thousand dollars?” Ben’s dad murmured and looked at him. “You never mentioned that to me.”
“Because it was none of your business,” Ben replied equally quietly. “And I’m not going to cash it.”
“Why not?” Jeff rounded on him, totally forgetting Mr. Meadows. “Silver won’t mind, and I could put that to good use on the ranch.”
“But it’s not for you, Dad, and I’m not going to allow Mr. Meadows to pay me off when I have every intention of having a relationship with his daughter.”
Ben made sure his gaze included Silver’s father when he was speaking, and addressed his next remarks directly to him.
“I appreciate that you meant well, sir, but I don’t want Silver’s money.”
A dull, red flush rose on Phil Meadows’s cheeks. “Silver, I need to talk to you alone, okay?”
“You can say anything you like right here out in the open, Dad, or I don’t want to hear it,” Silver snapped. Ben’s dad obviously wasn’t the only one with a mad on.
“Okay, then. I don’t want you hanging around with a man who enables drug use.”
There was a sudden silence and then Ben’s dad spoke up, his voice quiet, which was alarming enough to raise the hairs on the back of Ben’s neck.
“Are you saying my son is some kind of drug dealer?”
“Maybe.” Phil shrugged. “I read all the evidence brought against him, and the Walkers said that when he went out to get ‘food’ maybe he procured the drugs that killed their daughter.”
Jeff’s lunge at the other man was so out of left field that Ben almost didn’t get in the way quick enough to stop him.
“Dad, this won’t solve anything, okay?” He hung on to his father’s raised fist. “Mr. Meadows is one hundred percent wrong, and we know that because not a single prosecutor believed that lie. If you hit him, he’ll call the cops and sue the pants off you.”
Silver went over to her father, who was staring in shock at Jeff Miller. “Come outside right now, and I will talk to you.”
He nodded and walked out, leaving Ben still holding on to his father. Silver met his gaze.
“I’ll deal with my annoying parent, if you can take care of yours?”
“Sure.” Ben nodded.
“I’m really sorry, Mr. Miller,” Silver said. “My dad had no right to turn up here and behave the way he has. I’ll make sure he doesn’t bother you again.”
She walked out into the yard and found her father pacing by his rental.
“That man is insane! He should be locked up!”
“You walked into his house, uninvited, and accused him of kidnapping a grown woman. How would you expect him to behave?” Silver shook her head. “I’m so ashamed of you.”
“Of me?” Her father echoed her words in disbelief. “He was the one who wanted to beat me up!”
“Because you suggested his son was a drug dealer. The Walkers used their guilt over their daughter’s death to try and destroy a nineteen-year-old boy who had been doing his best to bring his friend home because he was so afraid for her. That’s what happened, Dad. You of all people should know that if an addict wants to get high, they’ll find a way despite everyone around them.”
“I do know that, which is why I don’t want you hanging around with someone who has enabled a drug user!”
“Ben didn’t do that.” Silver made her dad look her right in the eye. “I know you care about me, and that I scared you very badly, and that it’s hard to let go of that fear. But, even if I did start using again, it still wouldn’t be your fault. It would be on me. It would be my failure, not yours.”
A muscle moved in his jaw. “I’ll always blame myself for being so caught up in your success that I didn’t notice the toll it was taking on you—that you felt you couldn’t tell me what was going on—that I let you down.” He swallowed hard. “I never want that to happen again.”
God, he sounded just like Ben the night before.... Addicts like her really did have a lot to answer for.
“And you won’t let me down if you back off and let me make my own mistakes,” Silver said earnestly. “You’re smothering me and interfering in my personal life. If you keep this up, we won’t be able to have a relationship at all.”
She took a deep breath and stepped away from him. “I want you to go home, talk to Mom, and either