Something’s not right. Faith is nowhere in sight. It’s just us.
“Gentlemen,” Pastor Bobbit says, glancing at me and then at Mr. Easton. “I noticed you did not wish to give each other the sign of peace today.”
“I was open to it,” I say, impressed by Pastor Bobbit’s eagle eye. But then, our family feud isn’t very well hidden. Pastor Bobbit was probably looking out for it.
“He tripped my future son-in-law on purpose last weekend,” Mr. Easton growls. “I saw it as I was cooking in my restaurant.”
Well, I’ll be darned. Pastor Bobbit isn’t the only one with an eagle eye.
“Is this true?” Pastor Bobbit asks.
“I don’t remember that very well,” I say. “Pretty sure it was an accident, though. You should probably tell your son-in-law not to get so hammered.”
“Bull…” Mr. Easton looks at Pastor Bobbit’s raised eyebrows. “…plop. Bullplop. You did it on purpose.”
“If it was on purpose, I’m sorry.” I turn to Pastor Bobbit and shrug with a smirk. “But you have to understand, those guys were pretty drunk. They were at least a bottle of wine in, and they were talking about cheating on their future wives. If you ask me, that was therealsinning going on in that restaurant.”
Okay.
Maybe that was over the line. I get it.
It’s my hooligan instincts coming back out. It’s hard to hold them in sometimes.
But it’s enough to make Mr. Easton lunge forward toward me.
I’m not sure what he thinks is going to happen. He’s a fifty-something year old man challenging a world-class, twenty-four-year-old athlete who is probably in better shape than 99.999% of the world’s population.
I simply wait until he’s coming toward me with all his weight, act like I’m going to challenge him, then sashay out of the way like a skilled bullfighter. Mr. Easton crashes clumsily into the table next to the wall, losing his balance.
Everyone who is still in the lobby stares.
“Pastor Bobbit, you saw that,” I say. “He came at me.”
Pastor Bobbit shakes his head. “Hunter, go on, get out of here. Take your mom and go home before you cause any more trouble.”
Faith goes zooming by me to aid her father.
“Daddy! What happened here?”
I find my mom and guide us outside. But as I’m leaving, I hear Mr. Easton say, “I’ll tell you what happened. It’s those damn Holloways. They’re always starting trouble.”
My mom frowns at me as we walk out.
“Hunter,” she shakes her head, letting out a sigh. “What did you do now?”
Okay, so Iwasn’tfeeling bad about what I said, but now I feel just a smidge of guilt.
Still, screw Keith and his bullshit. This is a complicated situation I’m dealing with now, what with my attraction to Faith slashLunawith her engagement still obviously on. I definitely am not going to be explaining this one to my mom. I still don’t know how to explain it tomyself.
And I feel bad for making the old man fall. That was uncalled for.
“My bad, Mom,” I say.
“What do I always say?” she asks as we get into my truck and I start the ignition.
“Be the better person, no matter what.”
“Yes, take the high ground. And please, don’t get involved with those Stinsons and Eastons. You know they only care about their money and their family.”
