With a nervous smile, I looked to my parents and my sisters for help. Had he confessed his indiscretion in front of my sisters?
“One down, two to go,” my dad said. “Now, if we can find faithful young men for my other girls, I’ll be able to sleep better.”
Faithful?
Wesley returned a hearty laugh before shaking my dad’s hand. “I need to get home. Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.”
Eve pressed her lips together when I shifted my attention to her again.
As my dad walked Wesley outside, I slipped off my shoes and held them in one hand, my purse in the other. “What was Mr. Cory doing here?” I asked.
“The air conditioner has been acting up, so Wesley took a look at it. Your dad thinks it can be repaired, but Wesley insisted on buying a new one,” Mom said with a simple shrug.
Gabby ignored her while retrieving the salad dressing from the fridge, but Eve nearly cut off her finger while slicing carrots for the salad.
“That’s uh, nice of him.” I tried to hide my nerves behind a smile.
“The Corys are good people,” Mom said with a resolute nod.
Again, Eve eyed me with brown saucer eyes.
I jerked my head toward the stairs. “I’m going to wash up for dinner, then I’ll help.”
“Okay, dear.” Mom smiled.
A few minutes later, Eve stepped into the upstairs bathroom while I was washing my hands. I grabbed the hand towel and turned to face her just as she closed the door.
“Oh my gosh, he knows. Right?”
Eve shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe. But now, I definitely don’t think you should say anything to Matt or Mrs. Cory. I mean, it’s not just the air conditioner. Before you got here, Dad told him we were a little short on rentagain, and Wesley was like, don’t even worry about it.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“Just let it go.” Eve rested her hands on my shoulders. “Pretend you didn’t see anything. Marry Matt. Live happily ever after. The end.”
The end?
That sounded awful.
That sounded like my dreams and life aspirations didn’t exist.
That sounded like I would spend the rest of my life faking orgasms and praying forit to endquickly.
“The end,” I echoed with a fake smile and lifeless gaze.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
EAGLES, “HEARTACHE TONIGHT”
I launchedinto Operation Avoid Isaac. He knew too much about Matt and me because I’d unintentionally overshared. And what I didn’t say, he figured out on his own. I was an open book with large bold print, and he read every word and the blank spaces between each line.
But the day before Matt came home, Isaac popped into the farm stand just as I was closing up. My body was as stiff as my smile when my gaze landed on the guitar case in his hand.
“I’ll be at the rodeo tonight. I thought you might want to play my guitar since Matt’s gone, and you probably don’t have plans.”
“Do you think I don’t have friends? And why be nice now?” I cocked my head.
Isaac shrugged. “Fine. I’ll take it back to the house.” He turned.
