Sweet Heart (The Hearts of Sawyers Bend #2) - Ivy Layne Page 0,97

the tear away with the back of my free hand.

“Hopefully, we'll get this sorted out with your father and you won't have to cry anymore. But I need you to listen to me for a minute, okay?” I nodded. “Your father is full of shit. He's an opportunist and a liar and no one in this town has any idea how he came from Eleanor. She did right with you, but your father is a waste of space.”

West sighed and leaned back, letting go of my hand. “Darren talks a good game, and Eleanor loves him, so right now she's letting him turn her head. She's confused. But I promise you, she is not going to press charges against you. No fucking way.”

The buzzer on the oven went off and J.T. took the pie out, sliding it onto a cooling rack. Turning to me, he said, “West is right, Daze. Grams was upset, and she doesn't get why you left because your dad is messing with her, but there's no way she'll press charges.”

I scrubbed my palms over my cheeks. I was still wearing my damp clothes, my eyes were red from crying, and my hair was all over the place. Before I took the next step, I needed to get myself together. First, I had a question for West.

“Is Royal still at The Inn? Do you know?”

West raised an eyebrow at me, and I knew he was answering as Royal's friend, not as the chief of police. “He is. He's pretty miserable right now. Feels like shit for calling me and dragging you into this.”

“He isn't the one who dragged me into this,” I burst out. “I couldn't tell him.” I choked on the words but forced them out. “I couldn't tell him it was my dad. I was so ashamed that my family did this to him.”

West sighed. “Go see him. You're both idiots, feeling like crap over someone else's mess. Bring him something sweet and tell him you're sorry and everything'll be good. I promise.”

“He's not mad at me?” I asked, feeling exactly like the idiot West said I was.

J.T. was the one who answered. “Why don't you go ask him yourself?”

“Good idea,” West agreed. “Head over to The Inn and see Royal. Don't talk to your grandmother or your parents until I have your dad in custody, okay?”

“I won't, I swear.”

Now that I'd unloaded the whole mess on West, I was more than happy to wash my hands of it. All I wanted to do now was make things right with Royal. I hated the way I'd left him in the parking lot earlier. I should have told him everything right away. It seemed like he'd figured it out mostly, but I owed him the truth.

West let himself out, reminding us to stay off the phone and lie low. My dad was probably at Grams' house finishing the dinner she'd cooked for him.

“We have just enough time while that pie cools to get you fixed up,” J.T. said. “What did you do, stand under the waterfall?”

My hair was beyond saving. Too much mist from the waterfall and not enough product. Who was I kidding? There wasn't enough product in the universe to prevent a frizz explosion when I sat behind the waterfall. Usually, I wore a hat or wrapped it up, but today I hadn't been thinking. J.T. to the rescue.

I wasn't wasting the time it would take to wash my hair and start from scratch, so J.T. pulled it back from my face, turning the poof of frizz into a rounded bun. I swear if he weren't in culinary school he would have made an awesome hair-stylist.

A quick wash of my face, new makeup, and a sundress repaired most of the damage. My eyes were still a little puffy from all the crying I'd done in the past few days, but at least I no longer looked like I'd been dragged out from under a wet rock.

Almost ready, I pulled out my phone to text Royal. I was saving my apology for in-person, but I wanted to make sure he was still there.

I'm coming over to return your car and bring you a present. Are you in your office?

He answered almost immediately.

I'm here. Are you leaving now?

I'll be there in a few minutes. See you soon.

See you soon.

That was the idea, but soon turned out to be a lot longer than I'd planned. All we had to do was drive to The Inn and walk