Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Rhett
The ring box is burning a hole in my pocket when Rylan and I leave Clayton’s house not long after we shook hands and agreed to put this stupid feud behind us.
The crowd at the base of the driveway lob questions at me, talking over each other and some even recording on their damn cell phones. Rylan looks at me helplessly. I guess I know what celebrities feel like now with the damn paparazzi after them.
“Did you punch him?”
“How pissed was ol’ Clayton about those pics of his little girl?”
“He gonna sue you?”
“You got balls, that’s for sure, Rhett!”
Birdie steps out of a black sedan like the queen herself has arrived.
Everyone shuts up and lets her speak. She eyes the sprawling house behind me, one she’s no doubt spent a lot of time in.
Back in the day, she and Mrs. Winthrop spent time together, not because they ran in the same income bracket, but because Birdie didn’t let a thing like money come between her and the best gossip.
She also never met a person she didn’t make her friend through sheer force of will.
“I like you, Rhett Price,” Birdie says, loudly enough we can all hear her. “If Mary London knows what’s good for her, she’ll hear you out. I have it on good authority that she just went to her new place of business. You can find her there.”
A smile lights my face for the first time today. I feel like I just got the two stamps of approval that matter most in this town. “Thank you, Birdie. You’ve always been my favorite.”
She clucks and acts like she’s surprised, but she shoots me a wink before ducking back into the vehicle she came in.
With some shouts and curses over the other cars being in the way, all the occupants get back inside their vehicles and zoom away.
Probably to get to the bar so they can try to snoop on my apology to Mary London.
Rylan has the same idea on the way back to the Square. “You want me to pull a fire alarm or something so you can get a moment alone with her?”
I look at my son after we take a sharp turn into the Square, probably going too fast. “I appreciate you more than you know, but I draw the line at breaking the law.”
“I’d go to jail for you, Dad.”
A grin splits my face at his sincere statement. God, I love this kid. He’s turning into more of a man every single day. “Same, buddy, same. But let’s try not to take it that far today.”
We’re able to find parking, simply because the crowd shadowing us got here first and Janie is physically standing in the parking space directly in front of the new bar, hands on hips, daring anyone to park there except for me.
It’s kind of a nice perk, to be honest. If you gotta be followed, at least they reserve the best parking for you.
The group of bystanders follows so closely behind Rylan and me that someone steps on the back of my work boot. I turn around and glare. As a collective, they back off just a few inches, but offer zero apology. There’s gotta be close to twenty-five people now. Jesus.
I swing open the door and step inside the bar I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into for several months now.
Mary London is inside, just in front of the mechanical bull, wearing a long green knit dress that highlights every feminine curve.
She spins around, long hair flying as her gaze locks with mine.
Everything else fades away into the background where it belongs.
Mary London will always be my center stage.
Mary London
My first reaction is to duck and hide.
By choice, I have zero makeup on, but that’s a lot of people standing behind the man who holds my heart.
All the anger at Papaw for what he did has melted away.
Because of his apology. Because of the way he paid his penance in a very public way to move public attention away from my pictures.
Because life’s too short to let a stunt like this keep me from the man I love.
I don’t duck and hide though.
I roll my shoulders back, lift my head higher, and remind myself of what I decided in the shower.
I will no longer let public opinion matter more to me than what I know in my heart.
I know I have worth well beyond my appearance.
I know good people come in all economic brackets. I know true love is worth fighting for.
I know the man standing inside my doorway is a man of few words, but he’s been showing me all this time how much he loves and respects me.
If acts of renovation were one of the official love languages, I would have seen it earlier.
He’s been a victim to the same set of beliefs I had, we’re just coming at it from opposite sides.
I’ve let public opinion hold me back from the things I want to do in life. Rhett’s let public opinion hold him back too. He even moved away from Heaven to escape public opinion that seemed set in stone.
Rhett clears his throat and steps further into the bar, his boots clunking against the hardwood floor we installed together.
The crowd stays back, but I’m aware of them just the same.
Rhett’s got his cowboy hat in his hands, his long-sleeve shirt shoved up his muscular forearms to show off the tattoo I love so much.
I walk toward him, my steps faltering when I see the black eye.
“What happened?”
Rhett’s lips pull to one side. “Your brother got to me.”
My jaw just about hits the floor. “Silas?”
“Mary London,” Rhett begins, but I hold my hand up to stop him.
“Just one second.”
I step around him and address the crowd. Birdie pushes her way to the front, her gaze darting between Rhett and me, like she’s making sure we found each other.
“I’d ask y’all how you’ve been, but I think you’ve been keeping busy with my business. Did y’all come to see me ride the mechanical bull in person? Or do you only enjoy it if it’s a secret video on your phone?”
A few heads drop and most people put their phones away. It’s a start.
“I know you think the gossip is juicy, but these are real lives you’re harming. If you not only viewed those pictures of me, but also sent them along to your friends, I want you to know that you’ve violated my privacy in a way I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. I hope it was worth it.”
