“You did the bare minimum, Mother. If that.” I close my eyes, feeling like a bitch for telling her how shitty she was. “You never once read to me or did homework with me. You barely knew what grade I was in.”

“Oh, please. I kept a roof over your head and food in the fridge.” I laugh at that. “I did the best I could with what I had.”

“No,” I finally say. “You did what you needed to do to keep up the appearances for the town.”

“Why, you ungrateful bitch,” she says, and I laugh.

“And that’s the end of that,” I say. “Listen, you tell that horrible excuse of a man that if he or his son is behind the shit that is happening to me, then I’m going to tell the whole fucking town my secret.” That’s a lie because there is no way I would do that to Ethan and Jacob. “Tell him that if I find out they were responsible for any of it, I’m going to stand in the middle of town square and sing like a fucking canary.”

“I would not advise you to do that.” My mother’s voice goes low.

“Of course you wouldn’t, Mother. You’ve never advised me to do anything besides spread my legs and keep my mouth shut.” I hang up when she gasps out, and I rub the tears away. I don’t know why I expected it to be different. I don’t know why I thought for once she would be on my side. I keep hoping that one of these days she’ll stick up for me, but I know deep down in my gut that it will never happen.

Beau: We were just invited over to Casey’s house for a barbecue. Be ready in five.

I want to tell him that I don’t want to go. I want to tell him that I shouldn’t go, but he doesn’t give me a choice

Beau: If you aren’t ready and are coming up with excuses, I’ll just tell you now that I’ll toss you over my shoulder.

“Great,” I say to myself. “Just freaking great.”

Chapter Thirteen

Beau

“Hello,” I answer the phone as soon as it rings.

“Mr. Mayor.” Casey laughs out loud, making fun of me, and the only thing I can do is moan.

“What do you want now?” I ask. “I told you that I’m not doing anymore real estate shit for you.”

“That isn’t why I’m calling. I was calling to invite you over tonight for a barbecue.”

“Really?” I ask him. “What’s the occasion?”

“It’s just a little get-together,” he says. “Now that Olivia has decided to stay, I wanted to get all my favorite people together.”

“Look at you.” I joke with him now, chuckling a little bit. “Being all in a relationship.”