Lainey’s heart skipped a beat at that. “He’s crazy about me? What makes you say that?”
“It’s only totally obvious,” she said scornfully. “I’ve never seen him act like this about anybody. The way that he looked at you that time you caught Felix, the way he talks about you and the dorky look he gets on his face when the kids say your name.”
“They say my name? He talks about me?” Lainey asked, a feeling of warmth spreading through her. She felt that dark cloud of gloom that had clung to her all day dissipating. Maybe she had overreacted when she saw the glass. She should have at least given him a chance to explain himself.
Damn Miles for making me think that no decent man would want me. Am I going to let that jerk haunt my relationships forever?
Megan snickered. “Now you’ve got the dorky look on your face. See, I know more than people think. I know plenty about love. It’s just that nobody gives me any credit for it because they all think I’m a child.” She had a very childish pout on her face. “Like, I would know if somebody was really in love with me, or faking it.” She shot Lainey a defiant look, as if daring her to challenge her.
Lainey was tempted. She wanted to say, you know who’s great at tricking women into thinking they’re in love with them? Men. All of them. It’s what they do. She wanted to say, I know that better than anyone. She’d even have given Megan the details, if she thought it would smarten her up.
But she didn’t bother, because she knew damned well that no infatuated eighteen-year-old was capable of listening to reason.
Still, as she walked down the sunny street with Tate’s family crowding around her, she felt more cheerful then she had in days.
So, Tate really did like her. Fine. She’d hear what he had to say about the glass.
Megan led the kids over to an ice cream truck, and Lainey, spotting Tate, who was standing by his truck, walked over to talk to him.
As she walked up with a big smile on her face, he didn’t look as if he liked her, and he certainly wasn’t delighted to see her, no matter what Megan thought. He was standing there sipping a cup of coffee, and he looked angry and hurt.
“Tate?” she asked, puzzled. “What’s up?” If anyone should be mad, it was her. And there she was, all ready to be the bigger person and let him talk to her.
His face was pale and angry, and he skewered her with a glare which stabbed her to the heart. She couldn’t stand Tate being angry at her, even if she had no idea why, she realized.
“There are certain things you might want to tell a man before you get naked in the grass with him,” he bit out.
“What are you talking about?” She was genuinely baffled.
“Like the fact that you’re engaged? Did that slip your mind?” There was a world of pain in his blue eyes, and it ripped her in two to see it.
“I’m not engaged,” she said slowly.
“Miles Bauer? Name ring a bell? I met him downtown just a little while ago. Him and your mother. They showed me the newspaper clipping with your wedding announcement. Two weeks from now? Congratulations, Lainey Robinson.” Tate threw his coffee on the ground, then stomped off without a backward glance.
Lainey felt the blood draining from her face.
Miles was in town. Of course. How could she possibly have thought she could escape her family’s clutches?
Tate hadn’t asked her side of the story. He clearly couldn’t wait to get away from her, and Miles had given him the perfect excuse.
She felt numb and stunned, as if she’d gotten a full-body Novocain shot. She walked over to her car, pulled open the door, and climbed in.
She drove back to the boarding house on autopilot, barely seeing the lush green woods that swept by.
Tears burned her eyes. What would she do now? Her mother and Miles would spread lies about her, with smiling faces and oily charm. This town, which had so quickly begun to feel like more of a home than she’d ever known, would reject her. And worse, Tate thought that she’d lied to him, that she was the kind of person who’d cheat on her fiancé right before their wedding. He must loathe her night now.
She felt nausea welling up inside her, and struggled not to vomit what little breakfast she’d eaten.
To her dismay, she saw a rental Lexus in the parking lot in front of the boarding house.
That had to be her mother and Milo.
She had nowhere else to go. She could turn and drive away, but they’d just sit there and wait for her, and the longer they were there, the more poisonous lies they’d spread.
Her knees were shaking as she climbed out of the car. As she forced herself to walk towards the front door, Marigold came rushing out, clambering down the steps. By her side was Henry, wearing a dirty T-shirt and dirty jeans, with work gloves hanging from his leather belt.