“Come on, Clara Belle, who is your guy? I can’t take all of the suspense because Mom’s right, this one’s different. This one means something to you.” Avalee paused for a moment before waving dismissively at Ford. “No offense to you, Ford. Sorry.”
Ford’s clear blue eyes were narrowed some. “Plenty taken. Thanks though, Avalee. Besides, I could never make Clara Belle happy in the way she wanted to be. I knew that before I asked her out on our first date. I could try, but I could never try hard enough. She wasn’t meant for me.”
The room got quiet. Quieter. Inside, I felt closer to exploding though. Why was he talking like he hadn’t been cheating on me with my sister? Why did he get to stand there and pretend I’d broken his heart instead of the other way around? Why was everyone in this room content to go along with that and continue to play oblivious to the fact that Ford was marrying my sister after fucking her behind my back?
There was so much bullshit filling the air, I was, for once, thankful I couldn’t breathe down here.
“That’s because I was meant for you, Ford.” Charlotte put herself directly in front of him again, pawing his chest like a deranged kitten. After a few more seconds, she finally got his attention.
“Lucky me, sugar,” he cooed and kissed the tip of her nose as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
Charlotte’s eyes closed as she exhaled like she was relieved or something. Watching all of this Ford push-Charlotte pull made me sad. Genuinely sad. I’d been wanting to talk to my sister about Ford for years and find out why she seemed to be under the impression he was a deity wrapped up in mortal flesh, because I knew for a fact he wasn’t. Charlotte and I might have had our differences, and she might have done everything to make my life harder than it needed to be, but that didn’t erase the fact that I loved her and wanted the best for her.
The man she was about to marry did not fall into that category. Or anywhere close to it.
“So come on and spill it already. No more distractions.” Avalee fired a warning look at Ford and Charlotte, who were kissing a bit too feverishly and loudly up against that doorway.
I did the mom thing and did my best to pretend it wasn’t happening.
“Who is he? Who’s this guy who’s got you all riled up?” Avalee waved at me like I was proving her riled-up point right now.
“You can meet him tomorrow.” I crossed my arms tighter, moving toward the staircase. Enough family reunion time for one lifetime. Time to retire.
“Come on, quit being so darn mysterious. Give us something to get us by until morning. “Avalee propped a hand on her hip and tapped her foot. “Tell us what he does.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because it always matters, Clara Belle.” My mom had resurfaced from her delirium now that we were talking about the man she was probably already scheming how to get me married off to, at least until she learned who it really was. She stepped up beside Avalee and adjusted her long hair held back by a couple of clips.
I didn’t know I’d rolled my eyes until they had already made their revolution. Mom didn’t miss it either.
“I bet he’s a movie producer, or maybe one of those indie rock singers from LA.” Avalee clapped a few times.
Meanwhile, Charlotte detached herself from Ford long enough to glare at her sisters like we were a couple of imbeciles. It had been a long time since I’d gotten that look from Charlotte. It had come with such frequency growing up, I’d kind of missed it.
“He’s probably one of those surfer bums whose address is the beach and gets around on the bus,” Charlotte added.
I continued slowly toward the stairs, my foot so close to stepping up the first one.
“No, he’s probably some high-powered entertainment industry attorney or a plastic surgeon to the stars or a real estate tycoon.” Ford stepped out of Charlotte’s embrace and meandered closer to me. Why was he looking at me like that? Why was he acting like the other three people in this room weren’t there? “Clara Belle wouldn’t just settle for anyone. She always had her sights set high . . . save for that one time, that one indiscretion . . .”
My blood rolled to a boil. Ford had no right to talk about my past like he knew the whole story. He had no right to deem who was or wasn’t worthy of me. He had no fucking right to call a person I’d cared about a mere indiscretion.
What a piece of work.
“Enough with the lame guesses already,” Charlotte half-shouted, glaring at Ford’s back as he moved my way. “Are you going to tell us what he does or not, Clara Belle?”
“I’m not.” I was in the middle of shaking my head when I noticed someone move out of the shadows at the top of the stairs.
It was a large, imposing figure, and one I didn’t need to look at full-on to know whose outline it was. I’d memorized all there was to know about him years ago. Those memories might have been shuffled to the back of my mind, but they’d always be there.