“He hasn't responded to any of my texts about the houses, Mr. Montgomery,” Savannah whines. “I've been trying so hard to get the ball rolling, but he’s just not cooperating. I don't know what I did to be treated like this.”
A muscle in my dad’s jaw clenches in annoyance, but I'm pretty sure most of it is directed at Savannah. Her simpering is a sure fire way to get on anyone’s nerves.
“You have duties, now, as a parent,” he says lowly, staring me down. “You can’t shirk them just because you're upset about the situation, and I won't watch you be a coward and?—”
“David,” Mom says.
Dad stutters over his words, falling silent. Both of us know that tone, the ‘no more nonsense, listen to your mother’ tone. We both freeze as Mom rifles through the papers and pulls out a few.
She slaps them down in the center of the table, staring down the Wards as she slides the pages closer to them.
“These are in good school zones and are within budget,” she says, that tone not wavering. “Something came up today, but the three of you can look these over for now. Instead of lunch, we can set up tours for those next weekend. Sound good?”
Everyone in the room stares at my mom like she's suddenly grown a second head, but the Wards nod in agreement. They look like they're trying not to spook a tiger, which is probably accurate. Mom doesn't take charge like this often, but when she does, no one can get in her way.
Dad and I are smart enough to hide our confusion, but we both know that none of us have looked at any of the listings the Wards sent over. We've hardly talked to each other at all since they found out about Savannah. A desperate bud of hope wells inmy chest that Mom is going to stand up for me and refuse to let Dad force me into this, but I snuff it out mercilessly.
If I can't get myself out of this situation, I don't deserve to have someone else stand up for me.
“If something came up, I suppose it can't be helped,” Savannah’s dad says. “We’ll narrow these down and contact the agents to set up showings.”
“Great,” Mom says tightly. “I'll show you out.”
She hurries them out the door, leaving Dad and I sitting in awkward silence in the kitchen. I can tell he’s not done lecturing me, but neither of us want to be caught arguing when Mom comes back. We just stare at each other, discomfort obvious, until the door slams shut and Mom joins us in the kitchen again.
“Oakley texted me last night,” she announces.
That clears up absolutely nothing, so Dad and I stay still and silent.
“She saw Savannah at the rodeo,” she continues. “She was drinking shots and riding the mechanical bull, and apparently she said some very nasty things to Oakley and Kenzie.”
Dad sighs raggedly before my heart even has a chance to soar at the news.
“Honey,” he says, sounding beat down and exhausted. “I don't want to believe this any more than the next guy, and I don't think Oakley would make something like that up, but we can't just call Savannah a liar and move on. If she's telling the truth, the attachment to the Wards would make us social lepers. We can't run the risk of having them free to say whatever they please about us if she's the mother of Bo’s child.”
Mom hums, a warning and a disagreement both. My dad snaps his mouth shut immediately.
She stays silent as she pulls her phone out of her pocket and thumbs through her messages, and I tense in uncertainty. Oakley didn't say anything about last night to me, and I haven'theard from Kenzie at all since we last spoke. If what she told Mom was convincing enough for her to kick the Wards out, maybe it'll make Dad listen too.
I don't expect her to press play on a video and slide the phone in front of my father.
It’s at the wrong angle for me to make everything out perfectly, but it's easy to recognize Savannah as she pounds a shot and climbs drunkenly aboard the mechanical bull. She has an obviously inebriated way to her step in the video, even from as far away as I am.
I lurch forward to watch the video, but it cuts off before I make it to my dad’s side.
I press play on it again, watching the flashing lights of the rodeo and listening to the drunk cheers of Savannah and her friend as Oakley narrates what's going on.
Oakley said she'd find proof Savannah was lying. She delivered. Shedamnwell delivered.
Savannah can't argue against video proof.
I look up at my mom with wide, disbelieving eyes, almost too scared to let myself hope. There's a vindictive smile on her face, and I can't choke back the bark of relieved laughter that falls from my lips.
“Why am I just hearing about this now?” Dad asks, his frustration at having the Wards stop by again still lingering.
“Don’t you take that tone withme,” Mom warns him, one brow arched challengingly. “I was planning on talking to you and Bo about it tonight, after you’d worked off some of that attitude on the farm. If I’d known those snakes were coming over again, I would’ve sat the two of you down this morning and made you figure things out before you even got your coffee.”
My parents don’t argue often—and I wouldn’t exactly classify this as anargument—but it’s rare that they even disagree in front of me or my sisters. The fact that Mom is bringing this upnow, rather than waiting to talk to him about it in private, means that she’s already decided what she believes.
