A Perfect Mistake (20 page)

I left the rectory
and started to haul the pieces that Deke had already broken down, but
my head and my heart were with her in that kitchen. It was at least
fifteen minutes before she emerged from the rectory and started to
help. Her face was tight and she didn’t look at me. It wasn’t
hard to figure out that they had argued, but what about? Me? Billy
Joe? Her designs?

I also couldn’t
stop thinking about how talented she was, that her clothes were
already on models. There was a whole different world that Verity had
either seen or been a part of, but I had been told that she was in
Kenya last year on a mission.

So, how had she
accomplished so much from that far away?

I threw myself into
getting the pieces assembled for the kids before they came back
outside to play.

It was hot, sweaty,
manual work, but it kept my mind off things that had unsettled me.
I’d finally connected with Verity, and I didn’t want to
lose her. I wanted time to see where we could go, yet I got the
feeling that something still wasn’t quite right. I wanted the
time to see how we could overcome the negative pressure we would get
once people learned that we were seeing each other.

As we installed the
last bolt on the new equipment, I took off my baseball cap and swiped
at my forehead with a rag I had in my back pocket.

“This is
amazing, Boone. You’ve done little pockets of education in
there, spelling, math, science. Does the train work?”

“Yes, you can
either roll it around the track or take it off and play with it
separately.”

“I’m
heading out to drop this stuff at the dump,” Deke said.

I nodded. He gave me
a sympathetic look and walked to the truck.

“Verity…”
I started, but it was recess time and the kids came pouring out of
the rectory, hollering and racing to check out the new equipment. I
was mobbed, and I laughed as they all hugged me around the legs. I
patted a lot of little heads. It made me feel really good.

“Boone, thank
you for this. I was always worrying about the equipment.” I
nodded to Lindsay, and she went off to play with her charges. It was
getting late and parents started coming by to pick up the kids. A lot
of their kids didn’t want to leave.

Henry ran up to me
just as I was going to say something else to Verity.

“This is the
best. I love the train.”

“I made it
specially for you, Henry. But don’t tell anyone.”

He smiled up at me
and then he jumped forward and wrapped his arms around my legs. “I
love you, Boone.”

Those words from
that little guy tore me up inside. I squatted down and ran my hand
over Henry’s soft head. “I love you, too, buddy.”

This time he hugged
me around the neck like he was never going to let me go. “Hey,
buddy,” I said, my voice a bit wobbly. “Do you think your
momma would let you go frogging with us? My brothers and I go on the
weekend.”

He pulled away and
said with excitement, “Can I, Mom?”

I turned to find
Mrs. Ducet standing there, tears in her eyes. I rose, and when Henry
didn’t let me go, I just brought him with me.

“What do you
say?”

“Frogging.
With the Outlaw boys?” She looked at Henry’s happy face.

“Verity will
be there,” I said without looking at her.

“Oh, she
will?” Mrs. Ducet looked at Henry again, her eyes concerned,
and I couldn’t blame her.

“And Aubree
Walker.”

“Can I
pppllleeeaaassseee, Mom!”

She chuckled.

“I’ll
take good care of him.”

“I know you
will. Let’s go, Henry.”

He hugged me one
more time and gave me a big grin as he took his mother’s hand
and they left.

Finally, I was alone
with Verity.

“Hey,” I
said. “I was going to take you out on a date tonight. Outlaws.
Meatloaf is on the menu. It’s my favorite.” I tried to
keep it light, but my stomach was already sinking at the look in her
eyes.

She looked away. “I
don’t know, Boone. Everything is so complicated. It only seems
like there are always these huge obstacles in our way. Maybe we’re
kidding ourselves.”

“No,” I
said. “We’re not. I know what I felt this morning. You
felt it, too.”

“I did,”
she said. “But, I don’t know—”

“Verity.”

Her daddy stood at
the rectory door and she turned to look at him and sighed.

“I’ve
got to go. My daddy wants me at the dinner table tonight.”

“But, Verity…”

She turned to go.
“I’m sorry, Boone.”

