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“Oh? And what’s that?”
Spence rubbed his jaw where the day’s stubble cast a blue-black shadow. “It’s going to be hard for me to do business in a town where a person can go around throwing out false accusations and getting away with it.”
He wasn’t going to cancel the deal. Meg didn’t believe it. Not with Sunny giving him those pleading glances. Not with an entire town lined up to fawn over him. He was playing a cat-and-mouse game, flexing his muscle by humiliating her and letting them all see who was in charge.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Spence,” Ted said. “I guess misunderstandings can happen anywhere. The good thing about Wynette is that we try to fix our troubles before they get too big to cause problems. Let me see if I can’t help straighten this out.”
“I don’t know, Ted.” Spence gazed toward the empty landfill. “Something like this is going to be hard to get past. Everybody’s counting on me to sign those contracts tomorrow, but I can’t imagine that h
appening with this false accusation hanging over me.”
Tense murmurs rippled through the crowd. Sunny didn’t see through her father’s game, and her face was a picture of dismay as she envisioned her future with Ted slipping away. “Dad, we need to talk about this privately.”
Mr. Cool pulled off his ball cap and scratched his head. Did anyone but her see his weariness? “You have to do what you think is right, that’s for sure, Spence. But I’m betting I can help fix this if you’ll just tell me what the problem is.”
Meg couldn’t stand it any longer. “I’m the problem,” she declared. “I insulted Spence, and now he wants to punish the town for it. But you don’t have to do that, Spence, because I’m leaving Wynette. I’d be gone by now if Sunny hadn’t stopped me.”
Ted shoved his hat back on his head, and even as he glared at her, his voice was calm. “Meg, why don’t you let me handle this?”
But Spence was out for blood. “You think you can just drive away with no harm done after making such a serious accusation in front of my daughter? That doesn’t work for me.”
“Now hold on here,” Ted said. “How about we start at the beginning?”
“Yes, Meg,” Spence sneered. “Why don’t we do that?”
She couldn’t look at Ted, so she focused on Spence. “I’ve admitted that I lied. You were a perfect gentleman. There was no assault. I . . . made the whole thing up.”
Ted spun on her. “Spence assaulted you?”
“That’s what she told my daughter.” Spence’s words dripped with contempt. “She’s a liar.”
“You assaulted her?” Ted’s eyes blazed. “You son of a bitch.” With no more warning than that, Mr. Cool launched himself at the town’s last great hope.
A gasp of stunned disbelief went up from the crowd. The plumbing king sprawled to the ground, his Panama hat rolling away in the dirt. Meg was so shocked she couldn’t move. Sunny let out a strangled scream, and everyone stood in frozen horror as their unflappable mayor—their very own Prince of Peace—grabbed Spencer Skipjack by the collar of his dress shirt and dragged him back to his feet.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Ted shouted in his face, his own features twisting in dark fury.
Spence lashed out with his foot, catching Ted in the leg and sending them both tumbling back into the dirt.
It was all a bad dream.
A bad dream that turned into a full-fledged nightmare as two familiar figures emerged from the crowd.
She was imagining them. It couldn’t be. She blinked, but the awful vision wouldn’t go away.
Her parents. Fleur and Jake Koranda. Staring at her with appalled faces.
They couldn’t be here. Not without telling her they were coming. Not here at the landfill witnessing the greatest personal disaster of her life.
She blinked again, but they were still standing there, with Francesca and Dallie Beaudine right behind them. Her mother, gloriously beautiful. Her father—tall, craggy, and ready to spring.
The brawlers were on their feet, then back on the ground. Spence had Ted by a good fifty pounds, but Ted was stronger, more agile, and fueled by an anger that had transformed him into a man she didn’t recognize.
Torie clutched her sarong. Kenny released a blistering obscenity. Kayla started to cry. And Francesca tried to run to the aid of her precious baby boy only to have her husband snatch her back.
No one, however, thought to restrain Sunny, who wouldn’t let any man, not even the one she fancied herself in love with, attack her beloved father. “Daddy!” With a cry, she threw herself on Ted’s back.
It was more than Meg could stand. “Get off him!”
