Page 95 of The Moment He Saw Her

“Nina, your shot!”

Libby saw Cill waving from a pool table.

“Okay, gotta go, but nice to meet you… I think,” Nina said. “I hope you’re being nice to your daughter, Caldwells, because we like her here. And you”—she jabbed a long emerald-tipped nail into Samuel’s chest—“should worship your sister, so if you’re not, then you need to smarten up your act, because I may not have known her long, but she’s a good one.”

Libby pinched the bridge of her nose and went through June’s breathing exercise again, so she didn’t break down and sob, while her brother and father watched Nina walk away, shock on their faces.

Chapter28

“How is it you have friends when you’ve not been here long?” Samuel asked her.

“Because I’m not the mighty Phillip Caldwell’s daughter here.”

“Is what that man, Ryder, said back in that cafe true, Libby?” Samuel asked her after another mouthful of cider. “Did Andrew say that to you about the photos to be taken at the wedding?”

“You think I’d lie about something like that?”

Samuel sighed. “No.”

“He spoke to me in the church. He took me aside and said that and how his mother could have the official photos changed to remove this”—she touched her scar—“but she had no say over the pictures guests took. That they would be on social media.”

“Bitch!” her brother hissed. The vehemence behind the words surprised her. He rarely lost his cool.

“Samuel,” his father rebuked. “Dianne is not that. She was just looking out for our families.”

“By upsetting Libby?” Samuel said, looking angry. “You should have told me, Libby.”

“When?”

“When it happened. I would have listened, as would Savannah and Katie,” Samuel said.

Her laugh held no humor. “You wouldn’t have listened. That church was full of the most affluent members of Piedmont. No way would any of you have risked the precious Caldwell name being dragged through the mud.”

“It’s been dragged through it anyway,” her father snapped. “But you are my daughter. Of course I would have listened.”

“Father, I tried to tell you many times what I wanted to do. That I didn’t want to be an accountant, I wanted to be a chocolatier, but you never listened then, and you wouldn’t have that day in the church.”

“That’s different.” He dismissed her words.

“You never talked to me about wanting to do that,” Samuel said to her.

“Why would I talk to either of you? It’s just something else in my life you controlled, and I let you. The fault is as much mine as yours.” Libby drank more cider.

“All good, Libby?”

“All good, thanks, Delores,” Libby said when the woman approached.

Today she wore a black leather bustier under a thick checked shirt that Libby was sure she’d seen Red in before. Her impressive chest was spilling over the leather. She wore her hair in a high ponytail, tied with a bright red ribbon, and her lips were the same color.

“I’ll just top that up for you, honey.” She whisked away her empty glass and refilled it.

“Come home, Libby, and we can work through this. You don’t belong here,” Samuel said.

“I’ve felt more connected to people here than I have ever felt before,” Libby said softly. “Real people who love and respect each other.”

“More connected than to your family?” She heard the shock in Samuel’s voice.

Her father snorted. “You’ve lived your entire life not wanting for anything. Luxury vacations surrounded by your family, and this is the place you feel connected,” he scoffed.

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