She walked away and
her daddy eyed me. I had to wonder if Billy Joe had said something to
Verity’s daddy about me punching him. I bet he didn’t say
anything about how roughly he’d treated the revver’s
daughter. Since I couldn’t be sure, and I didn’t want to
open that can of worms if he hadn’t, I kept my mouth shut.

Dejected, I picked
up the tools and set them back in the bag and headed for my truck.

It was tough to put
yourself out there. Maybe that was what had kept both of us mute and
only staring at each other in high school. Maybe it
was
too much to overcome.

Maybe.

But as I put my
truck in gear, I was sure that what I felt for Verity was worth
fighting for. I wasn’t so sure she felt the same.

That hurt. Really
hurt.

But I’d
learned a long time ago that I couldn’t control other people,
least of all Verity, and I didn’t want to. She had a lot of
pressure on her from her family. Me, I had a little bit, too. My
brothers thought I was nuts.

And maybe I was
nuts.

Nuts about Verity.

#

Verity

When I walked into
Outlaws after showering and changing, I felt a lot of eyes on me as I
went through the kitchen doors, followed with a bit of a buzz. I
wondered what the hell that could be about. Marcy had waved at me
from the bar, and I’d given her a half-hearted wave back. Geez,
could this day get any worse? I was going to have to have a
conversation with her.

Brax and Booker were
talking and they shut up and broke apart when they saw me. I was
starting to get a bad feeling about this.

“My office,”
Brax said.

I heaved a sigh.
What the fuck was going on now?

As soon as I walked
in, Booker shut the door and Brax immediately started looking at my
palms.

“What are you
doing?” I said, snatching my hands back from him.

“Looking for
holes.”

“What?”
I was completely confused and getting pissed off. I was still pretty
disgruntled with how the day had ended. I wanted Verity here with me
and she wasn’t. It just pissed me off all over again. We’d
had a really promising beginning. Now? Now I didn’t even know
where I stood with her.

“I heard you
were the second coming.” Brax leaned against his desk and
slipped his thumbs into the belt loops on his jeans.

Oh crap! The
church thing!
“Where did you hear that?”

“In town. It’s
buzzing. You’d think you were the new Messiah.”

Booker narrowed his
eyes at me. “What did you do?”

Brax snorted. “He
sang
in
church
.
He’s the new choir director. What we have here is a bona fide
Jesus Freak. I’ve never seen one up close.”

I shifted and
winced. Fuck, people were talking about me. In a bad way? “You’re
going to see my fist up close to your face, Brax, if you don’t
shut the fuck up!”

Booker just closed
his eyes and leaned back into the door. Heaving a huge sigh, he said,
“What the hell is going on, Boone?”

“It’s
only temporary.” I glared at Brax. The only people who would
expect to see the Outlaws in church…well…there probably
weren’t any in town who would want to see us in their church.
“I’m not the new choir director. I just agreed to fill
in. That’s all.”

Booker still had his
eyes closed, like he was hoping when he opened them it would have all
been a dream. “How did this come about?”

Shit!
“It
was Billy Joe Freeman’s fault. He gave me attitude like I
couldn’t sing or something. I just proved him wrong and belted
out “Grace Like Rain” to wipe that smirk off his face.
The reverend heard me, came in, and before I knew what was happening,
I agreed.”

“And?”
Brax said.

“And what?”

“The real
reason you were showing off.”

Damn, I was going to
have to coldcock him again.

Brax swore under his
breath. “This is exactly the kind of shenanigans that happen
when you start sniffing around a preacher’s daughter.”

“Brax….”
I growled. I looked at Booker, who really didn’t look at all
sympathetic or amused. I guess he was worried about the fallout.

“Is this girl
fucking you over, Boone?” he asked. When I just stood there
feeling all alone, Booker shook his head. “You can’t get
out of this?”

“No. I can’t
go back on my word to the reverend.”

“People expect
us to go back on our word,” Booker said.

“I’m not
going to,” I said, frowning. It was more because I didn’t
want to let Verity down. She would be the one on the hook for another
solution if I backed out.

“So you’re
singing. In church.”

“Twice.”

After a long moment,
Booker sighed. “Twice,” he repeated and there was
something in his eyes that was at least partly amused. “The
Colonel must be rolling in his grave,” he said with a short
laugh.

