Page 95 of Shadow Sabotage
Afraid he was talking about me.
Either way, the outcome was the same. He’d chosen the job. And that broke my heart, too.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Claire
“Claire,I’m so glad you’re here tonight. I’ve been dying to tell you something,” Mom said. She dished some salad onto her plate, then passed the bowl to Travis. He shot me the kind of grin that said he was glad I was the one on the receiving end and not him.
“Oh yeah?” I reached for the mashed potatoes and plopped a giant scoop onto my plate, then passed them to Vance. His fingertips met mine as he took the bowl from me. My breath caught from that brief moment of contact.
I forced my attention back to Mom, hoping my face wasn’t as red as it felt. If it was, she ignored it, too eager to tell me her news.
“Do you remember Rhett’s best friend from high school?” She beamed.
“Um, yeah,” I said, giving her a strange look, then cutting my eyes toward Cheyenne. “She’s sitting right there. Hard to forget her.”
Mom rolled her eyes. “No, not her. Rhett’sotherbest friend, Cody.”
My eyebrows shot to the ceiling. Best friends? That was news to me—and apparently to Rhett, too, based on the look on his face.
I poured a generous amount of gravy over my potatoes. “You mean that scrawny kid that used to follow Rhett around and always tried to dress just like him?”
“He wasn’t scrawny,” Mom scolded. Then she sighed. “Well, maybe he was. But he was a kid back then, and that’s beside the point.”
Vance coughed beside me, clearly trying to cover the laugh that had slipped out.
“Whatisthe point, Mom?” I asked between gritted teeth.
“Well, Cody still has family here and I found out he’s in town this week visiting. Rhett and Cheyenne said it was okay, so I invited him to the wedding. He said he’d love to come, and I thought it would be nice if you sat by him and made him feel welcome. You know, since the four of you used to run around so much.”
“Mom,” I groaned. “Seriously?”
“Rhett and Cheyenne will be busy, obviously, and someone needs to keep him company. Besides, you might enjoy reconnecting with him. He’s a dentist now. Very successful, from what I hear, with his own practice in Billings. You two might have a lot to talk about.”
“You’re right. There’s nothing I love more than talking about dental hygiene,” I said, keeping my face straight. “Flossing, brushing. Types of toothpaste. It’s riveting, really. Is there a drink limit at the open bar? Asking for a friend.”
Mom shot me a look that made me feel like a heel.
But I just couldn’t. “Why can’t Beth hang out with him?” I protested.
Beth blushed and looked down, fiddling with the napkin in her lap. “I, um, sort of already have a date for the wedding.”
My jaw dropped—along with everyone else’s at the table.
“Well, that’s wonderful,” Mom said, smiling. “Who is it?”
“I–I’d rather not say. Not yet, anyway,” Beth said, blushing furiously.
Unfortunately for Beth, that only made my brothers want to tease her—and made Mom more curious.
But for me, it created an opportunity.
“Eat faster,” I whispered to Vance. “That way, we can get out of here.”
Half an hour later,Vance and I sat on the wooden fence overlooking my favorite pasture. Neither one of us had been ready to get back to work, but he had followed my lead and gotten me out of the house as quickly as possible. I’d snagged a bottle of whiskey and two glasses on the way out, and now, I poured him a shot as thanks for telling Mom I had to work.
Myshot was to take my mind off the fact that Mom had set me up with a wedding date I had zero interest in.
