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This was it. This was the moment of humiliation I’d been dreading. My secret would be revealed, not just to Hale, but to everyone. Come morning, they’d all know I had a father who didn’t love me.
A cheat and a thief.
And I, somehow, wasn’t good enough for him, so how on earth would I be good enough for Hale?
I couldn’t bear their glances or their pity.
I’d be laid bare, in front of the people I wanted to impress most. They’d have questions, but I had no answers.
I didn’t know why the first man meant to love me found the job so impossible. What if the second man discovered the same?
I stepped back, again and again until I bumped into the wall.
It was coming. The truth was coming and I couldn’t bear the shame so I left, twisting to push through the door into a hall where I ran as fast as I could manage in my towering shoes.
I didn’t stop until I was outside of the restaurant looking for Marty. He wasn’t there. The street was narrow and cars bottlenecked at the end of the block where some scaffolding and cones had the shoulder blocked off.
At the corner, I spotted Barrett hailing a cab. He might as well have been waving a white flag and holding a life raft. “Barrett, wait!”
He turned and I rushed toward him. “I’m coming with you.”
“Meyers, I don’t think that’s a good?—”
I slid past him into the cab.
“Where’s Hale?” Barrett scooted onto the back seat and the cabby turned.
“Where to?”
“Away from here.”
Barrett frowned. “Rayne, what’s going on?”
“I just need to get out of here.” On the verge of tears, I snapped, “Drive!”
The cab jerked into traffic and Barrett studied me under the shadows. A tear rolled down my cheek, the dam that had been holding back my emotions started to crumble. One more crack and everything would fall.
“Hey, I’m sorry for whatever I said up there. I’m drunk and I’m an idiot.”
“It’s not you.”
“Don’t be mad at Hale. He’s a jealous ass, but he loves you. He didn’t mean any of it. He and I will be fine. Like water under the bridge. Shit, please don’t cry, Meyers.”
I swiped away my tears but more fell in their place. “It’s not that.”
“Then what? Did something else happen?”
“Everything’s falling apart! Hale wants a perfect wedding but he’s fighting with you and your dad and now the restaurant manager.”
“Folks, you gotta give me a destination,” the cabby chimed in.
“Just keep driving,” Barrett commanded then looked back at me. “What the hell happened after I left?”
I wiped both my eyes and a black smudge smeared across my fingers. “There’s a situation. A big situation.” My stomach twisted painfully. “Oh, God.” I started to hyperventilate.
“Shit. Are you okay?” Barrett pressed a hand to my back, bending me forward. “Breathe. You have to calm down and tell me what the hell is going on.”
Sharp, shallow breaths pumped into my lungs but I couldn’t seem to exhale or hold enough air in. The dam was breaking and the verbal diarrhea was building. I couldn’t hold it in anymore so I let it spill.
