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He touched my knee in silent support. I wouldn’t lie to myself and pretend I hadn’t wanted to go, but in the grand scheme of things, it was meaningless.
“I stole my date’s car and left him on the side of the road after I caught him kissing another girl.” Beau continued munching on her salad as if she’d said nothing out of the ordinary.
“Why am I just now hearing this?” Lincoln growled.
Oh no. I had a feeling he’d find out who her date was and set him straight even though the guy had wronged his sister twenty years ago.
She rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to know everything.”
“That’s what concerns me,” he muttered.
“You went with . . .” Teague tapped his lips with his index finger.
“It doesn’t matter,” she finished. “What time do the dogs eat? I need to let the catering company know when to deliver their food every day.”
What? Catering company? And I thought we were talking about the prom . . . though I was grateful to be done with the subject.
I swallowed my bite of soup. “Six and six.”
“A friend of mine has agourmet”—she said the word in a frou-frou voice—“dog food company. All jokes aside, it’s fresh and healthy. She even makes it according to the breed.”
“I’m sure it’s wonderful, but we can’t afford that.” How I wished we could. These dogs deserved the best nutrition they could get, but specialty food was way out of budget.
Beau waved me off. “She can deliver once or twice a day. Whatever you need.”
“Once,” Miss Adeline said before I could decline again. “In the afternoon would be good.”
I gave her a stern look, which she ignored. Come to think of it, everyone ignored me around here. And yet today? I didn’t mind. Today, I felt as though I had a team of people around me who had my back. So, despite the roll of my eyes, I was incredibly humbled and thankful. Tomorrow might be a different day, but today, I’d take.
“Perfect.” Beau already had out her phone, her fingers flying across the screen as she typed a text. It chimed with an incoming text almost immediately. “She’ll be here at four.”
Another chime sounded. Beau paled.
Teague stiffened, and Sadie nosed her leg.
“What’s wrong?” Lincoln barked.
“Dad’s coming.”
“Where?” Teague demanded in a tone I’d never heard from him.
She looked at her phone again as if unsure she’d read the message correctly. Her gaze was wary when it lifted.
“Here.”
Chapter Nineteen
Teague
The surprise visitsweren’t unusual.
This many in one week? Very out of the ordinary.
“Keep him away from here.”
I’d spoken out of turn to my brother, once again throwing everything on him. I had no problem handling any situation on my own. When it came to our father, my default setting was to shove it onto Lincoln. Let him take care of it.
He bent his head over his phone and typed furiously. As his thumb hovered, the bells above the door jingled.
