21. Peyton
CHAPTER 21
peyton
A LIFETIME AGO
F ord won, just like I knew he would.
The show had ended an hour and a half ago. The crowds were long gone. And in all those minutes, Jenny hadn’t once stopped glaring at me. Not when they were on stage giving Ford congratulatory hugs. Not as we filed out of the Ryman and made our way to our vehicles together.
Lemon insisted on riding with me and sent James and Anna with Silas.
“I’ll drop you at the restaurant. I don’t need to tag along,” I said, pulling the steering wheel of my truck hard left through the busy Nashville intersection.
“You need food, Peyton. Your hands are shaking.”
“I’ll get something at Chick-fil?—”
“No. You need real food.” She held up her phone to show me the screen filled with texts from Ford. “He’s begging me to talk you into coming.”
My phone, stowed in my purse, was probably full too. I hadn’t seen Ford after the show. I’d slunk out of the auditorium while they were hugging him, taken baby James, and headed for the lobby. We’d found an alcove where I sat and played with him on my lap.
“How am I supposed to endure an entire meal with Jenny?” I asked, sweat beading between my shoulder blades. “She’s going to light me on fire with her glare.
Lemon sighed. “Jenny will get over it.” She pointed at a spot for me to pull in. The rest of the Duprees were already on the sidewalk, waiting for us. No doubt I’d been their topic of conversation on the ride over.
“Will she?” I squeaked. “After that song, I’m not going to get over it. Ever. It’ll be on the radio. It aired on national television. Momma saw.” She had texted during the show. And she’d left me several texts letting me know exactly what she thought of Ford’s devil song.
“Just…” Lemon dropped her head like she was praying. I could almost hear her whispering, ’God give me strength.’ When her head came up, she looked pointedly at me. “Was it that good? The back of the truck?”
My mouth opened and closed, unsure if this was a trick question.
She held up a hand. “I’ve known him since he was a baby. I don’t want to know the sordid details. I just…never would’ve thought the two of you…”
I shifted into park and turned off the key. We sat there for a second, a heavy silence hanging between us. “Lem?”
She seemed so unsure.
My hands mangled each other in my lap. “It was the best night of my life,” I whispered. “He was sweet and gentle and made me feel like I was…the most amazing woman he’d ever met. I’m crazy about him…or I was.” I rubbed the center of my chest. “I think my heart broke tonight when he was singing because…”
Her expression softened. “Because you don’t want someone who would exploit the best night of your life—an extremely personal and private moment—just to further his music career?”
I squeezed my eyes shut and nodded once. “And because I gave him something that I’d only given to one other person. I thought…” I chewed my lip. “I thought this was going to be something .”
She slid across the bench seat and pulled me into her arms. “I’m so sorry. Maybe…maybe the night is about to get better.”
But I wasn’t so sure. Because how was I going to forgive Ford for something that couldn’t be undone?
Fifteen minutes later, waiting for Ford to arrive, my discomfort was almost as high as it had been during his song. Everyone was bringing up stilted topics, doing everything they could to tiptoe around the elephant in the room.
Me. I was the elephant.
I’d purposely seated myself between Lemon and Anna to look as unthreatening—and unattached—as possible. But Jenny kept eyeing me like she didn’t want me anywhere near her granddaughter.
I turned to darling Anna anyway. “How’s Blue doing? Do you talk to him often?”
Her face lit up. “So good. He FaceTimes me every day. Sometimes more than once. His team is undefeated.” She bounced in her seat. “And he’s coming home for Christmas.”
I smiled. “I bet you can’t wait to see him.”
“Yes.” She sighed. “I miss him a lot.”
“What up, fam.” Ford strode in, all six feet of his stupidly muscled, beautiful body, still wearing his fancy shirt and a grin that was even bigger now that he’d won the show.
“There he is,” Holden said, beaming.
“What up.” Ashton pounded the table with the palms of his hands.
Ford leaned down and hugged Jenny. She patted the seat on the other side of her, but he didn’t notice. No, he was laser-focused on me. A hungry look in his…
Red-rimmed eyes.
“Is he high?” I hissed to Lemon.
“Mhmm,” she purred. “It’s how he copes with pressure.”
No!
I had some standards. Maybe they weren’t as lofty as they should have been. But right behind number one—he can’t be a cheater—was number two—no drugs.
Maybe it’s just weed.
I gave myself an internal slap.
NO drugs. None!
He made his way around the table to where I was—looking at me like I was sex on a stick—and I wished I could crawl under it. When he got to me, he clicked his tongue at Anna.
