together and lose it?”
“It’s not that.”
“Tell me he’s not your enemy and that it doesn’t bug you that I was having dinner with him.”
He shook his head. “He is a colossal jerk, but that’s not it.” His smirk told a different story. There was competition between the two of them for sure. “Let me finish.”
I shrugged and lifted a forkful of broccoli to my mouth.
“Back in high school, when I missed the Hartford game…” He breathed heavily. “I was told that you’d accused me of driving a tractor into the lake. That’s why we broke up.”
Just recalling that time made my stomach turn. “I don’t know why we’re going over this again. I already told you I didn’t say anything like that to the cops.”
Seemed like this was around that time the cops had wanted me to confirm where and when I was with Dad, which had something to do with a robbery. I’d tried to say what Dad wanted me to, but none of that was anything I cared to discuss with Boone.
He closed his eyes and sighed. When they reopened, he continued. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
With half a mind to throw my plate in his lap, I cooled my voice with enough frost to freeze his water glass. “And that’s why you humiliated me in front of the entire school with Mary-Jo Starney? Because of some stupid tractor?”
He held up his hands. “That’s another thing I’m sorry for. It wasn’t my finest moment, and looking back at it, I have no excuse.”
That day still haunted me, and only the remorseful look in his eyes kept me from tossing my water at him. “Since we can both agree that you were a jerk, I’m actually glad now that we broke up.”
Hurt showed in his face, or was it confusion?
“Anyway, I’ve moved on,” I told him.
“Okay, so you said you want to get to Florida to be with your mom?” Boone ventured.
I nodded since it sounded like a question, and it was on my checklist.
“But you can’t leave until Grace gets back, on account of the dogs.”
I nodded again. “I promised.” I could be mad at Grace for not believing me about Kevin—super intensely pissed, actually—but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t keep my promise to take care of herkids. “And besides, they’re growing on me.”
“Option A, you go on to your mom’s. I’ll give you a thousand bucks for the trip and take care of the dogs for Grace.”
Tawny arrived with his orange juice.
His offer floored me, but I waited until after she left to ask, “You’re kidding, right?”
“Not at all. You can leave tomorrow, if you want. No strings.”
True, that provided what I wanted—to get away from Kevin as soon as possible and as far as possible—but I was done being manipulated, bought, sold, pushed, pulled, or whatever. Boone couldn’t buy me off like this. “I don’t like owing anything to anyone,” I told him. “I don’t need your charity. Besides, you made me promise to stay on at the hotel until you found a replacement.”
Accepting a loan from Kevin for the rent while I’d started my consulting gig had created his first leverage over me. I wasn’t traveling down that hellish road again. Self-sufficiency was a requirement for self-determination. I wasn’t giving up one iota of control.
