Page 33 of Love You, Mean It

And with that he strode past us, and past his guppying much younger wife, her little bleats of “Honey? Honey…” ignored as he disappeared down the hallway.

“I’ll just…check on him,” Marta said, face frozen in deer-in-the-headlights shock as she scurried after her fuming husband.

Without Ted there to stoke my rage, the flames quickly guttered, leaving nothing but sickly, sooty shame behind.

“Theo, I’m sorry…” I reached across the table, trying to catch his attention more than his hand, but he just shook his head once, sharply, lips pressed tight.

“We’ll talk in the car.”

With that, he rose, his physical movements eerily reminiscent of his father’s, and strode out the way we’d come, leaving me to slink after him, embarrassment and anxiety surging through me on a geyser of flush.

For someone who needed this more than she could even fully admit to herself, I was doing a remarkably good job of fucking things up as much as possible.

Theo held my coat out for me, and opened the doors of the house and the car, but he wouldn’t meet my eye or speak a word as we pulled out. Had I ruined everything because I couldn’t endure an hour of passive aggression from Ted Taylor? All I’d had to do was bite my fucking tongue, and instead I’d—

Theo rolled to a stop as soon as we were out of sight of the house. His hands gripped the wheel tightly, knuckles a white-capped mountain range, gaze trained on the BMW logo between them.

“Theo,” I started. “I know that didn’t go how we planned. But you have to understand—”

And then he burst outlaughing.

“Wow,”he choked out. “That was just…wow.” He shook his head, tears glistening in his eyes.

“Are you…alright?”

“Are you kidding? This is the best I’ve been inyears.” He wiped at his eyes roughly, laughing even harder. “Did you see hisface?”

I bit my lower lip against the grin overtaking my face.

“Honestly? I was worried he was going to have a stroke.”

“It would serve the fucker right, he’s caused enough of them.” Theo exhaled heavily as his laughter petered out. “I mean, Jesus, even forhimthat was intense.”

“Yeah, I think we can safely say that I amnotTed’s ideal daughter-in-law.” I flashed Theo a sheepish look. “And that was before I ripped him a new one.”

“Well, I’m glad you did. Not only did he one hundred percent deserve it, it was the funniest thing I’ve seen in years.” Theo shook his head as the two of us exhaled a few last chuckles. “Seriously, though…I’m so sorry. I had no idea he’d be that bad.”

“Really?” I squinted in disbelief.

“He’s self-important, obviously, and he’s got a lot of bullshit ideas about therightway to do things, but even for him…Honestly, the way he went after you?” Theo’s eyebrows went sky-high. “I’m really sorry for making you go through that. If I’d known…”

You didn’t know because you’ve never tried to force someone from the wrong side of the tracks on him before,I somehow managed not to say aloud. Slicing deli meat, nursing, those weren’t Ted’s idea ofhigh-endcareers, even if you could live very comfortably off them, even in a place like Milborough. It shouldn’t have surprised me that this hadn’t occurred to Theo, but it was the kind of blind spot only someone with as much as Theo had always had could afford.

Still, right now it felt like we were on the same team—Ted hadn’t exactly spared his son, after all—and disaster though the night hadclearlybeen, that felt like a win worth preserving.See, Bella? I can control myself…sometimes…

Theo was reaching for the gearshift as the wispy curl of dread crept back in, smoke off an approaching fire.

“Theo.” I put my hand on his wrist to stop him. He turned to me, eyebrows raised in question, and I quickly pulled away. “I know it was kind of funny, but…was thatsmart?”

“What do you mean?”

“Pissing your dad off like that.” I pulled my lips between my teeth, frowning. “I mean…the point is to keep Mangiaout,andnow that he officially hates me…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. We both knew Ted Taylor wasexactlythe type to drive someone out of business as petty revenge.

“Ahhh…” Theo sat back in his bucket seat, angling himself toward me. In the dim light of a nearby streetlamp, his expression looked soft, gentle even, despite the knife’s-edge cheekbones and jawline. He stared at some point just over my shoulder, considering. After several seconds, I couldn’t take it anymore.

“You do think I’ve ruined it, don’t you? Fuck, why can’t I just control mytemper?” I raked both hands through my hair, frustration pulsing through me.What waswrongwith me?

“No, I really don’t,” Theo finally said, shaking his head slowly. “You certainly haven’t convinced Ted to join your fan club, but we didn’t reallyneedthat. And honestly…it was never going to happen anyway.”

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