“Get out.” Abigail grabbed Tabitha’s arm. “You need to go—”
Tabitha shook Abigail off, turning and jabbing her elbow.
“Nope.” Rhys stepped between the women as Jules shouted, jumping in front of Abigail.
Tabitha swung a wild fist toward Jules, who had enough action-scene training to know to sidestep. Tabitha grabbed her hair as Rhys yanked her back.
Jules yelled as her head snapped in the direction Tabitha pulled.
“Let go of her.” Abigail crashed between them.
“Tabitha.” Sloane jumped into the fray. “Enough.”
“Let go of her hair,” Rhys ordered.
Tabitha refused, kicking and shouting. Abigail tore at Tabitha’s fingers. Sharp pain pulled at Jules’s scalp.
Finally, Tabitha let go, panting, “No one likes you, Jules.”
Rhys wrapped an arm around Tabitha’s waist, hauling her down the hallway.
Tabitha had lost her mind. It didn’t make sense. “What’s your problem?” Jules asked.
“You get everything.” She struggled against Rhys. “Put me down.”
“It’s fine. Let her go, Rhys. Please. Let her have her say and be done with it.”
He gave Jules a hard look but set Tabitha on her feet, one hand pinned to her shoulder. “Act like an idiot again, and I don’t care what anyone says. You’re gone.”
Sloane placed herself between Tabitha, Jules, and Abigail. “It’s been a stressful day.”
“Not for Tabitha, it hasn’t,” Abigail snapped. “You’re out of your mind if you think you’re more welcomeat our parents’ homethan Jules.” She turned to Jules and Sloane. “I’m with Rhys. Tabitha needs a time-out. Preferably in another time zone.”
“Abigail, you’re not helping,” Jules said.
Tabitha jerked under Rhys’s hold, only stopping when her mom rounded the corner.
“Ladies, Rhys—what’s going on?”
“Tabs is having a bad day, apparently,” Abigail muttered.
“We’re just arguing,” Tabitha countered. “Families argue.”
Abigail rolled her eyes.
“I’m leaving now anyway.” Tabitha finally broke free from Rhys and turned to Sloane. “We’ll touch base later.”
Rhys escorted Tabitha down the hallway. The four women stood in silence, watching until they couldn’t hear Tabitha complaining that she could walk herself out.
Jules’s mom touched her hair. “Want to tell me what was going on?”
Jules tried to smooth it.
Abigail put her hands on her hips. “Tabitha is nuts, Mom. You know that. I know that. Sloane and Jules know that.”
“She can be misguided—”
“Mom.”
