A Perfect Mistake (26 page)

She smoothed her
hand over my hair and the horrible, sick swell of pain tumbled out. I
choked on my tears and she let me cry and murmured that it was going
to be okay.

She pulled me over
to the table and sat me down. She was gone for a few a moments and
came back with a box of tissues.

“Tell me, my
darling.”

“Last year I
was so lonely. It was so hard. It’s good to be home, but I have
to tell you. I wasn’t in Kenya last year.

My momma’s
eyes widened and that look came over her face again that said I had
taken another step away from that little girl she saw when she looked
at me.

She took a breath.
“Where were you?”

“In New York
City.”

“Why?”

Here was the moment
when I could have unburdened myself. When I could have told her about
my son and what had happened. But suddenly I just couldn’t do
it. I had already told my friends, and they had already made their
judgments. I knew that Aubree wasn’t happy with me, but I could
only think that the next person I told my agonizing secret to should
be Boone. I realized in that moment that he was the only person who
mattered.

“I don’t
really know how to tell you this, but I’m not exactly perfect,
momma.”

“Oh, Verity.”

“I know how
Ethan felt when he left and why he left. We can’t be you and
Daddy. We’re your children, not clones. We live and breathe,
and we have minds of our own. I love you. Both of you, and I know
that you don’t approve of Boone. But, I like him. Very much.

She took a breath.
“Oh, my God, you really are a young woman who knows her own
mind. I have to admit, I’ve grown quite fond of Boone myself.
He isn’t anything like I thought he would be. I’ve told
your daddy as much, and I can see he thinks very highly of him, too.
But Verity, their reputation is something that would be very hard to
overcome.”

“And we should
treat them different because of something they had nothing to do
with? How is that fair?”

“It’s
not,” she sighed. “It’s just the way things are.”

I grabbed a tissue
and wiped at my eyes. “I don’t care what anyone says. I’m
seeing him, Momma. That is my decision.”

She nodded as if
she’d known this was coming and wasn’t sure how she felt
about it. “I’ll speak to your father. He’s not
going to be happy about it. He had his heart set on Billy Joe.”

“He doesn’t
know Billy Joe, at all, believe me.”

“That may be
so. Now, why don’t you tell me what you came home to tell me?”

I explained to her
how much I wanted to be a designer, and then it was her turn to need
the tissue box. She said she was proud of me for completing my
mission in my own way. Also, proud of the news that I had been so
successful. But, I could see in my momma’s eyes that she knew
she wasn’t getting the whole story.

A story that I
wasn’t sure I was ever going to tell her.

When my cell rang, I
couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. He sounded
so good, and I just listened to him talk, listened to his voice that
settled inside me like a warm, comforting blanket. He told me he’d
pick me up.

In my room, I hunted
through all my clothes. I wanted to wear something that would make
his eyes travel over me with appreciation. As I was searching, I
noticed my body in the full length mirror. It looked fuller, curvier.
I pressed my hand over my stomach and stood there remembering how it
had felt to carry him. The counselor told me that, all my life, I
would hold this grief in my heart. She told me that she could help me
through giving up a child and the adoption, but she told me that I
would never get over the pain. I just had to accept it.

Acceptance. How long
would that take? For me, it felt like a never-forever.

I pulled out a
dress I’d made out of this wonderful butterfly material. It was
a halter top, and the skirt came to mid-thigh. It wasn’t
exactly demure, but it wasn’t overtly sexual. And the different
butterfly hues went well with my coloring.

I pulled out a
short-sleeved, butter yellow sweater to go with it, along with a pair
of red sandals. I left my hair loose. Underneath, I wore my bathing
suit.

When I heard Boone’s
truck pull up outside, I snagged the potato salad out of the fridge
and went out to see him. Finally! It felt like it had been years.

He was lounging
against the door to his truck, looking off into the bayou as I came
out of the house. A black muscle shirt stretched across his chest.
His thumbs hung on the belt loops of a pair of faded jeans that
molded to his thighs, tight across his hips and groin, his biceps
rounded, his strong neck smooth, his jaw coated in dark stubble. The
wind played with his thick hair, the strands caressing his forehead.
The sun was just going down, painting him in purple shadow. In
profile he was so gorgeous it was almost hard to look at him, and my
heart flipped and tumbled. I stopped walking, the feeling was so
intense. Cold and hot at the same time.

