CHAPTER 14
‘What are you doing here?’ I asked, confused. ‘I thought Mum said you were in Georgia?’
Dad glared at me, the combined weight of every one of my childhood and teenage fuck-ups delivered in one look.
‘Would you both mind giving us a moment?’ he asked Lil and Cole, his eyes lingering on the cowboy, a calculating look at the proximity of our stance, my dress.
I felt Cole’s hand on my lower back.
‘I’ll be right inside,’ he murmured as he turned, his and Lil’s footsteps loud against the vast quiet outside. ‘Just say the word and I’ll be right back here.’
As the door swung shut, Dad shook his head, hands balled up on his hips.
‘What am I doing here?’ he hissed, his face darkening by the second. ‘What are you doing here? And saying nothing to Kyle either? It wasn’t until he called a few days ago and spoke to your mum that he realized you’d even left the country!’
My gut reaction was to take it, let his angry outburst flow over me.
Placate and agree until it’s over. Dad’s temper had been an ever-present threat growing up, one that had pushed me to take up hobbies that involved staying out of the house or tucked away in my room, and had pushed me into a more academic route at university than I otherwise would’ve chosen.
‘It’s none of his business,’ I said, trying to keep my voice even as the anger built, rising steadily. ‘I told him it was over and that should be enough.’
‘Of course it’s his business, you’re his bloody girlfriend! You can’t just up and leave people like that – it’s cruel, Lottie. We raised you better than that. What must his parents think, for God’s sake?’
The anger stirred further. Of course, he was only interested in appearances, in making sure the sodding Montgomerys had the best possible impression of me, of our family.
I resisted the urge to tell him just how far down her nose Marina looked at us, how a middle-class no one like me – with an American mother, no less – couldn’t matter less to someone who didn’t give a flying fuck about anyone outside of her own circle of wealth.
‘I’m not doing this,’ I said, fighting with myself to keep it civil and stepping back, placing my hand on the door handle. ‘You don’t know anything about the situation. Honestly, Dad, it’s none of your business and you have no right to come here and yell at me like I’m still a child you can bully.’
His face changed, blanching white with rage. He knew the truth of my words, felt it at his core. I braced myself, knowing this conversation had been a long time coming.
‘I’ll speak to you however I like,’ he hissed, stepping forwards. ‘You will get yourself home on the next flight and stop behaving like a child. You have responsibilities at home, not least that of owing Kyle a damn good explanation for your behaviour—’
‘ MY behaviour?’ I gripped the handle, rage breaking through, self-restraint be fucking damned. ‘ MY behaviour? Really? I suppose he conveniently forgot to mention that he’s been fucking some woman he’s working with? No? No mention of her?’
His silence said it all.
‘I don’t owe Kyle the shit on the bottom of my fucking boot,’ I spat. ‘He’s a liar, a cheat and an all-round condescending asshole. Hestia was right about him all along, all while you worshipped the ground he walked on.’
My father shook his head.
‘First of all, your language is disgusting – no doubt a product of hanging around with that misfit,’ he began, his voice shaking, fist turning into an index finger that pointed right in my face.
‘Second of all, it might all just be a misunderstanding and something you two can work through. You don’t just run off at the first sign of trouble and come here, to the middle of godforsaken nowhere with a bunch of hillbillies. ’
I gave a laugh as sharp and bitter as his words.
‘Oh my God, you snob,’ I sneered. ‘Where do you get this bullshit from? You’ve used it on Mum her whole life too, Jesus. Why are you so obsessed with status? With what people have and haven’t got?’
‘Because it matters!’ he roared. ‘And because I broke my back working to put you through university without debt. And this is how you repay me? By running away and shacking up here? There is not a chance in hell I’m letting you throw your life away.
I got your mother out of this place, but your aunt wasn’t so lucky.
Look at the mess she made.’ He shook his head, eyes wide with rage.
‘I noticed that cowboy, I saw how you looked at each other—’
‘Don’t you fucking dare say another word,’ I hissed.
‘Keep him out of this. And yes, I ran here for a break, to get some distance. But you know what? The longer I stay, the more I see of GOOD people, in this amazing place, the more I see I was running to something, even if I didn’t know it to begin with – to something way better than corporate bullshit and entitled, cheating bastards. ’
Dad paused, his expression turning to disgust.
