My back hit the red vinyl of the booth. “For how long?”
“Since forever.”
I scoffed.
“Fine. I knew it the day he carried you home from the mine.”
“I was nine.”
“Like I said. Forever.”
“And you’re just now telling me this?” There was no way. Or was there?
“You’re just now willing to hear it.”
But I wasn’t. Not really. “No, he was cruel that last summer. The things he said to me. The way he treated me… That wasn’t love.”
“No, that was love’s ugly second cousin—jealousy.”
“If it isn’t the Bradley sisters!” We both turned to see Gideon Hall in the center of Bigg’s with his arms raised as he walked toward us.
Still reeling from Charity’s theory, I barely managed a smile.
“Gid,” Charity responded for us.
“Scoot.” He sat next to Charity and nudged her over.
“Don’t you have better things to do than harass citizens?” She moved even as she chided him. “This isn’t high school.”
“Thank God, or Julie would be pissed if I were sitting here.” He grinned at me. “How are you, Willow?”
“Fine, Gi—” I openly gawked at the door and the man storming through it. “Is that…?”
“Dad,” Charity agreed and became preoccupied with her straw as he saw us and stalked over.
But Dad hated Bigg’s.
“Willow, I need a word with you.”
“Hi, Judge Bradley,” Gideon greeted.
“Lieutenant Hall,” Dad acknowledged. “Willow, now.”
“Okay, what is it?” Suddenly I wondered if Gideon’s choice of seat was more to protect than annoy.
“You want to do this here?” he challenged, eyes narrowing on me as his voice dropped in volume.
“Dad, I don’t know what this is. Do you want me to step outside with you?” I offered.
“This will be fine. You tell that boy that I saw his motion this morning when I came home from a Buena Vista appearance. I don’t know what in the hell you could possibly be thinking to still be helping him with those historic sites after what he’s done.”
Charity’s eyes darted toward the door, but I didn’t need her to say a word. I felt everyone’s eyes on us.
“Dad, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m guessing it’s Cam, but I haven’t seen him in a week. What’s going on?”
“You haven’t seen him?” He loosened his tie slightly but not enough to look unkempt. “Teaching her how to lie?” he asked Charity.
She tilted her head but didn’t respond.
Guess we were back to the not-talking thing.
“I’m not lying.” Whatever it was had to be huge for my dad to lose his temper in public like this.
“You’re not seeing him?”
“Not in the way you’re suggesting, no.” And bury me in the earth right now, because Tillie Halverson’s head popped over the milkshake machine. She had to be standing on the counter to get that view.
“You didn’t spend the night with him last week?” he hissed.
My cheeks flamed, both with embarrassment and indignation.
“That’s what I thought.”
“It wasn’t like that,” I snapped. But why was I defensive? Even if it had been, I was a grown woman, and he was the one acting like a child. He didn’t deserve an explanation, and I certainly didn’t owe him one.
“Right. Well, I’ll wish you the best of luck getting those plans approved by the Historical Society on Friday. Art has more than a few friends on the council, and none of us is in a hurry to see our friend buried just so Cam can get whatever inheritance he thinks is coming to him.”
See Art buried?
“Judge Bradley, you’re crossing a pretty clear line,” Gideon warned.
Dad looked at Gid’s badge, then his eyes. “Maybe if everyone else would stop crossing them, I wouldn’t feel like I had to fetch them back across it.”
“All the same, you might want to order a shake or something so everyone doesn’t think you came in just to yell at your daughters about private legal matters they shouldn’t even know about.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed, but he turned and left without another word, heading toward the counter to do just what Gideon suggested.
“What the hell was that about?” Charity asked.
“Cam had Simon drop a suit today. He’s suing Xander for guardianship of their father.” He stole a fry from my plate and ate it. “You know how fast word travels around here.”
“You knew our dad was coming,” I guessed.
“This wasn’t the first place he looked,” he confirmed. “The whole town is pretty pissed. I had lunch plans here anyway.”
“That explains your Genevieve snub,” Charity noted, smacking Gid’s hand when he reached for one of her fries. “Order your own.”
“I will. Just waiting on— There he is.” He nodded toward the door.
Camden scanned the room, finding Gideon and then me. His baseball hat rode low on his brow, as did those jeans on his hips. Hips I’d had my thighs wrapped around last week.
And now my face felt like it was on fire.
“Frosty reception,” Charity murmured.
That’s when I noticed that not a single soul was speaking at any of the twenty tables. They were all watching Cam. “Glaring” was probably the better term.
Cam noticed, too, because his chin rose as he strode across the floor.
Dad moved into his path, and my heart stopped with Cam’s steps as his fist flexed, but he tucked his thumbs into his back pockets. This could go so very wrong, and if Cam’s temper got the best of him, he’d never win his suit.
“If you do this, Dad won’t forgive you,” Charity whispered.
I looked down at her and realized I’d stood. “You’re sure about what you said earlier?”
She glanced at Dad and Cam. “Yeah. I am.”
“Then I can live with it.” Dad raised me to side with what was right, no matter the cost. He just didn’t realize he wasn’t right this time.
She swallowed, then nodded quickly.