LITMIR.BIZ

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waist. “Glad you could make it, Boone. Can I get you something to drink?”

      A whiskey on the rocks would be nice. It had been hard not to think about how a drink would taste since he held the wine bottle in his hands. He could feel the burn and missed the way it would make his head fuzzy. It muted the feelings that often felt too big to carry around sober.

      “Thank you, but I’m fine.”

      “We have sweet tea,” she offered with a smile.

      Not exactly what he needed to quench this thirst. “Maybe with dinner.”

      A chocolate Lab flew down the stairs, followed by a young man whistling like today was nothing but a good day. “Well, I’ll be,” he said as he hit the last step. “I can’t believe Boone Williams is standing in my living room.”

      “Our living room,” Faith corrected him. “Boone, this is my brother, Sawyer.”

      “Sawyer’s new to the label,” Dean said. “He’s got a hit single out right now, so we had him start recording his debut album this week, which is why you haven’t seen him around. You remember what those days were like.”

      The two men shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Dean’s future brother-in-law reminded Boone of a younger version of himself—cool, confident and completely unaware of how the business wouldn’t think twice about chewing him up and spitting him out.

      “If you wanted to drop in and take a listen one of these days, I’m sure Sawyer wouldn’t mind.” Boone hadn’t even been in the house five minutes and Dean had set another trap to get him in the studio.

      “Mind?” Sawyer echoed. “I’d be honored.”

      “We’ll see,” Boone replied halfheartedly.

      “What did I say about no Grace Note talk during dinner?” Faith asked Dean.

      Dean wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her temple. “I’m not eating dinner yet, so this doesn’t count. But I promise to be good the rest of the evening.”

      Their display of affection, although small, still caused Boone’s chest to tighten. There had been a time in his marriage when he’d held Sara like that, when they had actually cared about one another. Sometimes it seemed unbelievable that what they’d had could have unraveled so thoroughly.

      “Well, I was about to tell you dinner’s ready,” Faith said. “Why don’t you show our guest to the dining room?”

      Just as they started to move, there was a knock at the front door. Sawyer hung back to answer it. Boone was pulling his chair out when he heard a familiar voice. Ruby wanted to know where she could find Boone, and it was clear her daughter wasn’t as good at keeping secrets as he had hoped. Ruby didn’t sound like she was there to thank him for keeping Violet out of jail.

      “Is that Ruby?” Dean asked.

      “You guys have a back door I can use?” Boone asked, pushing his chair back in.

      “What did you do?”

      “I didn’t do anything. That woman’s got problems. Problems I don’t need.”

      Dean didn’t look convinced. “Faith’s clients are like family. I wouldn’t say anything like that in front of her.”

      “You wouldn’t say what in front of me?” Faith asked, carrying in a steaming casserole dish.

      Dean and Boone exchanged a look, but they were saved by Sawyer.

      “Ruby Wynn is outside. She says she needs a minute with Boone.”

      “Ruby wants to talk to Boone?” Faith set the food on the table and wiped her bangs from her face. “Do you need a midwife for something?”

      The only thing Boone needed was a way out of this, but there was no way to avoid this confrontation. He could run back to his trailer and call it a night, but now that he not only smelled dinner but also could see it, there was no way he was missing out on this meal.

      “I’m kidding,” Faith said. “You probably don’t even know what she does for a living. She’s not a fan, is she?”

      “They met the other day when Violet was here,” Dean explained. “I don’t think she knew who Boone was.”

      Boone shot Dean a look. He didn’t need to be reminded. “I’ll be right back.”

      Ruby had her back to the door as she leaned over the porch railing. She righted herself and spun around at the sound of the creaky screen door.

      “Porch spying again?” he asked, knowing it would get a rise out of her.

      He could certainly see that fire in her eyes. “I thought we had an agreement.”

      “Yet here you are keeping me from the delicious dinner that’s waiting for me inside.”

      She took a step toward him. Her proximity was unsettling, mainly because there was something about it that he liked. “Maybe I wasn’t clear, but staying away from me includes staying away from my daughter. She told me what you did today, and I don’t appreciate your meddling.”

      “If by meddling you mean keeping your daughter from getting arrested for shoplifting...” Boone barked a laugh.

      “You’re not funny.”

      He wasn’t trying to be funny. He was just as annoyed as she was. “I have no idea what you’re so hot about—I did her a favor. But I’ll be happy to let the police deal with your kid next time.”

      “It’s obvious you don’t know what it takes to parent a teenager.”

      Boone bristled at her assumption. “You don’t know anything about me and my parenting.”

      She seemed to take pause. “You’re right. We don’t know anything about one another, and I thought we wanted to keep it that way.”

      “I do.” Like Boone had told Dean, he didn’t need or want Ruby’s problems. Her kid was entertaining, but not enough to put up with this kind of nonsense.

      “Then I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t do Violet any more favors. She’s going through some tough stuff.” She bit her bottom lip and wrung her hands. “Her dad isn’t really involved in her life. I am doing my best, but sometimes my best isn’t enough. We come here to work with Jesse, and some days I think it’s helping, and then days like today make me think no matter what I do, I can’t make things right for her...”

      Boone stood silent as Ruby dumped all of her parenting fears like a pile of dirty laundry right at his feet. Her worry and insecurity were palpable. The empathy he felt in return was unexpected, but her emotions were so similar to the ones he wrestled with every day. Parenting was a lot tougher than he’d ever imagined, and it was nice to know other people struggled to get it right.

      Ruby leaned against the railing. Her vulnerability was so much more attractive than her anger. “I’m sorry. None of this matters to you.”

      “Don’t apologize.” He stepped closer. He wouldn’t touch her no matter how much his fingers were itching to. “I get it. I have a teenager, too. You might not believe me, but I know how it feels to wonder if you’re doing this parenting thing right or not. And I’m sorry for making things harder for you today. I really thought stopping her from stealing was doing the right thing.”

      “It probably was,” she relented with a sigh. “The bigger issue was conspiring with her not to tell me. I can’t help her if I don’t know what’s going on. Hearing it from you would have been better than from my neighbor, who thought you were trying to kidnap my daughter, by the way.”

      “Kidnapping? Seriously?” People were unbelievable.

      “One thing you need to learn about a small town is that someone is always watching.” Ruby smiled, and it sure looked good on her. “Trust me—it’s not my favorite part, either.”

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