A Perfect Mistake (25 page)

“I think we
should head somewhere else. Someplace where we can discuss this,”
River Pearl said, driving past the turn off for the country club.

“How about my
momma’s? She has a pool,” Aubree offered.

“She won’t
mind?” I asked, glad that we could talk freely.

“No.”

“When the time
comes and you’ve worked everything out, you’ll know the
right answer. I believe that, Verity,” Aubree said.

As I was getting out
of the car in front of Aubree’s momma’s, my cell phone
rang. When I looked I saw it was Boone’s number. I smiled
softly as I answered. “Can’t go without talking to me for
a few hours, handsome?”

“Fuck, no,
gorgeous.”

“You
sweet-talking me, sugar?”

His voice dipped.
“You’re the one with the sweet fucking mouth,” he
said and the morning came back to me. How amazing it was to do what I
did to him.

“Stop playing
kissy-face and let’s get back to work, huckleberry. I thought
you had shit to do.” That was Brax’s voice in the
background and he didn’t sound happy about singing in church.

I walked into the
house with them. I mouthed that it was Boone and they smiled and
nodded.

Boone’s voice
got distant and I heard tussling, then kissing noises. “Shut
up, Brax.” Then he was back on the line. “Look, we’re
planning a cookout tonight here at Booker’s.”

“Always my
damn
casa
.”
That was Booker’s voice complaining.

“Shut up. I’m
trying to talk to Verity,” he shouted. “Sorry about that.
It’s a joke about us always being here at Booker’s house.
Anyway, would you like to come?”

They were so cute
together. I didn’t think I could stand it. “I would love
to come. Can I bring something?”

“Wow, sure,
whatever you want.”

“I make a mean
potato salad.”

“Let me ask
the boss.” His voice got distant again. “Brax, Verity can
bring potato salad.”

More tussling, then
a different voice on the line. “What kind of potatoes and how
are you making it?”

When Brax came on
the line I could hear Boone protesting in the background. “Well,
I prefer red potatoes, eggs, celery, sweet relish, garlic, mustard,
and mayo.”

Aubree frowned and
River Pearl looked confused as to why I was spouting potato salad
ingredients.

“That sounds
pretty boring—”

“You didn’t
let me finish. Why don’t you hush your smart mouth for a
minute?”

There was silence at
the other end of the line. “Yes, ma’am,” he finally
said with amusement in his voice. I bet he had one of those damn
Outlaw grins on his face.

“I also add
cider vinegar and a tablespoon of sugar when mixing.”

“Okay, the
cider vinegar and the sugar is interesting. How much?”

“Well, maybe
if you ask me real nice at the barbeque I might tell you. But, by all
means, make your judgment after you taste it, not before. However, I
guarantee you’ll want this recipe.”

“Confident.”
He chuckled. “I like that. Okay, Miz Holy Mary.”

“Don’t
call me that,” I said, something strong and decisive in my
voice, a demand for him to see me, not as just the preacher’s
daughter, but see me wholly as just Verity. “That’s not
who I am.”

I heard a sigh,
then, his voice more subdued than I’d ever heard it, he said,
“Okay, Verity. I’ll pass judgment when I taste it.”
I had to wonder if Brax was making an effort because of Boone, and
that made my heart soften toward the toughest of the Outlaws. “Thank
you, Brax.”

“It’s me
again, Verity.”

“Okay, I’m
cleared for the Great Potato Salad Test.”

He laughed and the
sound of it only made me wish I was standing next to him so I could
touch him.

“Let Aubree
know, and River Pearl’s invited, too. Have fun and I’ll
see you tonight.”

“What was that
all about?” Aubree asked.

“Apparently,
we’re all invited to your house tonight for a barbeque.”

“Really,”
Aubree said, looking at her. “River Pearl, too?”

“That’s
what I was told.”

“I’d
love to tag along and poke at all of Brax’s buttons. Sounds
like fun to me.”

We walked into the
kitchen and found Aubree’s momma kissing on her handsome
sheriff husband. They broke apart when they saw us. So sweet that
they were so in love, especially after what Aubree’s momma had
endured.

“Well, hello
there, young ladies. What’s going on? Thought you were heading
over to the country club with River Pearl.”

