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“For what, Meg?” she said. “Exactly what are you apologizing for?”
Their question left her speechless. Hadn’t they been listening?
The model and the movie star waited patiently for her response. A lock of blond hair curled along her mother’s cheek. Her father rubbed his hip, as if he were checking for one of the pearl-handled Colt revolvers he’d worn in his Bird Dog Caliber films. Meg started to respond. She even opened her mouth. But nothing came out because she couldn’t think of a good answer.
Her mother tossed her hair. “Obviously, these Texans have brainwashed you.”
They were right. The person she needed to apologize to was herself for not being wise enough to protect her heart.
“You can’t stay here,” her father said. “This isn’t a good place for you.”
In some ways, it had been a very good place, but she merely nodded. “My car’s already packed. I’m sorry to run out on you after you came all this way, but you’re right. I have to leave, and I’m going now.”
Her mother switched to her no-nonsense voice. “We want you to come home. Take some time to regroup.”
Her father slipped his arm around Meg’s shoulders. “We’ve missed you, baby.”
This was what she’d wanted since they’d kicked her out. A little security, a place to hole up while she sorted everything out. Her heart filled with love for them. “You’re the best. Both of you. But I have to do this on my own.”
They argued with her, but Meg held firm, and after an emotional farewell, she headed back down the rear stairs to her car. She had one more thing to do before she drove away.
The cars in the Roustabout parking lot overflowed onto the highway. Meg parked on the shoulder behind a Honda Civic. As she walked along the road, she didn’t bother searching for Ted’s Benz or his truck. She knew he wouldn’t be here, just as she knew everyone else would have gathered inside to hash over the afternoon’s catastrophe.
She took a deep breath and shoved the door open. The smell of fried food, beer, and barbeque rolled over her as she looked around. The big room was jammed. People stood along the walls, between tables, and in the hallway that led to the restrooms. Torie, Dex, and all the Travelers squeezed around a four-top. Kayla, her father, Zoey, and Birdie sat nearby. Meg didn’t see either Dallie or Francesca, although Skeet and some of the senior caddies leaned against the wall next to the video games, sipping beer.
It took a while before anyone in the crowd noticed her, and then it started to happen. Small pockets of silence that grew bigger as the seconds ticked by. They spread to the bar first, then encompassed the rest of the room until the only sounds were the clink of glassware and the voice of Carrie Underwood coming from the jukebox.
It would have been so much easier to slink away, but these past few months had taught her she wasn’t the loser she’d believed herself to be. She was smart, she knew how to work hard, and she finally had a plan, however shaky, for her future. So even though she’d started to feel dizzy, and the food smells were making her nauseated, she forced herself to walk over to Pete Laraman, who always gave her a five-dollar tip for the frozen Milky Ways she carried just for him. “May I borrow your chair?”
He relinquished his seat and even gave her a hand up, a gesture she suspected was motivated by curiosity, not courtesy. Someone pulled the plug on the jukebox, and Carrie broke off midsong. Standing on the chair might not have been her best idea because of her rubbery knees, but if she was going to do this, she had to do it right, and that meant everyone in the place needed to be able to see her.
She spoke into the silence. “I know you all hate me right now, and there’s nothing I can do about that.”
“You can get the hell out of here,” one of the bar rats shouted.
Torie shot to her feet. “Shut up, Leroy. Let her have her say.”
The brunette Meg recognized from Francesca’s luncheon as Hunter Gray’s mother piped up next. “Meg’s said enough, and now we’re all screwed.”
The woman next to her came out of her chair. “Our kids are screwed, too. We can kiss those school improvements good-bye.”
“The hell with the schools,” another of the bar rats declared. “What about all those jobs we’re not going to have thanks to her?”
“Thanks to Ted,” his crony added. “We trusted him, and look what happened.”
The dark murmur Ted’s name elicited told Meg she was right to do this. Lady Emma tried to spring up to defend their mayor only to have Kenny pull her back into her chair. Meg surveyed the crowd. “That’s why I’m here,” she said. “To talk about Ted.”
“There’s nothing you can say about him that we don’t already know,” the first bar rat declared with a sneer.
“Is that right?” Meg countered. “Well, how about this? Ted Beaudine isn’t perfect.”
“We sure know that now,” his friend shouted, looking around him for confirmation and not having any trouble finding it.
“You should have known it all along,” she countered, “but you’ve always held him to a higher standard than you’ve held yourselves. He’s so good at everything that you lost sight of the fact that he’s human like the rest of us, and he can’t always work miracles.”
“None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for you!” someone exclaimed from the back.
“That’s exactly right,” Meg said. “You stupid rednecks! Don’t you get it? From the minute Lucy walked out on him, Ted didn’t have a chance.” She let that sink in for a moment. “I saw my opportunity and I moved in on him. Right from the beginning, I had him in the palm of my hand.” She tried to duplicate the bar rat’s sneer. “None of you think a woman can control Ted, but I cut my teeth on movie stars and rockers, so believe me, he was easy. Then, when the game got old, I dumped him. He’s not used to that, and he got a little crazy. So blame me all you want. But don’t you dare fix the blame on him because he doesn’t deserve your crap.” She felt her swagger slipping. “He’s one of yours. The best you have. And if you don’t all let him know that, you deserve what you get.”
