Page 54

“Dolly, this ain’t your business⁠—”

“It became my business the second you walked through that door and started hollerin’ at two grown men mindin’ their own damn business.” She planted herself square between him and our booth, one hand on her hip, chin jutted out and that knife hovering in front of her. “Rhett didn’t ruin nobody. And if you can’t stomach watchin’ your own son be happy, then you can turn right back around and get the hell out of my diner.”

My daddy’s mouth opened and closed, his face gone red and blotchy now, caught somewhere between fury and something that looked almost like shock at being talked to that way.

“I’m gonna say this once,” Dolly went on, her voice dropping lower, meaner. “Get out of my diner, James. And don’t you come back in here spewin’ that kind of hate again, or I swear to God I will strangle you with my bare hands and serve you up for lunch.” She jabbed the cleaver in his direction again. “And don’t think I can’t do it.”

For a long, awful second, nobody moved. My daddy stood there in the doorway with his hat still pulled low, looking between me and Rhett and Dolly like he couldn’t quite believe any of this was happening to him.

“Fine,” he said finally, the word coming out clipped and cold. His eyes found mine one last time, and whatever had flickered there, that hurt I thought I’d seen, was gone now, buried some place I couldn’t reach anymore. “You made your choice, Westley. Don’t come cryin’ to me when it all falls apart. And don’t think about comin’ home.”

“It ain’t gonna fall apart,” I said, stepping closer to Rhett. “And I’m already home.”

He didn’t have anything smart to say to that. He just turned on his heel and walked back out, the bell jingling hard behind him again. Through the front window I watched him climb into his truck and peel out of the lot like a teenager throwing a tantrum.

The diner stayed dead silent for a few more seconds before the normal noise started creeping back in, quiet at first and then louder, like everybody was trying real hard to pretend they hadn’t just watched the whole thing happen.

I sank back down into the booth, my hands shaking now that the adrenaline had nowhere left to go. Rhett was still white-faced across from me, staring down at the table.

“Rhett.” I reached for his hand again. “Hey. Look at me.”

He did, finally, and his eyes were glassy and wet. “He thinks I ruined you,” he whispered.

“He’s wrong.” I squeezed his fingers hard. “He’s dead wrong, and I don’t care if he ever comes around to seein’ it. You didn’t ruin nothin’, Buttercup. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Dolly slid into the booth beside Rhett without a word, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him in against her side. “Don’t you listen to one word that man said,” she murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of his head like he was one of her own. “You hear me? Not one word.”

Rhett nodded, though I could see him struggling to hold himself together, his jaw working tight.

“I’m gonna bring y’all some pie,” Dolly said, patting his arm once before standing back up. “I don’t think there’s a situation on God’s green earth that pie can’t fix.” She paused, looking over at me. “And if James Gilderoy ever sets foot back in here, y’all better call Sheriff Webb before I kill that man myself.”

She bustled off toward the kitchen, leaving the two of us sitting there quietly, the whole diner slowly going back to normal around us. I had a feeling we’d be the topic of conversation for a few days at least. No doubt Cash and Mike would be checking in tomorrow. The rumor mill ran fast in Sagebrush, especially after a display as spectacular as the one my daddy just put on.

I reached over and took Rhett’s hand again, lacing our fingers together on top of the table. No reason to hide it now, and I didn’t want to anyhow. He let out a shaky breath, his thumb brushing slow circles against my knuckles.

“You okay?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I keep waitin’ for it to stop hurtin’, hearin’ people talk about me like that. Like I’m some kinda disease that got into you.”

“You ain’t that,” I said, firm as I could manage. “Not even close.”

Dolly came back a minute later with two slices of apple pie, setting them down without a word, though she gave my shoulder a squeeze on her way past that said more than any sentence could’ve. I picked up my fork, more for something to do with my hands than out of any real hunger, and glanced over at Rhett, who was staring down at his plate like it was a rattlesnake.

“He’s gonna tell everybody,” Rhett said quietly. “Your daddy. He ain’t gonna let this go quiet.”

“Let him.” I said it with more confidence than I actually felt. But maybe if I kept saying it, it would feel true at some point. “Ain’t nothin’ he can do to us that hasn’t already been done. I already lost the ranch. Already lost him. And if I’m honest, it’s been a long time comin’. I ain’t never made him happy, anyway.”

“But the whole town⁠—”

“The whole town already knows, Rhett. Hell, half of ‘em were in here just now watchin’ it happen.” I squeezed his hand again. “We got Dolly. We got Mike and Cash. We got Marcus and Xavier. That’s more than plenty of folks in this town ever get to have.”

He was quiet a long moment, pushing his fork through the pie without actually eating any of it. “I just… I don’t know if I can stay here any longer, West.” He looked up at me, tears pooling in the corners of his eyes. “I just wanna go somewhere that you and I can be happy. Where we don’t have to worry about this anymore.”

“We can go whenever you’re ready,” I said, meaning every word of it. “You know I’ll follow you. We just gotta save up first.”

Rhett paused for a long moment, his gaze never leaving mine. “I… I have some extra money put away. We could leave now.”

That caught me off guard. “You do? Since when?”