“It’s always just mayo, Dad. Everything eventually comes down to mayo.”
She turns and heads into the house, but pauses at the door to deliver one final shot.
“By the way, you might want to work on your intimidation face. You look less like an angry father and more like you’re trying to solve a really hard sudoku.”
The door slams, leaving Mr. Thompson standing on the porch clutching his newspaper.
I shouldn’t be impressed by how she handled that. I should be worried about the fallout, about what this means for all of us.
But damn if Callie Thompson doesn’t know how to turn a confrontation into entertainment.
Jesse: Did you see the photos?
Boone: We’re trending on the Cedar Ridge Facebook page!
Me: Emergency meeting. Now.
Twenty minutes later,my brothers are waiting for me in the barn like it’s an intervention.
“We need to talk,” Jesse says, which is never a good start to any conversation.
“About?” I ask, though I know exactly what this is about.
Boone holds up his phone, showing me the Facebook post that’s taken over the entire town’s news feed. The photo is blurry but unmistakably Callie, leaving our ranch at dawn with what Mrs. Delaney’s caption calls “sex hair and satisfied smile #scandal #enemiestolovers #calleddit.”
“Cripes. What a mess,” I say, running a hand through my hair.
“It’s hilarious,” Jesse counters. “Did you read the comments? Someone made a meme with Romeo and Juliet but with our faces photoshopped in.”
“It’s actually pretty well done,” Boone adds. “I might make it my profile picture.”
“This isn’t funny,” I snap. “This is exactly what I said would happen. We’re dragging her down with us.”
“Dragging her down?” Jesse’s eyebrows shoot up. “She seemed pretty happy being ‘dragged down’ last night.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Then what do you mean?” Boone asks. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’re trying to bail now that things are getting difficult.”
“Things were always going to get difficult. That’s why this was a bad idea from the start.”
“Oh, so now it’s a bad idea?” Jesse’s voice is rising. “Last night you seemed pretty on board with the idea. VERY on board, if I remember correctly.”
“Last night I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“Last night you were thinking with your?—”
“Don’t.” I cut him off with a glare. “This isn’t about last night. This is about what happens next. Her reputation is being destroyed because of us.”
“Her reputation was already weird because she owns an escape artist goat and talks to chickens, and is the offspring of Hank Thompson,” Boone points out. “We’re probably improving it.”
“This isn’t a joke, Boone!”
“Everything’s a joke if you try hard enough!” he shoots back. “Callie said that this morning. Oh wait, you were creeping on their argument, weren’t you? I saw you up on the hill with your binoculars.”
“I wasn’t creeping. I was... observing. Sounds like you were doing the same, Boone.”
“Stalkers,” Jesse coughs into his hand.