“We were, but
it’s always so crowded there and you have this wonderful
private pool, so we came here. You don’t mind do you, Mrs.
Dalton?”

“Why River
Pearl, you’re still a little charmer, aren’t you? What in
tarnation have you done to your hair?” She walked over to get a
closer look. The sheriff leaned back into the counter and smiled,
picking up a cup of coffee and sipping.

“Oh, don’t
you like it?”

“I adore it.
Why the change, and what did your momma say?”

“I was tired
of being a blonde. This is my natural color, and my momma wasn’t
thrilled, but I have never really been a blonde and faking it gets
kinda old.”

I guess I wasn’t
the only one who had decided I didn’t exactly fit into the neat
boxes people wanted to put me in. I was glad to see her stand up for
herself with her mother.

“Well, it’s
stunnin’ and you’ll look stunnin’ in your fancy
modelin’ pictures.”

She hugged Aubree’s
momma and we all grabbed drinks, walking through the beautiful garden
that Boone had designed and onto the pool deck. He’d done an
amazing job with the pool area as well. The old shed had been
replaced with a cabana that mimicked the Doric columns on the front
of the house. Inside was a small kitchen and fireplace, along with a
bar and chairs. Very functional, but also spot on.

The pool itself was
done up in a fieldstone finish that complemented the fieldstone
fireplace inside. There was a hot tub at the end near the cabana, and
inviting chaise lounges with soft cushions and lovely pillows.

“Boone outdid
himself out here,” Aubree said. “Am I right?”

I was a little
overcome with my feelings for him at the moment and I could only nod.
I pulled my phone out of my bag and walked a little bit away from my
friends as they started to shuck their clothes down to their suits.

I pushed call back
on my phone.

“Can’t
go a few hours without talking to me, darlin’?” he
teased, his slow accent like smooth velvet.

“I’m
standing here admirin’ Aubree’s momma’s pool deck,
and I am once again blown away by you. I had to tell you. I can’t
wait to see you tonight.”

There was silence on
the other end of the line. I know my voice was intense, but I
couldn’t help it.

“I’m
inside out.”

My heart caught and
I had to stand there for a moment and compose myself. “Don’t
work too hard,” I said softly.

“See you
tonight, darlin’…and fuck, yeah, I can’t wait
either.”

I slipped the phone
in my bag and shucked my clothes down to my bathing suit. It was a
relief to just sit in the sun with nothing better to do than talk to
my friends. With Boone still heavy on my mind, and that experience
I’d had with him this morning still fresh, I said, “So, I
have a question for you guys.”

“What?”
They said in unison.

“Do you guys
know about jock straps?”

“What about
them?” River Pearl quipped, “I don’t usually wear
one.”

Aubree laughed and
gave me a knowing look. “Booker wears one, and let me tell you,
it’s lingerie for men. But, lingerie is much too soft a word
for how he looks in it. I mean, holy cow.”

“Well, from
what I can tell, it’s made to ride low on the hips so that it
doesn’t show above their waistband, but still support what it’s
supposed to support. And black, well, it looks good on Boone.”

“You guys are
making me blush,” River Pearl said. “What exactly were
you doing with Boone this morning?”

“Let’s
just say we worked out together in his weight room.” Now I was
blushing and remembering.

“Sounds more
like you worked him over,” River Pearl said, waggling her
eyebrows and grinning.

“Well, I want
to explore everything about Boone.”

She sighed. “I
can’t blame you for that. He was already attractive in high
school, but, now, with all that muscle…yeah.”

“You should
see the way he does sit-ups. I simply melted. He hangs from a bar.”
I pulled my phone out. “This is what I’m talking about.
Look at this.”

River Pearl walked
over to my chaise and grabbed my phone. “Hush my mouth. That is
downright indecent and way too sexy. You weren’t kidding. Let
me see the one Boone was wearing.”

I took back the
phone and scrolled through the choices. “Something like this.
The front is fan-worthy, but the back….you need to cool off in
a freezer afterwards.”

River Pearl looked
at it and passed the phone to Aubree. She fanned herself. “Wow,
too sexy,” Aubree said, wrestling her for my phone and winning.
I laughed.

