for not taking yoga more seriously. Wedging her heel into the seat, she pushed up and—thank God she was free—rolled into her seat.
She smoothed her hair out of her face and pretended to be watching the wind blowing through the trees.
Both doors opened at once, and she felt the car dip to the right a little before Emmitt settled in the passenger seat and then slammed the door. So hard the car rocked.
A little afraid of what she might find, she turned her head and saw one very pissed off father who was struggling with the reality that his daughter had conned him. It wouldn’t be the last time Paisley pulled one over on Emmitt, but this time was hard because it was the first.
Her heart went out to him. Never had she wanted to hug someone as much as she wanted to hug Emmitt just then. His jaw was clenched, his muscles taut, and his body language screamed failure.
“My life is officially over,” Paisley hissed as Annie pulled away from the curb and headed toward home. “I’m never going back to school again. Maybe I can homeschool or transfer to Eastland High, but no way am I ever going to be able to face Sam or any of his friends!”
“You should have thought of that before you lied to me,” Emmitt ground out.
“I didn’t lie. I said I was going to my friend Sammy’s house. Sam is my friend, and I was where? Oh, at his house! It’s not my fault you don’t know who Sam is. Daddy and Uncle Levi would have. And if they didn’t, they would have asked before saying yes.”
The comment was meant to hurt, but Annie didn’t think Paisley realized just how much power she had over her dad—who didn’t move, except for his hand tightening around the bill of his ballcap.
Annie knew Paisley’s comment was spoken in anger, but the words hit Emmitt so hard he flinched. His face went blank and he stared blindly through the windshield. Annie’s heart broke for him. Although Paisley would probably forget the whole incident in a month’s time, for Emmitt her words were Sharpied into his heart. Every future decision he made as a parent would be impacted by this moment. Whenever he was confronted with a hard situation, he’d question himself.
“Are you seriously blaming this on me?” he finally said. “I know Levi and Gray would have asked—they made that fuc . . . abundantly clear when no one knew where you were.”
“You could have texted to find out. Or called and I would have told you where I was. You didn’t have to come barging in and threaten Sam or embarrass me in front of everyone!”
“You threatened a teenager?” Annie asked.
“He’s eighteen and I didn’t threaten him, just enlightened him on how things were going to be moving forward.”
“No,” Paisley argued. “You came in all President of the Cock Block Committee when nothing was happening. Nothing! And now nothing is ever going to happen.”
Emmitt’s grin said he wouldn’t be losing any sleep over that.
“We were just hanging out,” Paisley continued. “With his friends. And then his sister came out, and he introduced us, and the minute we started talking, the guys acted like we weren’t even there. I think Sam just invited me over because his sister’s a freshman and doesn’t have any friends and he thinks I’m nice or something. So all that ‘This is over’ BS only made me look stupid. He’s just a friend, even though I thought maybe it was more. Basically he’s never going to speak to me again, if that makes you happy.”
Annie looked in the rearview mirror right as Paisley’s lower lip began trembling. But no matter how hard she tried to keep her emotions at bay, she’d clearly hit her breaking point and burst into tears. She was no longer trying to hide her feelings or interested in talking to her father. In fact, she slid on a sweatshirt and pulled the hood over her head, cinching it around her face.
Annie was uncertain how to proceed. This was clearly a family situation and she wasn’t family. Then again, Emmitt had come to her for help, not to mention her heart ached for Paisley. The poor girl had been caught, tarred, and feathered in front of half the varsity football team. She’d just experienced her first heartbreak—in a very public forum—and, more than anything, needed her dad’s reassurance.
Annie reached over and gently squeezed Emmitt’s hand, letting him