by Codi Gary
“Are you finished with your hissy fit?”
Val gritted her teeth. “What can I do for you, Dad?”
“You can get on your computer and look at the latest spectacle your sister has made. For God’s sake, it’s Tuesday. I thought she was home with you last night. What was she doing partying on a Monday? Doesn’t she have classes today?”
“I have no idea if she has classes or not, and when I said she was here, I meant that she was staying here. Not that she was hanging with me.”
“Well, I have had it. I know everyone in town has probably seen it by now, between the Internet and the paper. After everything she’d put me through lately—”
“What are you talking about?” Val asked as she went into the living room and sat down at her desk. She pressed the start button on her computer and waited as it loaded.
“What I’m talking about is that ridiculous gossip columnist and the pictures she took of your sister. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve called them since they hired that woman, but they refuse to fire her. And now that she’s online, she can post anything, anytime.”
Finally, realization dawned on Val. “Are you talking about Miss Know It All’s blog?”
“Of course I’m talking about her . . .” and he started going off again.
Val set the phone down but put it on speaker, turning down the volume as he continued to rant. She got on the Internet, heading to the Rock Canyon Press Web site and clicking on Miss Know It All’s gossip column. She didn’t even have to scroll down to see the tagline:
Blame It on the Alcohol!
Beneath it sat a picture of Justin carrying Ellie, her dark head on his chest, and a spark of jealousy burned in Val’s gut. Despite the kiss and his assurance that he wasn’t interested in Ellie, her sister was very beautiful, wild, and knew how to play a man.
That kiss was a mistake and you have no business being jealous of a man you shouldn’t even be interested in.
The voice was right.
“Are you listening to me?” her father’s voice cut into her thoughts.
Picking up the phone and flicking it off speaker, she said, “Yes. I was looking for the article.”
“Well?”
She realized she’d forgotten to read it and said, “Yeah, hang on.”
Princess Eleanor Willis made quite the spectacle last night at Buck’s Shot Bar (really, is she even legal?) when she started stumbling around drunkenly, hanging on any and all things male. If it hadn’t been for the heroic actions of one former Marine, who got her out of there in the nick of time, the littlest Willis might be taking a walk of shame this morning . . . unless . . . well . . . All I can say is, if I had Justin Silverton taking me home and my inhibitions were down, I’d be all over that!
Val could feel the heat of a blush spreading over her neck and cheeks as she thought about having her own way with Justin.
Apparently, her father was running out of patience because he said, “And the fact that she’s with that lowlife drunk’s son is the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”
Now, that was just unfair. “Dad! She didn’t go home with Justin. He brought her back here last night and she’s sleeping it off in my guest room.” The line was deadly quiet, and she added, “Besides, Justin is a good guy. He saw how much she was drinking and got her out of there. He even helped me get her into bed.”
“Is that all he did?” Her father’s voice sounded dark and suspicious.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but yes. He helped me with Ellie and then he left.”
There was silence on the line for several ticks and then, “Good. The last thing you need is to get involved with a loser after being married to Cole. Marry up, not down, my dear.”
The fact that her father still thought the sun rose and set on Cole’s ass pissed her off. How could he like a lying prick better than his own daughter? “Three quarters of the men in town would be a step up from Cole, and that includes Justin.”
Val wasn’t sure why she was defending Justin so hard; besides that one night ten years ago and last night’s kiss, she hardly knew him.
“Cole is a senator’s son with a master’s degree and comes from the right kind of people. The Silvertons come from trash, and that’s all they’ll ever be.”
Val was completely disgusted. “I don’t know how you can be like that about hardworking people, especially since they’re the same people who vote for you.”
“Now, Valerie—”
“Just because someone doesn’t sit on their ass all day pushing papers, afraid to get their hands dirty, doesn’t make them trash.”
“Watch your tone with me, Valerie. All that paper pushing and ass sitting gave you a good life, a great education, and the trust fund you’re currently using to stay afloat,” he said.
Taking a deep, calming breath, Val tried everything she could think of not to yell at the man. What was it about him that could turn her into an angry teenager again in the blink of an eye? “Look, Dad, I’m watching out for Ellie and I’ll talk to her. Why don’t you take a little trip out of town and relax? When’s the last time you had a vacation?”
“Speaking of a vacation, have you thought any more about that matchmaking event?”
“No, I haven’t, because I have no interest in meeting anyone new,” she said, congratulating herself on not snapping. “Besides, what’s the deal with this place? Have they offered to donate to your campaign or something?”
“I already told you. It would be good for you to get out and meet the right kind of people,” he said, sounding nearly sincere. “And having you there, participating and asking questions, will get you noticed, which will, in turn, help turn people toward me and my political aspirations.”
“If you’ll try to remember, I spent most of my life in the spotlight, and I’m enjoying the quiet,” she said.
“You’re just being stubborn. If you would just stop fighting against me, you’d see that this is a great opportunity for both of us,” he said calmly, like she was still ten and wanted to play with her friends instead of going to a function with him. “Honestly, Valerie, when did you become so selfish?”