She scrolled through
my phone. “This is what Booker usually wears.”

“See-through
white mesh that leaves nothing to the imagination. That’s
something. I had no idea,” River Pearl said.

“Neither did
I,” After I took my phone back and saw what Aubree had pulled
up, I decided to ask Boone if he had anything like this in his jock
drawer.

“Verity. I
need to talk to you.”

My heart jolted in
my chest as I turned to see Billy Joe standing on Aubree’s pool
deck. He looked tired and drawn out and a little bit scary around the
eyes “We don’t have anything to talk about.”

I was through with
this entire Billy Joe thing. I’d already told my daddy I wasn’t
going to get involved with him and there weren’t going to be
daddy-approved wedding bells in my future. He wasn’t happy
about it. Had his heart set on keeping me in that box I just never
did fit in. Then a chill rushed through me. “How did you know I
was here? Are you following me?”

His eyes never left
me and he took a step. “I just want to talk to you.”

He looked more like
he wanted to throttle me and I got scared. I slipped out of the chair
and backed up. “About what?”

“Your wicked
ways. They have to end. You need to be cleansed.”

The hair on the back
of my neck prickled.

Aubree rose and
glanced towards the house. “Billy Joe, you’d better
hightail it out of here. My step-daddy is the sheriff and all I have
to do is go get him. He’s in the house right now.”

River Pearl rose and
stepped over to him. She was almost as tall as he was, and she set
her hands on her hips and leaned in to put her face close to his.
“It’s best you do what Aubree says.”

He never even
glanced at her, just kept up that steady, scary stare at me. “I
don’t listen to Outlaw whores.”

She narrowed her
eyes, her voice full of compressed anger at the insult to both Aubree
and the Outlaw brothers. “I think you’re the one who
needs to be cleansed, Billy Joe.” She gave him a shove and he
fell back into the pool and came up sputtering.

When he climbed out,
he looked at me and I shivered. “You made your choice and it
was the wrong one.”

He left, and I felt
totally unsettled for the rest of the day. I decided it was best that
I didn’t mention this to Boone. I hoped Billy Joe finally got
the message.

Verity

After a few more
hours with River Pearl and Aubree, I went home and whipped up a batch
of my potato salad. I found out that Boone had been there and then
left to meet the guy at Eula Downs to discuss landscaping the
racetrack and to take care of a koi pond. I wondered what that was
all about.

I focused on
knocking Braxton Outlaw’s socks off. Okay, so, I wanted to win
over his brothers. I had a feeling that both of them thought I was
nothing but trouble for Boone. They really weren’t far from the
truth.

I had this burning,
empty need for him now that was pure torture. I was so afraid of the
future, afraid of the decisions I had to make, and what might happen
after I made my choices, but I couldn’t wish away what had
happened with Boone. I had been kidding myself before. I had come
back for this. Exactly this. To discover the true nature of the
father of the most precious little boy I had ever laid my eyes on. I
walked over to my purse and pulled out the picture of him sleeping in
his adoptive mother’s arms. We had an open adoption, and I
could be involved in his life as much as I wanted to be. I didn’t
want him growing up not knowing who his real momma was.

Tears pricked my
eyes and I pressed my hand against my midriff, pressing down on that
sucking black hole tearing me up.

What was I doing?
What had I done? Why did everything have to be so complicated? We
were just two people, a guy and a girl, and we wanted a chance. Just
a chance.

“Verity?”

I stiffened at my
mother’s voice and quickly tucked the picture back into my
wallet. I turned to face her with no time to compose myself and not
sure I really wanted to. I wanted to feel this pain and guilt. It was
my due.

“What is it,
sweetheart? What is putting that sad, terrible look on your face?”

I squeezed my eyes
against the pain and the loneliness and the fear that swamped me. She
would have understood. She would have stood by me. Why hadn’t I
trusted her? She was my momma, and now that I was a mother, I
realized it was just one thing out of a whole, long list of mistakes
I’d made last year. I should have tried harder to find Boone. I
should have made his brothers tell me where he was, but I had felt so
scared and lost that I let them stonewall me. I turned and wrapped my
arms around my mother and held her tight and cried against her
shoulder.