Boone gave me another one of those sideways glances. I pretended to ignore it.
“Your father . . . I don’t know how he’s going to handle this,” Mom fretted, glancing toward his study as if he was about to come out with guns blazing. “You know how he feels about what happened . . . how he feels about him.”
“He is right here. Ten feet in front of you, Mrs. Abbott.” Boone crossed his arms and seemed to stretch to his full height. “And he isn’t sure how he’s going to handle your husband either. He knows how he feels about what happened . . . and how he feels about Mr. Abbott too.”
“Then why are you here? Why come back when you know the way we feel about you and with the way you clearly feel about us?” Mom moved over to one of the decorative Parisian chairs at the bottom of the staircase and settled into it.
I hadn’t expected her to take this so hard. I hadn’t expected the ironclad Estelle Abbott to be dropped to sitting status a few minutes after finding Boone Cavanaugh back in her family’s life.
“Because Clara asked. That’s why.”
“I don’t know if Clara asked for what you gave her eight years ago. Nice of you to be so accommodating now. Maturity becomes you, Boone.”
Boone didn’t look at Ford, nor did he fire anything back. The muscles banding down his jaw tightened though. He could fool Ford into thinking that he didn’t give a rat’s fuck about him, but Boone couldn’t fool me. He’d never been able to.
“Then why did you, Clara Belle, ask Boone to come?” Mom continued, folding her hands in her lap then refolding them the other way. “Surely you had to know what a ruckus this would cause. Why would you invite this kind of dilemma during such a special time for your sister?”
I made myself count to five before replying because my gut response wasn’t so kind. “Because he’s my plus one,” I said slowly, each word more cursed than spoken.
Boone shouldered up close beside me, winding his arm around my shoulder and pulling me close. “Her boyfriend.” He grinned around the room like it was a proud moment.
Just enough so no one else would notice, I elbowed him in the ribs. He was in so much trouble. I couldn’t believe I’d offered him ten grand to throw gasoline on this fire that had almost burned out. Why couldn’t I have just come alone? Why was I so afraid of my family knowing I had no one? Why did I care that I would be the last to get married even though I was the oldest? Why did I care what they thought in the first place?
My headache started coming back, and this time I didn’t have a shot of tequila to dull it down.
“You fucked her life up once already, Cavanaugh. Didn’t get enough that time? Needed to do it once more?” Ford took a few long strides toward us, breaking from Charlotte’s hold.
Boone stayed in place, his arm still twined around me, not even flinching. The longer Ford stared at Boone’s arm draped around me, the wilder his eyes became. Before my eyes, Ford was morphing into that wild, savage animal he’d just claimed Boone was.
“You still don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, McBride.” Boone’s arm tightened around me. “I’m tired of you pointing your finger my way when you should be pointing it your way just as much, if not more.”
“You can keep telling yourself you’re innocent on all counts, but come on, Boone, even a loser like you has to know better. You messed up Clara Belle’s life once, and I won’t let you do it again. You hear me?” Ford’s voice grew louder with each word, his last almost a shout.
“I messed up Clara’s life? Really? And who was the boyfriend dipping his stick in her little sister?”
Charlotte gasped, her palm lifting like she wanted to slap someone’s cheek.
“You need to figure out what waters you can and can’t swim in, Cavanaugh.” Ford pointed at Boone, waving his finger like he was scolding him. “You’re a piece of trash, and trash doesn’t mix with the Abbotts. Trash belongs with other trash, something there’s no shortage of in and around this town. So go fuck with some other piece of trash and make more trash, but keep your pollution to yourselves. You’re not welcome in this family.”
“Ford . . .” I growled, shaking my head at him.
Even my mom and Avalee looked shocked by what he’d just said. It might have been the unsaid belief among the wealthy families down here, but no one voiced it. Ever.
After a few seconds, everyone’s gaze shifted to Boone.
Waiting for him to holler something just as spiteful or throw Ford to the ground and start swingin’. We waited, knowing Boone wasn’t reputed for his peaceful resolution of conflicts.
Boone lifted his hand, his fingers curling into a fist.