Val clenched the phone in her fist and gritted her teeth, wanting to scream. Selfish? Had it been selfish of her to skip her spring formal to go with him to some fund-raiser only to have that bastard, Kyle Jenner, try to grope her by the dessert table?
She wasn’t going to scream, though, and let him tell her she was having a hissy fit again.
“Hanging up now, Dad.”
Val hung up the phone, resisting the urge to throw it across the room. Instead, she set it calmly on her desk before making her way back to the kitchen for more coffee, applauding her maturity.
Sure, hanging up on someone is real mature.
Val made a face at the internal reprimand, but her father deserved only so much tolerance and respect. Edward Willis was a bigoted, superior asshole, but he had also made sure she had the best of everything.
Except the best of him and his attention.
Oh, he’d given her attention, all right, but it had all been the wrong kind. He had never bothered with her unless he needed something or she’d done something to embarrass him.
Like when she’d gotten her sleeve tattoo—an intricate design of bright flowers with her mother’s name and a favorite quote written within—he’d taken one look at her in a sleeveless dress and had a meltdown. He had wanted her to be his date for a dinner with Senator Jenner and his son, Kyle, but the minute he’d ordered her to change into a long-sleeved dress, she’d told him to go screw himself. Once he’d threatened to cut her off, she’d backed down, though. She had learned to pick her battles with her father.
But after her divorce and her twenty-fifth birthday, she didn’t have to worry about losing her trust fund anymore. With financial freedom, she didn’t have to take his shit if she didn’t want to. She’d done enough to please him; it was time to live her own life.
“Is there any more cof
fee?” a raspy voice asked from the kitchen doorway.
Val turned to her sister with a raised eyebrow. Ellie’s makeup was smeared, the black from her eyeliner and mascara giving her raccoon eyes, and she grimaced. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?” Val asked, pulling another mug from the cupboard to hand to her.
“Don’t lecture me until I’ve had at least one cup.”
Val poured the coffee and handed it to Ellie. “I don’t need to lecture you. You’re a grown woman who obviously knows her limits. Who understands that when she gets so drunk that she can’t even function, she leaves herself open to horrible things like rape and being dissolved in a bathtub of acid by a murdering psycho—”
“Jesus, morbid much?” Ellie snapped, setting her cup of coffee on the counter. “Look, if you don’t want me here, I can stay at Ruth’s or something.”
Val counted kittens in her head, hoping the cuteness would calm her down enough to reason with Ellie.
“Ruth? You mean one of the friends who should have been looking out for you last night? Where was she when you got so fucking plastered you couldn’t even walk?” Val asked angrily, waiting for Ellie to say something, but she was silent. She could tell from the frown on her sister’s face that she’d struck a nerve, but damn it, she needed to think about this. If the girls she went out with weren’t watching her back, bad things were going to happen.
Val didn’t want her sister to learn about those consequences firsthand.
Stepping to Ellie’s side, she wrapped her arm around her waist and squeezed. “You’re always welcome here, but you have got to grow up, sis. The next guy who drives you home might not be such a gentleman.”
Ellie opened her mouth as if to argue some more, then snapped it closed. “You’re right. You’re a pain in the ass, but I’ll be more careful.”
“Thank you,” Val said, pulling her around to give her a big hug. “I just need you, okay? Without you, I’d have to deal with Dad all by myself.”
“Is that who you were yelling at?”
Yelling? Oh . . . “Well, Caroline called first, and guess what?” Val said, doing a little dance with Ellie, who groaned. “She’s moving back in a few months.”
“Awesome; so I’ll have three of you on my case?”
Val shook her head and pulled away from Ellie. “Actually, Caroline was on your side.”
“Really? Hmmm . . .” Ellie took a drink of her black coffee and said, “But I did just hear you hang up on Dad, right?”
“Yeah, he called after.”
“What did he say this time?”
Val sighed. “The usual. Tried to pull his high-handed bullshit.”
“Did he tell you about the matchmaking singles thingy?” Ellie asked as she sat down at the kitchen table.
Val’s jaw dropped in surprise. “He told you about that?”
“Actually, I told him about it. I was totally joking, but you know how Dad is: once he gets that crazy look in his eye, run.”
Val went to join her at the table and set her mug down with a thunk. “Wait, you told Dad I should go to a singles weekend?”
“No, he was talking about how you needed to come out of your hole and I mentioned that there was this whole town dedicated to matching people up with their perfect person.”
Val pinched the bridge of her nose. “Why?”
“Because if you ask me, you could use a weekend of stress-free dating,” Ellie said.
“That’s stupid. A weekend of blind dating sounds like hell to me.”
“I think it sounds fun. Plus, there’s a whole science to it. I could be a matchmaker.”
Val snorted with laughter. “Yeah, just like psychics are real and there’s really that one perfect person you’re meant to find.”
“Why not? I think it’s romantic to believe that there is one person out there who fits you better than anyone else in the whole world.”
“Maybe so, but (a) the chances of finding that person in a Podunk town with a gimmick are slim, and (b) high expectations set you up for a world of heartache and disappointment.”