“I
couldn’t say no. Not to the reverend. He really needs our
help.”

“So, the
congregation doesn’t know you’ll be leading on Sunday?”
Booker asked, then narrowed his eyes and pushed away from the door.
“Wait!
Our
help? What the hell, Boone?”

“I need you
guys.”

Both of them looked
at me like I had taken leave of my senses. I was beginning to feel a
bit abandoned, here.

“What? You
volunteered us?! The reverend
wants
the Outlaws in church?” Booker asked.

“I didn’t
exactly say it would include my brothers.”

“Lying to a
man of God in the house of God. You are going to hell, Boone,”
Booker said, giving me one of his disappointed looks.

“No fucking
way am I singing in church,” Brax said. “They might try
to baptize me, bend me backwards into the river. I’m not going
to the river.”

“Brax,”
Booker said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You’re
already baptized.”

“Oh, shit, I
forgot that little piece of info. Fuck.”

Booker grumbled
under his breath and rolled his eyes.

“You afraid
the roof will cave in on you if you step in a church?” I asked,
glaring at Brax.

He shrugged. “Maybe.
I haven’t exactly been the most God-fearing guy. More like a
sinner.”

“Fornicator,”
I said with a smirk.

“That, too,”
Braxton grinned.

“We’re
all fornicators,” Booker said. “Hell, I’m living in
sin with Aubree and loving every minute of it.”

“Well, this
isn’t about fornication. Oh, geez.” I said, running my
hand through my hair. “That didn’t sound right.” I
stopped talking and looked at both of my brothers. “It’s
about helping out the reverend. For two Sundays.”

“Are you
redeemed, Jesus Freak?” Brax asked.

I figured if I
hauled off and socked him one it wouldn’t help convince him to
help out. But, geezus, I wanted to. “Come on, Brax. I need you,
man.”

“If I do
it—and I’m not saying I’m going to—I’m
playing my fiddle the way I want to. I want to do more modern stuff.”
He gritted out between his teeth.

“Brax.”

“No, I say we
shake them up a bit, boys. Rock that church.”

Booker groaned.

We both looked at
each other and burst into laughter as Brax shoved away from me.
“Okay, Jesus Freak, let’s do this. But I do have one
piece of advice for you.”

“What’s
that?”

“Watch your
back. You know what happened to the first Messiah.”

Booker gave me a
pained look. I got out of there before they changed their minds.

As I emerged from
the kitchen, I decided it was time to talk to Marcy. Regardless of
what happened with Verity, I wasn’t going to see Marcy again. I
winced thinking about how I’d used her and she’d used me.

“Hey, Boone,”
she said.

“Hey, Marcy.”

“How about we
hook up again? Maybe after closing.” She gave me a knowing
smile.

She tried to put her
arms around my neck and I stepped back. “No. I don’t
think so.”

“Why not?”
Her eyes narrowed.

“I’m
interested in Verity Fairchild. I don’t think we really have
any chemistry, and you called me Booker. I’m no stand-in for my
brother.”

“That was just
a slip of the tongue.”

“I don’t
think so,” I said and brushed past her.

“I should have
known. Freaking Verity Fairchild isn’t as pure as she tries to
make out. I saw the way you were looking at her.”

I stopped and turned
around. “That’s my business, Marcy. Don’t cause a
scene. Brax hates that. We have to go back to being friends. Agreed?”

“Doesn’t
sound like I have a choice,” she grumbled, going back around
the bar.

I wasn’t
bartending tonight, so I took a seat at our reserved table. Marcy
didn’t look happy, but at this point I didn’t really
care. Even with meatloaf on the menu, I wasn’t cheered.

#

Verity

I pushed my way into
Outlaws. This place was always so damn busy. I looked for Boone at
the bar but only saw Marcy what’s-her-name. I headed there,
thinking she might know where he was. I’d already stopped at
his house, but there had been no answer.

I’d had a
fight with my parents. I still couldn’t believe it. I had sat
down at the table, as ordered, and thought I could just eat and then
be done. But I thought about Boone and how he’d looked when I’d
told him I wasn’t sure things could work out.