“I can only imagine since I wasn’t given an invitation.” She hisses out the last word, but she does it with a huge smile on her face. “It’s a mockery is what it is,” she says, and my stomach starts to burn. “Look at him.” She motions with her head toward Beau, who is standing with a woman I’ve never seen before. Both of them are laughing, and she puts her hand on Beau’s arm. “He should be married to someone like that and not—” she starts to say, and I bury down the hurt.

“Not the town whore,” I finish the sentence for her. “I get it.” I take another sip of the champagne, the sting of tears burning my eyes. “I’ll see that it’s put on my tombstone.” I don’t let her say another word. Instead, I walk away from her and from Beau, who hasn’t once looked my way. I walk to the bathroom, ignoring everyone and pondering how bad it would be if I took off. I finish the champagne, leaving the glass in the bathroom, and when I walk out, I see that more people have arrived. I look around to see if I spot Beau, but all I see is Cassandra. “Hey, did you see Beau?”

“Yeah, he was in his office with his mother.” She points at the office door and smiles at me.

I walk away from them and head to the office door, and before I knock, I can hear the yelling. “Admit it,” Mary Ellen says.

“Fine, I did it to protect her. Does that make you happy?” Beau says, and the words are like a kick to my stomach. I am about to turn and walk away when the door swings open, and I come face-to-face with Beau, who looks at me and his face goes white.

“Hey,” he says softly. “I was looking for you.”

I ignore the pain in my chest, and the burning in my stomach. I ignore it all and smile. “Well, you found me,” I say. When he leans forward and kisses my lips, it takes everything I have not to take a step back.

“Dinner is almost served,” he says, and I see Mary Ellen step up beside him. “We should go and sit.”

“Go easy on the drinking, Savannah.” Mary Ellen walks past us toward the backyard.

“God, that woman,” Beau says, shaking his head. “She just doesn’t get it.”

“Well, she’s your mother, and she has your best interests at heart,” I say, averting my eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asks and puts his hand under my chin to make me look up. “Look at me.”

I finally look at him, and I wonder if I can hide the hurt. “I’m fine. It’s just been a whirlwind few days.”

“I wish we could get away,” he says, and Cassandra comes running to us.