Oh, God.

I was in love with
Boone.

I didn’t know
when it had happened or how. I just felt this glow inside me and knew
without a doubt that it was love. Real. The grown-up kind of love,
not the infatuation I’d felt for him in high school.

Slowly he turned his
head and I waited for it. The moment he saw me, he gave me an
irresistible half grin, flashing that patented Outlaw sex appeal and
creating The Boone Swoon out of thin air.

Feeling as if I
would float off like a balloon, I watched as he pushed off the truck
and made his slow, sexy way towards me.

Then all that
painstaking primping paid off. His eyes went over me. That grin
kicked up a notch, his gaze shifting from my face, my body, my hair.
His eyes were like a warm midnight. But beneath that midnight warmth
there was a glint of the devil, that bad-boy unholy trinity vibe.

“Pretty.”

“Thank you.”

He reached for the
potato salad and then took my hand. I tightened my fingers around
his, too much emotion in me to put into words. I leaned against his
shoulder as he led me to his truck, slipped his hand out of mine and
opened the door for me.

“At least this
time you’re not cave-manning it by hoisting me over your
shoulder and chucking me inside.”

He stared at me for
a moment and his eyes got warm and intimate. He chuckled. “Don’t
tempt me.”

By the time we got
to Booker’s house, I was closer to wrapping my heart and mind
around the revelation. As we walked around back, I heard splashing.
River Pearl and Aubree were on the raft out in the lake, and Booker
was flexing his muscles until they both pushed him in the water. He
came up sputtering and all three of them waved to us.

Braxton was at the
barbeque on the deck, already grilling chicken, burgers and frog
legs. I walked up to him and he eyed the bowl in my hand, trying not
to look eager.

“So let’s
taste this masterpiece,” he mocked. But I was starting to
figure out the way he interacted with people he liked, and that tone
was it. I relaxed a bit.

I reached for a
spoon on the table not far from the barbeque and scooped up a
generous bite. He slipped it into his mouth and then closed his
eyes—and seconds later they popped open.

“Verity,
you’re not leaving here tonight until you write this down for
me. Every ingredient. I just got a new lunch item on my menu.”

“You’re
kidding me!”

He laughed and
winked at me. “Ah, Boone, she needs to be enlightened. I’m
calling it Preacher’s Daughter Potato Salad.”

“Is he being
serious?”

“Darlin’
my brother never jokes about food.”

I shoved the bowl in
his hands and laughed, feeling so lighthearted. These boys had a
way—such a way about them that I had simply fallen for them
all. I see why Aubree was so besotted with them. I tilted up my chin
and looked him square in his striking blue eyes. “Then
‘Preacher’s Daughter Potato Salad’ it is. Why don’t
you put this in the fridge, Brax? Try not to steal another bite.”
With a grin over my shoulder at his surprised look, I slipped my arm
around Boone’s waist.

“Okay,
Verity.”

The way he made it a
point to say my name, I knew that the menu item was just a cool way
to list the dish and had nothing to do with thinking of me as the
preacher’s daughter. I grinned again as he turned to go into
the house.

“You tryin’
to win over my brother?” he whispered, kissing my temple.

“Both of them,
actually. I’ll have to see what I can do to impress Booker.”

Boone rolled his
eyes. “Talk about his books. That will impress him.”

“Well, as a
matter of fact, I have read all his books. I love them.”

“Oh, man. Ego
on the rise.”

I laughed as I
stopped and slipped out of my sweater and dress. My daring New York
City one-piece black halter suit with the racy cutouts on the sides
put that appreciative look back on Boone’s face. He ran into
the house to change into his suit.

I jumped in and swam
out to them.

“So, Booker,”
I said as I climbed onto the raft, “Why don’t we talk
about the symbolism in your latest novel,
Gabriel’s
Fall
?”

