Page 18 of Love, Lies, and Whiskey

Chapter Seven

JULIETTE’S NERVES WERE working overtime. She was glad Seeley had brought out a glass of wine and a glass of water for her. She’d probably need both.

They were sitting in heavy wooden chairs by the firepit. She tried to calm her nerves, taking in the large deck, and the rest of his backyard, which was exactly like she’d imagined it might be. There were no manicured gardens or stone paths, just natural beauty. The spotty grass, rocky terrain, bushes, and trees were left to grow as they wished. Wildflowers added pops of color along the banks of the creek and around rocks and tree trunks. She saw the old wooden bridge they’d used that fateful summer to cross the creek.

She was surprised he hadn’t torn that down, too. She couldn’t help but wonder if he ever used it anymore, or went to the spots they’d once called their own.

Pushing those thoughts away, she watched Seeley take a drink of his beer. He was wearing a Dark Knights T-shirt, jeans, and black leather boots, looking at her so intently, it made her wonder what he saw.

She fidgeted with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. “Where do we start?”

“I’d like to talk about Lucas,” he said evenly. “But first I think I need to understand more about how we got here and what you’ve been through. You said your father gave you an ultimatum, and your mother didn’t help, which must’ve fucking crushed you. I know you had hoped she’d eventually get out from under your father’s thumb.”

She’d considered her father a lost cause well before meeting Seeley, but when she was younger, she had held out hope that her mother might open her eyes to her controlling husband and side with her on something. Anything. Her grandmother had cautioned her against that misguided hope many times, insisting her mother wasn’t under anyone’s thumb, but a gold digger who resented her station in life. Once she’d landed Juliette’s father, she’d become even more materialistic. As Juliette had witnessed too many times to count, her mother had no issue going along with whatever her father decided for every aspect of their lives in order to keep that gravy train going, even when it meant forsaking her own daughter’s future.

“I should have listened to my grandmother. She was right about her.” She sipped her wine. “I used to wish my mother was more like yours. Or at least like the person your mom was when I knew her.”

“She’s still the same loving person you knew. She’ll be furious when she hears about all of this.”

“I’m embarrassed, and I feel guilty about how my father treated you and your family.”

“You were a kid. You had no control, and everyone knows that.” He leaned his elbows on his knees. “I carry a lot of guilt for what I put my family through, too.” His dark eyes found hers again. “But I have never apologized for how I felt about you, and I never will. There’s a difference between regretting something and feeling guilty because of the trouble it caused others.”

She felt like she was going to cry. Nobody had ever loved her the way he did, and the vehemence in his voice confirmed everything she’d believed he’d felt when they were together.

“The thing I can’t make sense of,” he said, “is why Hazel didn’t step in to help you. She adored you.”

“She offered to take me in, and I wanted to go live with her, but my father threatened to ruin her business. He said he’d make sure she never earned another penny. I couldn’t do that to her.”

“That fucking cowardly bastard.” He picked up a poker and stoked the fire, sending sparks crackling toward the sky. “I should’ve taken care of him when I had the chance.”

“What do you mean, when you had the chance?”

He sat back. “Before the engagement announcement, when I still thought your father had lied to me about you and Josh, I was home for the weekend and got rip-roaring drunk. I grabbed one of our rifles and climbed into a truck to hunt him down.”

“Seeley. What were you thinking?” She was shocked. Not that he’d want to go after her father, but he’d always been careful about not drinking and driving or doing things that could unnecessarily endanger others. “If you’d managed to do it, you’d be in prison right now, and that’s assuming you didn’t kill yourself or someone else first by driving drunk.”

“That’s basically what my old man said when he hauled my ass out of the truck and gave me hell.”

“Thank God he did.” She hesitated for a minute before adding, “As much as I hate that my father turned you into someone who would even think about doing something like that, when I thought you didn’t fight for us, I was devastated. As wrong as it is, I’m kind of glad to hear you were trying to after all.”

He shook his head, his lips curving into a slightly sorrowful smile. But it lasted only a few seconds before his expression turned serious again. “I was pretty messed up over losing you.” He took a drink and gazed out at the creek.

She studied his profile, seeing so much of Lucas in him, the relief of knowing he hadn’t written that letter hit her anew, bringing with it a wave of longing for the time Seeley and Lucas had lost. She had no idea how she was going to manage to break the news to Lucas, but she was getting ahead of herself. There was still a lot to wade through.

He met her gaze. “I don’t think I ever got over it.”

The honesty in his eyes drew her own confession. “That makes two of us.” Their gazes held for so long, the air felt electrically charged. She couldn’t afford to let that take hold and glanced at the fire.

“How did your father get Josh to agree to everything?” Seeley asked. “Taking on a wife and someone else’s kid is a lot for anyone, and he was, what? Eighteen?”

“It wasn’t hard to convince him. He’d loved me since we were kids, and I told you that summer how devastated he was when I broke up with him. I was such a mess when I thought you’d written that letter, Josh would have done anything to make me happier. I feel horrible about roping him into the whole situation, but I think there was more to it. His dad was my father’s attorney, and he was as corrupt as my father was. I don’t know much about their crooked business dealings, but knowing my father, he probably had something to hold over Josh’s father’s head.”

Seeley’s jaw clenched so tight, it had to hurt. “I’m thankful Josh agreed, and you were with someone who loved you. Did you get the wedding you always wanted?”

She shook her head, remembering how she and Seeley had made plans to get through college and vet school and get married on the ranch. She sipped her wine, trying to push away those painful memories. “We had a small ceremony in my parents’ backyard shortly after the announcement came out. I got my GED, and my father used his influence to get me into Stanford, where Josh was going to school. He rented us a house and paid for a nanny after Lucas was born so I could continue my education.”

“So Lucas thinks Josh is his father?”