Ellie made a face at her. “You need a little romance or, at the very least, a good fling. Maybe you should hear Dad out. I know he’s a jerk, but I really think it would be good for you to get your sexy on,” Ellie said, gesturing from Val’s toes to the top of her head. “Besides, you’re too young and way too hot to spend your Friday nights knitting with the world’s ugliest dog.”
Val looked down at Gus, flopped on his belly with his legs straight out behind him, snoring. “He’s good company. And I don’t knit.”
“Yet. You won’t even have to think about it; you’ll just sit back, relax, and let someone else find men to shower you with attention.”
“Thanks, but I can meet social rejects, psychopaths, and assholes all on my own.” Val got up to go take a shower, but Ellie grabbed her wrist, stopping her escape.
“I know Cole messed you up, but you didn’t really love him. He was Dad’s choice. Maybe you should view this as an opportunity to figure out what it is you’re looking for.”
Val couldn’t fight her surprised smile. Sometimes Ellie could be downright insightful.
Leaning over to kiss her sister’s hair, she whispered, “Thanks. I’ll think about it.”
As she padded back to her room to get ready for the day, her sister’s words replayed in her mind.
What did she want? She had told herself over and over that getting serious with anyone was going to bring up old wounds and introduce new ones. That’s what happened when you let other people in.
Which is why you have only your dad and your sisters, and your best friend from high school who moved across the country.
Did she push people away? That’s what Cole had told her, that he could have gotten over the infertility thing if she hadn’t been such a cold bitch, pushing him out of her life and their bed.
God knew she’d never really loved Cole, but they’d been happy sometimes, hadn’t they?
In the shower, Val shook her head under the water.
She’d married a man she hadn’t loved to please her father and it hadn’t worked out. Big shocker. She should have been a stronger person instead of letting her daddy issues get the best of her.
Her sister talked about love and the one like they were absolutes, and sure, Val had seen people in love before, but she’d never experienced it. She’d felt excitement. Lust. Even affection and caring. But never had a guy been able to work his way so far inside her mind and heart that there’d been nothing else but him.
Maybe she was more like her father than she thought. It was hard to believe he loved anyone, even his daughters. He’d married the right wife, who had given him three children before her death, but he’d never once said the words “I love you” to anyone. Not even her mother, who had been so lovely and childlike. Her mother had never missed a chance to play and be silly with them.
She smiled, remembering their “big hat teas.” Every Sunday after church, they’d headed over to the coffee shop in town wearing large, floral hats and flouncy dresses and ordered tea and cookies. Even when their mother had been pregnant with Ellie and experiencing severe morning sickness, she’d taken them.
It was during that pregnancy that the doctors had found the murmur in her heart, but they hadn’t been concerned. They’d said she could live her whole life with it and have no issues.
But they had been wrong.
Her beautiful, vivacious mother had been chasing them in the backyard on a bright, sunny day, and just before she’d tapped Caroline’s arm to tag her, she’d crumpled to the ground. Not moving. Not breathing.
Val shut her eyes, trying to think of anything else. She could still hear Ellie’s cries and Caroline screaming at her to grab the phone. After that, everything blurred together. Still, the sounds of her sisters’ voices raised in panic haunted her. When their father had arrived home, he’d told her he’d been impressed by her poise through it all.
Val hadn’
t been calm, though. She’d been screaming internally the entire time, wishing she could release the wails of sadness her sisters had had no problem voicing, but she couldn’t.
She’d loved her mother more than anyone else in the world, but even at the funeral, she had just sat there, frozen, unable to release her grief, locked up inside herself.
And it had made her an angry, bitter girl.
She couldn’t count the times she’d ended up in detention for smarting off to one of her teachers, although the suspensions had been far less common. Ben Meyers, her best friend and first boyfriend, had nicknamed her Taz, short for Tasmanian devil, because she was small and fast in a fight and won more than she lost. Ben and his friends had respected her and often covered for her, which was the only reason she was never expelled.
Ben had been her first everything, and he had told her he’d loved her over and over. But before sophomore year, his dad had taken a job in North Carolina, and a few months later, Caroline had left. Val was alone until she’d met Justin, with whom she’d shared one incredible night, only to be shipped off herself the next day.
Turning off the water, Val thought how that might be the reason she liked animals better than people. Animals didn’t expect too much from their owners. Food, water, and some affection and they were satisfied. Low maintenance and expectations. Eventually, they died, but that was less painful than someone promising to be there for you and then leaving.
Although it hadn’t been her mother’s fault, her death had left Val feeling abandoned. Her best friend and sister had also left her behind. It all seemed like a pattern in her life. Even her divorce had proven her theory. Close relationships never worked out and almost always left you with invisible scars that never healed.
Chapter Five
* * *
JUSTIN DROVE OVER to the radio station to pick up his tickets, singing along to Justin Moore’s “Redneck Side.” He couldn’t keep the shit-eating grin off his face as he thought about his kiss with Valerie last night. It had taken him back to that night.