Darby Kate speaks loudly enough for everyone to hear. She and I talked extensively already. She’s on board with setting a new tone for the passage of gossip in Heaven. “I think most people assume if they didn’t start the gossip, it’s not harmful to pass it on.”
I nod, understanding completely. “I’d agree with you but then we’d both be wrong.
Heaven is a town made up of people who come together and take care of their own, as well as newcomers.
I take pride in saying I’m from Heaven, Mississippi.
Spreading hateful gossip or private pictures is the opposite of that.
I, for one, plan to get back to common decency.
Don’t make me find your mamas and tattle on you for not doin’ the same. ”
Birdie holds her hand up. “I know I’m the worst when it comes to gossip. I try to keep things light instead of mean spirited, but I can see how I’ve been part of the problem. I promise you, Mary London, I’m fixin’ to do better too.”
I nod my head at the woman, always grateful for her support. Darby Kate shoots me a wink. I know she’s proud of me for facing this issue head-on instead of slinking away and hoping it passes.
“I’ll delete the pictures,” grumbles someone in the back.
“Me too!” Effie, a mom of two teens, agrees. “These damn phones see too much."
“We’re sorry, Mary London.” The apology comes from Collins Phipps, the local contractor I dated back in high school. The same one who laughed when I approached him about building the bar. “We meant no harm.”
“Meaning no harm and actually doing no harm are two different things,” Rhett says in his deep voice, coming closer to put his hand on my lower back.
His glare is fixated on Collins. “I’m asking y’all to leave now.
This is a construction site at the moment, and as you may be aware, Mary London and I have some things to discuss. Privately.”
There’s grumbling amongst the crowd, but they start to shuffle toward the door.
“I expect y’all to be back January twentieth for the grand opening of Bless Your Heart, Heaven’s first honky-tonk!
” I holler after them. I spin, grabbing the stack of flyers I just printed off the bar, and race to hand them out.
“If you’re gonna gossip about me, it might as well help my business, don’t you think? ”
I’m out of breath and excited again when the crowd fully disperses and I’m back in the bar. Rhett’s still worrying his hat around and around. Rylan takes the rest of the flyers from my hands to keep handing out around town.
“I’ll leave you two alone.” He shoots me a wink that must be devastating to the high school ladies. Then he sobers and leans in closer. “Dad loves you, but so do I, Mary London. Please forgive our family.”
“Oh, you sweet boy.” I pull Rylan in for a hug, squeezing the daylights out of him. “I love you too. Everyone is responsible for their own actions, and you and your daddy haven’t done anything but show kindness to me.”
I pull back and pat his pink cheeks. He ducks his head and leaves the bar, but I don’t miss that happy smile he tries to hide.
Rhett walks over to stand in front of me. “You look beautiful, June bug.” His voice is barely a rough whisper.
I toss my hair behind my shoulders and smile up at him. “I don’t have any makeup on and my eyes are still red from crying.”
Rhett cocks his head. “Still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I think it has more to do with the way you carry yourself. Your self-confidence is sexy as all get-out.”
I dip my head, taking the compliment. “Thank you. Now why did you have a crowd of people following you?”
“They may have spread those pictures, but they care about you. They wanted to see me make things right.”
Thing is, I’ve already forgiven Papaw. There’s no need for Rhett to make things right because he didn’t do me wrong. And now he’s here. Everything’s already right.
“Well, now, let’s see.” I hold up my hand, counting off on my fingers.
“Were you going to grovel and apologize? Or maybe you planned to come in here and force a love confession out of me to distract me from the pictures? Or…and this one I really like…you came here to kiss me stupid until I forgot all about the last two days?” I flutter my eyelashes as I look up at him.
Rhett’s answering grin sets my belly on fire.
“I came here to explain what happened.” He throws his hat onto the bar top and places his hands on my hips.
“Then I planned to tell you how much I love you and how I can’t see a future without you.
” He yanks me into him, his solid body my safe haven.
“And then I planned to kiss you until you forgot about everything in this town except for me.”
I sway on my feet. My knees have forgotten how to hold me up. Good thing Rhett’s arms band around me. “I like this plan,” I whisper. “But maybe we could skip to the last part?”
Rhett ducks his head and just like that his lips are on mine, claiming me like the bar is on fire and we only have this one last moment together.
A groan echoes in the quiet space and I’m not sure if it was mine or his.
My hands scramble to find the hem of his shirt and rip it out of his belted waistline.
Ah, yes, sweet heaven. My fingertips are on his familiar hot skin, sliding up and down his muscular back.
He grips me tighter, the kiss turning frantic until he spins me around and walks us behind the bar.
He pulls his lips away and I whimper, nails scraping down his skin to try to grab him back to me.
He lifts me instead, placing me on the bar top, and steps between my thighs, my dress pulled tight around my legs.
His hands cup my face and he stills until I look at him.
“I love you, June bug.”
I grin, feeling like everything is right in the world. Pictures and reputation be damned. “I love you too, ’Lanta. Now let’s christen every surface in this bar.”