“Oh. Yeah.” She hopped up and let him have her seat.
He scooted his chair over until it was touching mine. His arm curled around my waist, pulling me halfway onto his lap. My face burst into flame.
“Hey, you. Don’t I get a congratulations?” he murmured.
I quickly turned and hugged him. “Congrats. I’m so happy for you.”
When he tightened his hold and buried his face in my neck, Bo cleared his throat. But either Ford didn’t hear it or he didn’t care.
I attempted to slide back into my chair.
“Nuh-uh.” Ford laughed, gripping my waist. His breath—which didn’t smell like weed at all—was hot on my cheek. “Not until I get a kiss.”
“Later.” I smiled at him and my stupid heart pitter-pattered at how handsome he was.
There is no later. He is not for you, Peyton. He’s high.
“No,” he said possessively. “I’ve waited long enough.” He caught my face between his hands and smashed his lips to mine. Anna snickered. Jenny growled her disapproval. I tried to pull back but he was gripping my jaw so hard it actually hurt.
“ Ford .” Bo slapped the table.
Ford finally pulled away, a chuckle of amusement escaping his lips. He sniffed and wiped his nose. “Just getting a kiss from my girl. Haven’t seen her in three long weeks.” A waitress walked by and Ford whistled at her. Loudly. “We’d like a bottle of champagne, please?”
“No.” Bo shook his head at the waitress. “No alcohol at this table.”
Ford laughed. “Like I said, your best champagne.” He sniffed again. “I got it, Pops. I just won a million dollars .” He looked at me. “You want some bubbly, right?”
That’s when I noticed a faint patch of white powder around his left nostril.
“I’m okay,” I said, holding back tears.
The server hardly looked old enough to serve alcohol. Her gaze darted between Bo and Ford. Ford’s eyes widened at her, almost a glare, telling her to do as he’d asked. Bo looked like he wanted to spit nails but he said nothing else.
The girl hurried away, wearing a terrified expression.
“What is wrong with you?” Jenny whisper-shouted. “You know how your dad feels about liquor.”
Ford leaned forward, grinning. “This is a night to celebrate.” Then he leaned back, pulling me with him. “I won the show. Tomorrow, I’m signing a record deal. My family’s here. My girl’s here.” He pressed a sloppy kiss to my neck. “And we’re getting married. You heard Thomas Rhett.” He tickled my sides and it took everything in me not to elbow him in the gut. “That’s right. Imma marry Peyton Jamerson,” he sang.
“Bro,” Holden said. “You barely met her. Spent one night with her, it sounds like?—”
“And what a night it was,” Ford whistled.
“Yeah. We heard,” Silas said. “All of America heard.”
Ashton snorted. “Try the entire world.”
A sob racked in my chest, on deck and ready.
Ford’s head bobbed. “As they should. Magical nights should be shared. And it was magical.” He tickled my sides again. “That’s what you said, right? That my song was magical. And then we did magical things in the back of my truck. And we’re gonna do magical things when we get back to my place.”
“Ford!” Jenny bleated.
I shot to my feet. Everything blurred through my tears.
“Why’re you standing?” Ford said, looking stumped.
“Read the room, noob,” Ashton seethed. “No decent woman wants the entire world to have first-hand knowledge of her sex life. Or to be treated like she’s a sleazy hookup. You just bought yourself a one-way ticket to singlehood.” He shook his head. “Un-freaking-believable.”
Ashton was right. The last three weeks—the best three weeks of my life—were at a sudden and unexpected end. I’d thought Ford was my future. Now, he was just going to be a heartbreaking memory from the past.
I gasped at that thought, wrestling that racked sob into submission.
“Nah.” Ford laughed. “We’re getting married. What Peyton and I have is special.” He reached for me, but I stepped out of his grasp.
“Stop,” Christy said. “Leave her alone.”
But he only laughed and reached for me again. “She’s a feisty one. I like it.”
Jenny’s head was shaking like a bobblehead on a dashboard. An ‘I told you so’ lodged in her throat, no doubt.
As if the universe wasn’t cruel enough, my tattoo started to itch.
“Had, bro.” Ashton looked up at me with the most serious, apologetic expression. Then he looked back at Ford. “What you and Peyton had was special. But then you treated it like it wasn’t. And now she’s done.”
“She’s not done.” Ford laughed. “She loves me.” He turned to me. “Tell them.” I’d never said I loved him, though I’d thought about it the entire drive down. But that wouldn’t be happening now.
I shook my head. Ford’s expression dropped, looking wounded. It felt like my heart was cracking in two. I had to get out of there before I started to ugly cry.
