so she crouched down to grab it, slapping his leg so he moved. When she rose, she slammed her head against the bottom of the table, making something on the table above spill and blinding pain rip through her. “Shit.”
“You okay?” Rex asked, scooting his chair back.
“What do you think?” Daphne hissed, rising and pushing past Ellery. “And so you know, I’m selling the house because I don’t want to live by myself in a house that holds all my memories, memories that are gone now. I just wanted a blank slate.” She thumped her chest, knowing her eyes were blazing even as tears continued to course. “I deserve a blank slate.”
Then with everyone in the restaurant watching, Daphne spun on her heel and tried to make a dignified exit. Except Clay stood in her way.
“Hey, you need some help here, Daph?” Clay asked, looking concerned.
Something about the tenderness in his eyes almost undid her. She nearly collapsed into his arms. Because at least someone was on her side. Hell, she was tired of being so alone, shouldering everything by herself. “Thank you, Clay, but not now. I can’t deal right now.”
Daphne shoved past him, digging for her keycard. She needed sanctuary, somewhere to process what had happened in the last ten minutes. Rex’s news about the business, Ellery’s revelation about what she thought about her mother, her biggest mistake appearing in Texas like a bad penny. It was all too much.
Thankfully, she didn’t meet anyone on her dash to her room.
The morning that had started so well had just become a dumpster fire.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Daphne,
Hope it’s okay that I call you that now. I feel silly calling you Dee Dee or Miss O’Hara. I really enjoyed jogging with you this morning. Felt nice to have someone at my side. When I learned you liked to run, I kept thinking about how it would be to have you beside me. Looking forward to our chat tonight. I hope you’re not feeling awkward anymore and know that I have been enjoying getting to know you as a real person and not merely on the computer. I believed it when I said we have a bond that transcends distance or connection speed. I hope you feel that way, too.
Until tonight,
Evan
When Ellery had checked her email on the way to the bed and breakfast that morning to get Josh some coffee, she’d been panicked at the thought that her mother had figured out she’d been indulging in a relationship with Evan. That panic had wrestled with irritation. Evan had gone for a run with her mother and hadn’t clued in to the fact that the woman running beside him was nothing like the one he’d shared such intimate thoughts with? How obtuse could a man be? And how come her mother hadn’t figured it out yet? The woman could smell the one puff of a cigarette she’d smoked when she was fifteen but not this?
Then again, Ellery had bigger fish to fry than Evan McCallum, namely at this moment dealing with her father and the apparent lies he’d told her last summer. She looked down at where Rex still sat at the breakfast table, looking like a fox with feathers in his mouth.
“Daddy,” she said, her voice full of disappointment.
His shoulders seemed to sink even lower before he took a deep breath. “Come on, pumpkin. Everything’s okay. Your mom is just overreacting as usual.”
“She’s justified, Daddy.”
Rex turned to everyone who had been staring at the spectacle that had unfolded and pressed his hands against the air. “It’s okay, folks. Just a simple misunderstanding. Sorry to interrupt your breakfast.”
Ellery stared at him. He had lied to her. He’d purposefully allowed her to think her mother was a philanderer who had traded her husband and her boring life for the high life. Or as high as life could be as a children’s author who dressed like a southern matron. Her mother may have chased fame and fortune, but she hadn’t cheated on her father. Mom hadn’t walked away. Dad had. So why had her father led her to believe everything was her mother’s fault?
Around her she could feel people returning their attention to their eggs.
Thank God.
“Just sit down,” her father said, indicating the chair her mother had shoved into a small table that held menus and extra silverware.
“I don’t want to sit down.”
“Please, sugar. We’ve already made quite a scene, so maybe we should try a calm conversation without the drama,” Rex said.