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11
Addilyn
The second we got home, Mother held up the hem of her skirt and stalked up the stairs. She hadn’t spoken to me after returning from the bathroom at the country club, and the rest of the dinner had passed in stifling silence. Even Lloyd’s attempts at small talk had fallen short.
I’d ruined Mother’s day—or according to Gideon, he had.
When our gazes had clashed, something seemed to tie us together in that moment, and I knew why he’d done it. A jackass, sure, but I was starting to think he might actually care for me. He hated how Mother treated me, same as I hated how his father treated him.
I hurried upstairs to get rid of my own dress but barely kicked my heels off before a soft knock sounded on my door.
Opening it revealed Lloyd. “Can I come in for a quick moment?” he asked quietly.
“Sure.” I stepped back, letting him in—but I kept my door swung wide like Mother always insisted upon if someone of the male gender entered my room.
“My apologies, Addilyn” he said, turning to face me, his hands clasped in front of him. His dark eyebrows pulled downward, but no anger rested in his eyes. “Your mother has been so stressed, wanting everything to be perfect for our day.”
“It’s okay,” I whispered, glancing beyond him to the empty hallway and praying Mother didn’t see him inside my room.
“Don’t worry about the cell phone.” Lloyd reached out to squeeze my shoulder. “I promise to calm her tonight and make sure you have your phone in hand before we leave in the morning.”
“Thank you.” I peered up at him, for the first time thinking that he really wasn’t all that bad. He must truly love Mother. I didn’t understand how, but I desired that kind of adoration when I got older.
“I hope I find someone who loves me half as much as you do her,” I heard myself say.
Lloyd smiled, his eyes full of that same light from earlier. His warm hand fell away from my shoulder. “What about the sheriff’s son?”
Devon.
I chewed on the corner of my lip for a second, considering. “Gideon doesn’t approve of him hanging around me. He…bullies Devon.” My shoulders hitched up in a shrug. “It’s not like the poor guy even has a chance to ask me to be his girlfriend—not that Mother would allow such a thing, anyway.”
Lloyd studied my face long enough that I shifted on my bare feet, my toes digging into the soft carpet beneath me.
“You need to be careful with my son.”
As if I didn’t know.
“He beat a kid half to death back in California a few years ago, and he’s lucky I had the connections to keep him out of serious trouble.”
I stared up at Lloyd. The whole anger management issues I’d heard Mother gossiping about over the phone were a hell of a lot worse than she’d said.
“I promise once he’s eighteen and graduated, he’ll leave for the south again. Then maybe I can talk your mother into inviting Devon and his family over dinner. His father and I have become close friends in our short time here.” Lloyd’s face softened with a slow smile. “How would that be?”
My eyes stung. He would never take my real father’s place in my life, but maybe he could fill the shoes partway.
“I just want my girls happy,” he said.
Happy.
Perhaps I would learn the meaning of that word after all. “I-I’d like that.”
Lloyd winked. “Then I’ll make it happen.”
