Chapter 19
CHAPTER
Lucy
The Past
MY PHONE PINGED with an incoming message. I grabbed it eagerly, hoping it was Rhett. I had been calling him all day, but per usual, he was avoiding me.
At least now I knew why. The mystery was solved, and she had red hair and was everything I wasn’t.
Alison: Girl, Amy is having a fit. She says you’ve called out of work three days in a row. Is this about Rhett? Bethany said you two broke up and he’s left town with that Jenn girl. Is that true?
I had been fielding questions from every corner in relation to the status of my engagement.
Too bad I didn’t know how to answer any of them.
Rhett and I hadn’t really spoken since Jeremy’s party.
His mom claimed she hadn’t seen him in days.
Given her lack of concern, I knew she was covering for him.
But I couldn’t let the rumors about a breakup fly. I wouldn’t let anyone think that homewrecker had won. So I quickly tapped out a reply to my so-called friend.
Me: Rhett and I are fine! See you at work on Wednesday!
Alison: I’m so glad to hear that! I’ll make sure Bethany and MaryBeth know what’s going on.
Those two have been telling everyone that Rhett and that girl were screwing around for weeks behind your back.
Though, to be fair, I wasn’t so sure myself because of how they seemed together.
It really pissed me off, if I’m being honest. That girl was hanging all over him like a slut. I was ready to kick her ass.
Me: Can’t believe everything you see, Al.
I slammed my phone down on the table, the screen cracking down the middle. I didn’t even care. Everyone in town was talking about me, and not in the way I liked.
They were laughing at me.
Even worse, some of them felt sorry for me.
And of course I’d deny Rhett had two-timed me. Then I’d defend him because how dare they speak about my husband-to-be like that? A good bit of gaslighting would ensue, where I would question the validity of any “eyewitness” accounts until everyone believed my version of events.
Then Rhett and I would get married, and maybe then I could hold my head up again.
Because there was no way I was letting it end like this. I had planned our lives out. I had chosen him when I wasn’t sure I had a choice about anything. The memory of his wide-eyed awe when I approached him all those years ago made it hard to turn away from him now.
My parents, particularly my father, had always said he wasn’t good enough. My God, what would they say? Dad would be furious. This would not only reflect poorly on me, but my family because everyone connected Rhett Clark with the Herbaughs.
This would be a lot easier to deal with if the man in question had the balls to show up and deal with the fallout from his mistakes. Instead he seemed to be hiding away, like a coward.
Maybe I could just walk away. I could cut ties and find a new life with someone who wouldn’t cheat on me.
Who was I kidding?
Things weren’t that simple for a girl like me, with a mountain of expectations balanced on my shoulders.
“Everything okay, Lucinda?” My dad poked his head around the door of my bedroom as he headed down the hallway.
I thought about lying, but Dad made his living by reading people, and he’d be able to see through me in an instant.
“No,” I sighed.
Dad frowned. “Is this about Rhett?” He took a step into my room, never coming all the way in, as if he were allergic to teenage girl.
His question caught me off guard. “Why would you ask that?”
Dad crossed his arms over his chest, his graying hair slightly disheveled, his shirt untucked. Outside the courtroom, he looked like your everyday doddering father. That is, until he opened his mouth and intimidated the hell out of you.
“I ran into Tanya Young at the FoodMart on Monday. She had an interesting story to tell about that man you insist on marrying.”
I felt my insides knot up. “Oh yeah?”
Dad’s expression darkened. “Seems he’s been spending time with some woman from out of town who’s staying at the Millwood Guesthouse. Tanya saw them at the bowling alley. Says they were pretty handsy, not like two people who are just friends.”
Was there anyone in this town not privy to my humiliation? “So I’ve heard,” I muttered.
“It’s true, then?” Dad demanded as if he were the one being cheated on.
“I don’t know, Dad. All I know is her name is Jennifer Moore and Rhett seems to have taken it upon himself to make her feel really welcome.” I wouldn’t admit the worst of it.
“He’s making you look like a fool,” my father bristled. “You need to end this, now.”
“I’ll deal with it, Dad.” I crossed my arms in an imitation of him. We were mirror images of stubborn pride.
“Don’t you think this has gone far enough, Lucinda?
Not only do you insist on marrying a boy we don’t approve of, but you’re so preoccupied with proving your point that you can’t admit your mother and I were right,” he said with an edge to his voice.
“Part of being a grown-up is knowing when to accept defeat.”
I swallowed around the angry lump in my throat. “I’ll fix it.”
He stared at me with a disapproving frown, then turned on his heel and left so suddenly, and with such anger, I was surprised he didn’t slam my door behind him.
No sympathetic reassurance or hand on my shoulder.
My dad didn’t do the touchy-feely stuff.
He showed his love in other ways. It usually involved taking care of things we couldn’t handle ourselves.
His words rang in my head, and I knew I couldn’t back down. Rhett was the only time I had ever stood up to my parents, and I would die on this hill before admitting they had been right about him.
So I was trapped by my own poor choices with no way out.
I didn’t have time to think about what his sudden departure meant because a few minutes later, Bailey yelled up the stairs.
“Rhett’s here!”
I hurried down to the front door, where I found my fiancé looking washed-out and exhausted, like he hadn’t slept in days.
Good.