He looked at me and
smiled. “Oh, yeah? What’s your take on it?”

“Well, the
title for one. Nice play on words. Gabriel falls from grace, but
finds grace in Nell, then falls for her. That’s the real fall.
She gives him back his innocence and his ability to believe again in
the good of the world.” I gave him a smug look.

He stared at me for
a moment.

“Even better
yet, Booker, the genius of that novel is that he has to go into Hell
to get it back. I love that he goes through Hell, literally. Nell is
the symbol for grace and the reason he has to go into and through
Hell to get it back.”

Aubree smiled when
Booker looked at her. “She’s pretty smart and
perceptive.”

“Apparently
she wasn’t salutatorian for nothing.”

After Boone swam out
to us, we played a very fun bout of King of the Hill, and I ended up
winning, much to everyone’s surprise, including my own.

I noticed that Brax
just sat on the deck and nursed a drink while cooking, but he watched
River Pearl, not even concerned that she knew it. And she did. She
kept looking over at him and then giving me and Aubree meaningful
looks. There wasn’t anything that rattled that girl, but if it
was me, and Braxton was looking at me with that kind of intensity, I
would be jangling with nerves.

Right before the
food was ready, we all took turns showering and changing. On the
screened in deck I settled next to Boone at the table. The meat was
cooked to perfection with Brax’s signature barbeque sauce, and
the rest of the food was delicious, the fried okra, corn on the cob,
cole-slaw and plenty of chips. And, of course, my potato salad.

We were all fat and
happy when we were done eating.

Boone and I settled
into the pillow area as Aubree and Booker sat together on a bench not
far from us. Brax went outside to take care of the trash and I saw
River Pearl slip out after him.

“I’m
sorry I missed Booker’s party. Aubree said the food was really
good.”

“It was,”
he said, giving me a knowing look. “I was the reason you didn’t
attend the party, right?”

“Yes, you
were.”

He took my hand and
played with my fingers. “I was disappointed. Now I know why you
didn’t show up.”

I nodded and
snuggled my head up to his chest, tucking in just below his chin, and
he kissed the top of my head.

“I’m
glad we cleared everything up,” he said, and my heart squeezed,
knowing that there was still this…secret that lay like an
unexploded bomb between us.

“Tell me about
your day, the racetrack and this koi pond.”

He laughed and I
tilted my head to look at him, memorizing his face in that moment,
this first intimate time between us after I’d fallen in love
with him. I had no idea where these feelings would lead, but I
wouldn’t deny to myself that I felt them. I’d lied enough
in the last year to last me a lifetime. I held back from telling
Boone, thinking about Aubree’s warning. I didn’t want to
hurt him any more than I was already going to do if I decided to
leave.

My heart squeezed
painfully at the thought, but I pushed the pain away. I would let
things take their natural course. The feelings were too new, too
sensitive, to be walked on by something as heavy as practicality.

“I got the
racetrack job.”

“Oh, that’s
wonderful news!”

He smiled and nodded
with pleasure. “And the koi pond—this old lady over on
Bayou Martinique wants one in her back yard.”

I pressed my face
into his neck, breathing in his scent, and wondered how I had gotten
so lost in him so fast. We were opposites in many ways, too alike in
others. An unlikely match drawn together by pain, bound by something
he didn’t know and I couldn’t quite tell him just yet.

“Why is that
funny?”

“She has about
a million cats.”

I laughed softly.
“Oh, that seems counterproductive.”

“Exactly,
unless you wanna feed your cats expensive koi.”

“But you came
up with a design?”

“Yes, and with
a way to protect the fish from cats.”

“Of course you
did. You are so clever.”

Suddenly we heard,
“Geezus, River.”

The next instant she
stormed through the screen door and it almost slammed right into
Braxton’s face.

She snatched up her
purse, and I’ve seen her mad before, but this was different.
This was a mad with misery mixed in with that anger that snapped in
her eyes. “I’ve got to go.”

Brax pushed through
the screen door, looking both hard and dangerous, his eyes narrowed
at her as he watched her gather her things.