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Both his parents and my mom jerked their gazes away from him and turned in unison to send me probing stares. I glowered at Ryder, condemning him with a vile scowl.
He winced, at least looking apologetic. “You can’t keep running anymore.”
The crushing weight of doom pressed against my chest.
“What is he talking about?” Mom demanded, pinning me with a pointed look. “Running from what, Grace?”
Five pair of eyes zoomed in on me, and I got stage fright. My mouth opened, but no words came out. My face heated with humiliation because I just couldn’t admit the truth with Barry standing right there, practically hanging from my mother’s side pocket.
Clearing his throat, he took Mom’s hand to gain her attention. “Honey, I think I know what’s wrong.”
Mom blinked, crinkling her face into confusion. “You do? How can you know what’s wrong with my daughter, when I clearly don’t?”
He sighed sadly as if he were ready to confess all the sins of the world. Thinking he really was going to admit to what he’d done, I let my shoulders relax until he glanced my way and quietly reported, “The other night, when we were watching that movie, Grace…well, she kissed me.”
“What?” Three of us—me, Mom, and Ryder—shouted out the question, each carrying our own variety of shock.
Barry nodded sadly. “I stopped her immediately, of course. And I tried to let her down easily, but she only got upset, ran to her room, and refused to talk to me for the rest of the night. I think she might be…embarrassed because…well, I don’t know. She’s only a girl, and was probably just experimenting.”
“Oh, my God,” Mom said, covering her mouth. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”
My lips fell apart as I gaped at her. She believed him. She truly believed him. I couldn’t—well, I couldn’t understand. Why would my own mother think I’d kiss her husband? Eww.
I swallowed convulsively as I tried to keep the tears from falling. What was I supposed to do now?
“I can understand you’re probably confused.” Barry turned to me, his eyes filled with so much fake sympathy, I wanted to gag. “But running out and sleeping with some other boy isn’t going to fix anything, sweetheart.”
“We didn’t—” Ryder instantly said, his teeth clenched as he stepped to my side in angry support.
But his dad reached out and grabbed his arm. “Not right now, son.”
“No,” Ryder growled, ignoring his father. Pointing a deadly finger Barry’s way, he charged, “He’s lying. She did not kiss him.”
His unquestioning belief in me is probably what helped hold me together throughout the rest of the conversation. If Ryder hadn’t been there, I probably would’ve shaken myself right into a nervous breakdown.
He was so intent to defend me, he whirled toward my mother and demanded, “How can you just stand there and believe that jerk over your own daughter?”
Mom gave Ryder a surprised look. “Believe her? She hasn’t told me anything contrary to what he’s said.”
“She hasn’t said anything to me either,” Ryder snapped. “But she doesn’t have to either. I already know she would never do what he said.”
That’s when I started to bawl, the tears pouring down my cheeks in a gush from the first drop. My fingers, my hands, my arms and legs shook so hard, my bones actually hurt.
When kind hands slipped around my shoulders, I jolted away until I realized it was Ryder’s mother, giving me a supportive hug.
It made me cry even harder. Once again, a complete stranger was showing me more kindness and concern than my own mother. With the slightest of prodding, Mrs. Yates turned me until I was facing her and could bury my face in her shoulder as her hug encompassed me. She smelled like vanilla and aloe, so soothing and comfortable.
“What exactly am I supposed to disbelieve here?” I heard Mom ask in a hesitant voice.
“Just look at her,” Ryder charged. “She’s scared to death. And I seriously doubt she would’ve run away from him if she was trying to hit on him—which is what she did. She ran here. Wouldn’t she want to stick around him while you were at work? Just think about that. She came to me, crying and too upset to tell me what was going on. That makes me think she doesn’t want anything to do with your husband, not that she’s upset because he turned her down. She’s scared. And why in God’s name would she suddenly stop wearing his necklace if she was trying to come onto him? The only reason she came over here tonight was because she was too afraid
to stay at home alone with him.”
I lifted my face from Mrs. Yates’s shoulder to find Mom glancing at me with questioning eyes. Tears burned my cheeks like hot talons clawing out my very soul.
When my mother’s gaze fell on my bare neck, she stared a moment, her face crinkling with uncertainty. Then she turned toward her husband. “Barry?”
He took her arm. “Don’t listen to him, Kate. I don’t even know who this kid is. Grace kissed me, and that’s the truth.”
