Stinging tears filled her eyes. She brushed them away before he turned his head to look at her. “Let’s just drop it,” she said.

He let go of the steering wheel and placed his hand on her thigh, caressing her through her jeans. Mary Beth shifted in the passenger seat but she couldn’t escape his unwelcome touch.

“Poor you,” he murmured. “Still a virgin. You can’t cheat. The whole idea is ridiculous.”

She wasn’t sure if he was being solicitous or sarcastic. Mary Beth took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Bobby Joe, we can’t go on like this.”

He used the button to recline his seat slightly. “I get the feeling I’m in for a lecture. Like what?”

“I’ll keep it short,” she said tartly. “I mean like being so suspicious of each other. Fighting over things we can’t resolve. Alma’s so worried about us. And I’m worried about her.”

“Leave my mother to me,” he said in a dull voice that nonetheless held a trace of genuine concern. “I’ll talk to her.”

“That’s better than nothing. But it still doesn’t fix the fact that you and I aren’t getting along, Bobby Joe.”

“What exactly do you want me to do?”

“Tell the truth.” She bit her lip, knowing what he didn’t: that she no longer had the moral right to make the demand. But she was bent on protecting Parr at all costs.

“I generally do.” He wouldn’t look at her.

Bobby Joe seemed to have lost interest in whatever she’d been up to for the moment. That right there was a sign, one she didn’t quite want to acknowledge. If they were going to end the engagement, she clung to the idea that they should do so as honorably as possible, for a reason that would be understood and accepted by all.

If that happened—and they sure seemed to be heading in that direction—she would be free. But the thought didn’t cheer her. If and when she and Bobby Joe split up a second time, she couldn’t be with Parr.

“Can we get this over with?”

“I just want to know one thing once and for all, and then I’ll never ask you again.”

Bobby Joe coughed. “I’m holding you to that. Fire away.”

“Are you still seeing Luellen?”

“No. For the last time, whatever you overheard was her fantasy.”

Mary Beth fell silent. She’d asked to meet him here tonight in the empty parking lot near his new office because she’d sensed something different about him after her disastrous day at the mall. She could not, for the life of her, define it precisely. There was no way she could get him to admit fault a second time or trick him into revealing more.