“Good. I want to talk to him.”
Before I could stop him, Asher turned to wave to my father and I found myself wishing we’d never left the motel. “I don’t, Ash.”
“What? Why not?” he asked.
“Because I can’t be fake, and I’ll give us away.”
“Us?” Hurt flashed in Asher’s eyes. “Your dad doesn’t know about us? Why do you care—?”
Before I could correct Asher, Dad had his arm draped over my shoulder. Even with the crowd shifting around us, I could smell the whiskey on him. “Hey, honey,” he said.
I shrugged away from him. “Hey. Dad, you remember Addie’s brother Asher?”
Dad looked Asher over and nodded. “Come with me a minute, Asher. I think we need to have a man-to-man conversation.” He waved for Asher to follow him andstarted walking toward the fence, away from the crowd.
I didn’t know what Dad had planned, but couldn’t imagine he’d be too welcoming. And before Asher went anywhere near my father, I needed to set the record straight and warn him. I stepped in front of him, blocking his path. “I don’t care what he or anyone else thinks. I love you. I’ve tried to tell him about you several times, but he refusesto listen. I sure as hell wouldn’t bring you here if I didn’t want anyone to know about you. Everyone in town knew as soon as we got out of your car together. It’ll probably be on the cover of tomorrow’s paper. That’s not what I was talking about.”
“You comin’, boy?” Dad asked.
Before I could say more, Asher stepped around me and joined my father. I didn’t know what to do. I watched as theywalked to the fence and out of earshot.
“Still biting your fingernails, huh?” Dakota said, tugging my hand away from my mouth and inspecting the damage. “That’s a bad habit, Dylan.”
“I only do it when I’m in this town,” I retorted, snapping my hand away from him. “Besides, it’s not nearly as bad as chewing...or meth, Lakeview’s other drug of choice.”
He chuckled and followed my gaze. “That’sthe guy?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
He scratched his head. “I thought you didn’t like cowboys.”
“He’s sonota cowboy. He’s a lawyer. He dressed like that for me. He’s...” I couldn’t find the words to describe what Asher was to me.
“I get it.”
Surprised, I eyed Dakota. “You do?”
“Yeah. I’ve known you my whole life, and I ain’t never seen you look at anyone like that. But you should probablygo save him from your old man.”
I looked up in time to see Dad take a swing at Asher. Asher easily dodged and stepped back and Dad wobbled, almost falling. I ran to get between them with Dakota hot on my heels. I stood facing my father with Asher at my back, as Dakota tried to get Dad under control.
“What is going on?” I asked, fuming.
“This boy you brought home disrespected me, Dylan,” Dadreplied.
“I don’t care what he did. You don’t get to swing on my boyfriend, Dad. Ever.”
“Why the hell not? He comes to me talking about how he wants my blessing to marry you, and he can’t even stand up for himself. You gotta jump in and protect him.”
“First of all, Asher can defend himself just fine, but he’s not some Neanderthal, like you, so he doesn’t think with his fists and—” The restof what Dad said sank in. Asher had come to ask him for his blessing. To marry me. Suddenly the clothes made sense. He’d dressed the part to approach my dad. I looked over my shoulder and asked, “Wait...what?”
“You heard me,” Dad said. “A boy like that doesn’t deserve you. You tell him, Dak.”
“I don’t know. He seems like a decent fellow.” Then Dakota turned his attention onto Asher and said,“You got my blessing, but you damn well better take care of her. I don’t care if you are some hotshot lawyer, you hurt her and there won’t be a city big enough to hide you.”
“Noted. I won’t hurt her,” Asher said. “You must be Dakota. Nice to meet you.”
“Pleasure.” They shook hands.