‘Oh God,’ he said, hand rubbing at his forehead. ‘You’ve run off over here and shacked up with a filthy bloody cowboy—’
‘How DARE YOU !’ I yelled with every ounce of force I could muster, every fibre of my body thrumming with frustration. ‘You don’t know the first thing about him, or anything here – and it’s none of your damn business anyway!’
‘You are my daughter , of course it’s my business!’ he yelled back, taking another step forward. ‘He’s not good enough for you, and that’s the bottom line.’
I forced myself to breathe, to calm down enough not to lash out in a way I knew would finally tip us over the line and take us beyond repair.
‘That man is worth a hundred of Kyle,’ I said slowly, my voice loud but even. ‘Two hundred. And you have absolutely no right to be here. Get out.’
He laughed.
‘I will not. Not until you promise to come home and sort out whatever this mess is between you and Kyle. And what about getting another job? I’m not paying for your rent in London, you know.’
I let out a long breath, staring down at the decking under my boots.
‘I’m not asking you to,’ I said. ‘I don’t need your money. I made enough of my own, thanks. And I am applying for jobs. I had an interview yesterday – again, not that it’s any of your business.’
‘And Kyle?’ he cut in, finger wagging in my face once again.
A memory hit me, of him doing the same to Mum once, in front of her friends.
Belittling her. I wondered how many times he’d done that before she’d stopped fighting back.
Whether living in a foreign country, reliant on her marriage to him in order to stay, in order to not be forced to leave me, had played into it.
Guilt struck immediately, followed closely by more rage.
‘Kyle can go fuck himself,’ I spat, enunciating every word clearly, watching as he began to boil over too.
‘Right, so you’re throwing away a perfectly good relationship with someone that can offer you the world, for this shithole?’ he countered as he gestured towards the house.
I tried to stop it; thought I had a handle on it. But the floodgates opened.
‘Yes, Dad, I am!’ I yelled. ‘And for your fucking information, I’m not actually in a relationship with Cole, but even if I was, I would be really goddamned happy.
Being here, with him, is a massive life upgrade.
And you know what?’ I paused, revelling in the shock on his face.
‘If he asked me to marry him tomorrow, shack up with him and have a whole bunch of babies, I’d be fucking delighted to do it.
That’s how much better even the potential of a relationship with him is compared to the absolute fucking NOTHING I had with Kyle. ’
Dad’s face was thunderstruck, as though the person he knew had died.
‘I don’t know who you are,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘This is not the girl I raised—’
‘You didn’t raise me, you BULLIED ME ,’ I shouted. ‘Now get out! Just leave!’
A sob built up, exploding as he opened his mouth to retaliate.
‘ JUST GO !’ I screamed, folding in on myself, nothing else to give. ‘Leave me alone!’
The handle moved under my hand, the door opened and suddenly arms were circling me. Cole. I took in his intoxicating smell, the sheer size of his body next to mine.
‘I’ve got you,’ he said, propping me up as I turned into him, pressing myself into his body. ‘It’s okay. Let’s go inside.’
‘Get off this property right now,’ Lil said, her voice calm but anger underpinning each word.
Cole began to guide me through the doorway.
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Elizabeth,’ Dad scoffed. ‘That was between me and Lottie.’
‘As if,’ Lil said, shaking her head. ‘You made it real personal, real fast. And even if you hadn’t, you don’t get to speak to her that way. Now get off this ranch before I fetch my shotgun and have to persuade you that way.’
‘What a disgrace,’ he hissed.
I tried to turn then, rage boiling up and over again, trying to fight against Cole to get back outside and defend her.
‘It’s okay, honey, Lil’s got it. She’s seen worse off this ranch.’ Cole’s voice rumbled through his chest as he guided me back to my room.
‘Fucking bastard.’ I shuddered, desperately trying not to cry. ‘How could he . . . how dare he . . .’
Finally, through the door to my bedroom, he closed it behind us, leaning on it and pulling me into him as I gave in and cried.
His hand stroked my hair, his other arm firmly around my back.
At several points I felt his lips on my head, pressing down, trying to soothe away what felt like a lifetime of jagged edges.
As the sobs slowed, he moved us over to the bed, setting me down and taking off my boots to lay me down, peeling the cover back and then pulling it up over me.
‘I’m going to get some water, okay?’ he said, his voice almost unbearably gentle compared to the abuse I’d just taken – and thrown back.