“It’s been over a week since I’ve seen you,” I reprimanded him after Bailey scurried from the room, perhaps sensing the dark tension between us. “What the hell, Rhett? What is wrong with you?” I demanded, my voice shaking, though I didn’t know if it was from anger or fear.
“Don’t talk to me like that. Why do you always treat people like dirt, Lucinda?” Rhett’s mouth was pressed into a thin line, and his eyes, while sunken, flashed with fire.
“Excuse me? I don’t think you’re in any position to talk about treating people like dirt. Not when you made me look like a complete idiot in front of all our friends,” I hissed. I grabbed his arm, trying to pull him farther into the house.
He wrenched himself free and backed away, putting space between us. “Well, I’m here now, as you beckoned.” He mockingly bowed, and I could only stare at him in shock.
“What has gotten into you?” I put a hand to my chest in indignation. I didn’t want to think about how much I probably looked like my mother.
Rhett was breathing heavily as if he were trying to get himself under control. “I don’t want to get married, Lucinda.”
The earth dropped out from underneath me.
“What?” I wasn’t sure I heard him right.
Rhett closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, I saw a resolution there that I had never seen before. “And I’m not studying pre-law anymore. I’m going to be a math teacher—”
“I already said that was fine,” I insisted desperately.
“You’re not listening. Why do you never listen to me? I’m going to be a math teacher, but not here in Fern River.”
“Okay, so maybe we can look at moving to Jessop County. Their schools are always hiring—” My mind scrambled as I tried to find a way out of this mess. A way that meant we would end up together.
“You’re. Still. Not. Listening. To. Me!” Rhett shouted, and I snapped my mouth closed.
Rhett paused, took a deep breath, then launched a grenade into the center of our relationship. “I’m leaving town, Lucinda. But not with you.”
I blinked, my vision going fuzzy. “You’re going with her?” I rasped.
Rhett shook his head. “I don’t … I’m not sure what Jenn’s plan is, but I hope so.” His shoulders slumped. “I can’t stay here anymore.”
“You bastard,” I whispered.
I noticed a tick in his jaw as he clenched his teeth. “Lucinda, you have to see this isn’t working out. We want different things—”
I curled my hand into claws and launched myself at him. “You lying piece of shit!” I screeched. “I loved you! I gave you everything! How can you do this to me?” I was sobbing, I couldn’t stop myself. And then I became mean. Words slipping out that I would never say under any other circumstances.
Rhett grabbed a hold of my wrists and shoved me backward. The back of my legs hit a chair and I stumbled, falling against the wall. We were both momentarily shocked before Rhett straightened up.
“You’re a controlling bitch,” Rhett lobbed at me, his words like homing missiles.
“You think because you’re beautiful, you can tell everyone what they can and can’t do.
But here’s the thing,” he dipped his voice low, a nasty edge tainting his words, “nobody even likes you. You have no real friends. No one but me has ever given a shit about you. You’re popular because of your family. It has nothing to do with you.”
I stared at him, hardly able to believe what he was saying to me. These were things neither of us could ever take back. He knew it. I knew it.
“I love her, Lucy. She’s the kind of woman I want to be with.
She’s everything you’re not. So when you’re placing blame, look at yourself.
You don’t have what it takes to keep a man, and you never will.
Maybe you should go run to your daddy. He’s the only one that can stomach you, and I bet even he wishes you’d go away. ”
I was stunned. The air left my body, and I felt like I was crumbling from the inside out.
But I wouldn’t let him get the best of me. And I wouldn’t roll over and let him walk all over me.
“At least I still have both my parents.” My lip curled in derision. “My father didn’t leave me high and dry and expect me to figure things out on my own. My father wanted me, but you wouldn’t know anything about that,” I spat out, going for the low blow. The one thing I knew would undo him.
Rhett reared back, his hand connecting with my cheek. The sound reverberated through the open hallway, and I gasped. His anger slipped as he realized what he’d done.
He had never hit me before now. But something had changed in him these past few weeks. Something dark had been growing below the surface that I had willfully turned a blind eye to.
I glared at him, my skin stinging. “You’re a pathetic nobody without me, Rhett. I hope you’ve told your mom how you’ve ruined everything. Now both the men in her life have let her down.”
Rhett felt my verbal attack like a strike to the chest. I saw how it took all the fight out of him. His expression drained of rage and was replaced with something so much worse.
Sadness.
As if it was his heart breaking, and not mine.
He looked at me, his eyes agonized. “This isn’t how it should be. If we really loved each other, we wouldn’t be trying to tear each other down like this.” His tone faltered like he might cry at any moment.
“And I suppose Jenn is perfect,” I scoffed bitterly.
At the mention of his side piece, Rhett’s face hardened again, his eyes turning to flint. “I love her, Lucinda.”
The truth fell between us, cementing our fate—and hers.
“No, you don’t,” I growled.
“Yes, I do. And there’s nothing you can do about it.” He turned and opened the door, stepping out onto the porch.
He paused, as if realizing once he walked out, nothing would ever be the same. We were no longer Rhett and Lucy. We were something so much worse.
But he did leave, and I watched him walk away from me.
And head straight to her.
“There’s nothing you can do about it.”
His words branded themselves on my brain.
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” I murmured as I closed the door behind him.
Rhett had no idea the lengths I would go to keep what was mine.