I hated myself at that moment. Nobody who dumps his girlfriend over text deserves to make her heart flutter the way mine was right then. Once again, pathetic. But he was a sight for sore eyes.
He was straight out of the shower, which made no sense if we were working cattle. Then again, maybe he’d just come in from a run. He was training for a Spartan Race. He’d told me that a few weeks ago. His hair was wild on his head, pointingin every direction like he’d shaken the water off and never combed it, not even with his fingers.
We locked eyes for a few seconds while everyone gawked back and forth. Then irritation flashed across his face. A muscle in his jaw ticked and his nostrils flared. His eyes narrowed to slits, flicking from me to Silas and then to his parents. When everyone pretended like this was totally normal, he stalked over, plopped down next to me, and crossed his arms as if to sayfine, but I don’t have to like it.“Let us say grace,” Bo said and then reached his hands to either side. Jenny slipped hers into his. Blue, who looked momentarily confused and then quickly recovered, slid his into Bo’s other hand. Like a chain, around the table, hands linked. I laid mine palm up, waiting for Holden, but he was still slumped in his chair, his right hand in Lemon’s but his left balled in a fist on the table.
Everyone turned our way. From the blood rushing to my face, I must’ve been a nice display of sunset-vibrant pinks and reds.
“Holden,” Bo growled.
But even with everyone’s eyes on him, Holden still sat, fuming. And in that moment it hit me. I was done being the desperate woman who chased after men while they walked—no, sprinted—in the other direction. It was time to take my own advice and have some self-respect.
“No, it’s okay.” I pushed back and stood. “Hey, Tally, would you mind trading seats with me?” I hated to make a pregnant girl get up out of her chair but she was the only other person not part of a couple.
She blinked, silent, and I almost thought she hadn’t heard. But then she blurted, “Oh. Yeah. Sure.”
Once we were settled again, my hand in Anna’s, I dared to look at Holden. I shouldn’t have. His glare was burning, furious, and if I hadn’t known he was really a big teddy bear insideI might’ve been a tiny bit terrified. I rolled my eyes as if to saygrow upand then looked at Bo.
Bo bowed his head and opened his mouth.
The front screen door shut with a bang, stopping the blessing dead in its tracks. Jenny flinched and exhaled.
“Where’s myMamacita?” A male voice sang. It must’ve been Ashton. I’d only met him once, but it sounded like him. Every Dupree at the table broke into a smile. Except for Grumpy Butt Holden. Sure enough, the tall blond, who I realized at that moment resembled Holden more than anyone else in the family, strutted into the room and I couldn’t stop from smiling too. He was the sunshine of the Duprees, full of happiness, jokes, and easygoing charm.
When he noticed all the hand-holding he sunk down, a little chagrined. “Oh. Sorry.” But he still gave Jenny a quick hug before hurrying to his seat.
As he walked by Holden, he purposely bumped his chair and muttered, “What up, shorty?”
I bit the insides of my cheeks to keep from laughing. Ashton was tall to be sure. Like Silas tall. But Holden wasn’t anything to shake a stick at. Probably six foot two. And, yeah, a solid wall of muscle.
Holden shot back, “What up, weenie?”
Ashton sat and reached both hands out, one toward me and one toward Tally. As I laid my palm in his, he offered me a dimpled smile and I couldn’t tell how much he knew. Did he know Holden and I were now a thing?News flash,my brain interrupted.You’re not a thing. Not anymore.The bigger question: Did he know about the shirtless kissing and pep rally?
I don’t think Ashton even looked at Tally or realized he was holding a stranger’s hand until the prayer was done. And if I’d happened to be looking anywhere else, I would’ve missed the best comedy of the whole day. He glanced at her as he pulled away, and the look on his face was priceless. His eyesflew open and his body jerked like someone had slapped him hard on the back, making him choke on a gobstopper. It only lasted a split second but I knew what had happened. Ashton had a love-at-first-sight moment. And Tally had no clue. And Ashton, who was still goggling, eyes soft, cheeks flushed, didn’t know she was fifteen.
I took my gaze off him for a split second to see if anyone else was watching. Holden was. Sitting up in his seat now, the corners of his mouth quirked in a sly smirk. He’d seen exactly what just went down and he was here for it, just like me.
Oh, this was going to be so fun.
seventeen
HOLDEN
Silas and I were going to wrestle when this was through.
I’d made my wishes extremely clear. I didn’t want to discuss the breakup with anyone and I didn’t want to see Christy. It was over. Or so I would keep telling myself until I believed it. But for the past week my parents, Silas, and even Lemon had treated my request like a doormat.
“You’re going to end up bitter and alone,” Mom kept saying.
Dad was a tiny bit kinder. “Don’t let a good woman go, son.”
Silas was just a d-bag with jabs like, “You’re an idiot,” and “The amount of jackassery you’re emitting right now is embarrassing. You should change your last name,” and “Stop being a wuss and running every time things get hard.”
Screw him.
It was Lemon’s words that had been churning in my head, my stomach, and my heart for the last seventy-two hours. “You love her, Holdie. And she loves you. It’s as plain as day. She needs you right now and you’re turning your back on her. Bythe time this is over and the stress has died down and you can think straight again, it might be too late.”
But that was the thing. It didn’t matter how much I loved Christy—and I’d finally admitted to myself that yes, that was what I was feeling—there wasn’t going to be an end to Amber’s hate. Not until one of us was in the grave. And if I truly loved Christy, I would not put her through another minute where she was a target for Amber’s vitriol. She didn’t deserve to be on administrative leave, or not allowed on campus to coach the girls or possibly at risk of losing her job.