I turned left but my way was clogged by a group of guys wearing University of Knoxville football jerseys. So I turned right, but there was a waiter setting food on a table. I was stuck, my chest heaving, in the middle of a literal nightmare, determined not to cry in front of these people.
“You’re a window licker. You know that?” Silas said to Ford. “Like, I can’t actually believe we’re related. Can I change my last name? Holden, how ‘bout you get the ball rolling on that. Clementine, Anna, James, and I would like to be the Anything But Dupree’s now. You’re all welcome to come along. Everyone but Ford.”
The waiter finally moved. I took off behind him.
“Well, I think it’s safe to say you blew that relationship up,” Holden said. I heard him golf clap as I made my way around the table.
“I like Peyton, though!” Anna cried. “She’s good people. Go fix it!”
Jenny scoffed. “Good people don’t have one-night stands.”
I clamped my jaw; the sob dam a millisecond from bursting.
“Shut up!”
The entire restaurant quieted.
I whirled to see Lemon on her feet, wild-eyed and fierce like Wonder Woman deflecting bullets. “Stop talking about her like that!” she yelled at her mother-in-law. “She made a mistake. We all make mistakes! She thought she was getting a quality Dupree man! He fooled her!”
Every eye in the restaurant was on my friend. I couldn’t see Jenny’s face. Only the back of her head. But I imagined her chagrin and it was glorious to behold.
“Hey, that night in the truck was anything but a mistake,” Ford scoffed. “Just sayin?—”
“SHUT UP!” Lemon yelled again, slightly unhinged. I’d never seen her like this. “Don’t you say another word! Not one more word, do you hear me?”
Watching her there, silencing the hate on my behalf… The sob finally broke loose in my chest. I couldn’t have held it back another second if I tried. When it came out, it was loud.
Ford’s ashamed gaze—along with the rest of his family—flashed to me. The look on his face told me that he finally realized I was leaving for good.
“Ford?” Anna said. “Your nose is bleeding.”
I took two steps back toward the Duprees, close enough to see that Anna was right. Ford picked up his cloth napkin and dabbed.
Another sob tore loose, and I turned, speed-walking for the lobby.
“Peyton!” Ford yelled. “Peyton, come back!” A chair scraped against the floor.
I darted in and out of the incoming crowd. I’d almost reached the exit doors when I felt someone’s fingers around my wrist. I looked over my shoulder to see Lemon. She grabbed my hand and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, leading me outside.
The moment we were free of the confines of the restaurant, I let myself cry. She guided me down the sidewalk and lowered us to a bench.
“I’m so sorry.” She rubbed my back. “It’s going to be okay. You’ll get over this. Be grateful you found out fairly quickly how unstable he is.”
I wiped my cheeks and tucked my hair behind my ears. “I won’t. I won’t ever get over it.”
“Hey,” she said gently, pushing a lock of hair off my sweaty forehead. “I know it seems huge right now but it will be okay.”
I sniffled and shook my head. “You’re wrong, Lem. It is huge. And it’s going to be huge for the rest of my life.” I gasped. “I messed up. So incredibly bad.”
“Peyton, what is going on?”
I squeezed my eyes shut and said the words out loud—the words I hadn’t spoken to another living soul. “I’m pregnant.” I let that settle in the air between us.
I wiped another tear. “I just found out a few days ago. And before you ask, no, there’s no way it could be Braxton’s. I suspected Braxton was cheating for the last three months, so I fended him off. Made all kinds of excuses until I knew for sure. This baby is definitely a Dupree.”
Lemon exhaled like a leaky balloon. “Oh, wow. Did you guys use protection?”
“Yes.” I shook my head. “But we had a malfunction. And yes, I’m on the pill. But apparently, you can get pregnant if you miss one dose.” I made jazz hands. “Lucky me.” I glanced up at her, my tears slowing a bit. “I can’t raise a baby with Ford. That was a cocaine nosebleed.” I’d done enough volunteering at the hospital to know that. “And what he did on stage…”
She chewed her lip, staring at her hands. “You have to tell him, Peyt.” But even she sounded unsure. She shook her head, mumbling something under her breath.
“What if it were James?” I asked. “Ford’s only at the bottom of the fame ladder. Can you imagine what it’ll be like if he gets huge? Would you want James to be raised by an addict? A loose cannon who has zero problems humiliating friends and family on national television?”
Her eyes blazed with determination. “No. Come hell or high water, I would fight the entire world to protect him from someone like that.”
I nodded. “Exactly.”
So that’s what I did.