A Perfect Mistake (6 page)

Deke laughed, his
white teeth flashing. “That’s exactly what I thought.”

Savannah shook her
head. “I swear I almost lost it, but the customer is always
right.”

“What’s
next on your list?”

“Aubree’s
momma’s place. We’re going to be there for a while. A lot
of work to do.”

“Okay, sounds
good.” I rubbed at my temple. This headache sucked. I was going
to have to break down and take something for it.

Deke asked, “You
okay?”

“Yeah, just a
damn headache.”

He nodded. “We
got some calls about more maintenance and a few for landscaping. I
left the messages on the hall table as you come in the front door.
Boards are in your office. Do you need any help at the church today?”

“No, I’m
just going to show the reverend my sketches and work out the
particulars. I’ll need you and Savannah later on, though, when
I do the installations. ”

“Will do.”

“Wait a
second, Deke. Did you finish that project I gave you?”

He paused. “Almost.
I just have a little bit of painting to do.”

“How much
longer?”

He was quiet as he
calculated the time. “A day, maybe. Those plans you drew were
amazing. The revver is going to be blown away.”

“I didn’t
have you build it for the reverend. Okay sounds good, tomorrow then.
Let me know. Then you can deliver all of it to the church and we can
assemble it.”

“You got it.
Anything else?”

“Nope.”

“See you
later…boss.”

He chuckled as they
left. I joked with him about firing him, but Deke had gotten a full
ride to Columbia University and I was going miss him in the fall.
Smart kid, and he’d be a good engineer, unless he decided that
software development was more interesting.

It wasn’t
until I was in the shower that Verity slipped back into my pounding
head. She had been and still was off limits. I wasn’t going to
fall into the same trap that my brother Booker had with Aubree
Walker. I wasn’t going to idealize Verity. No, not that, but
the three of us had set her apart from the other girls in this town
because she was a preacher’s daughter.

Now I had discovered
that she had flaws just like all the girls who weren’t
preacher’s daughters.

Fuck knows I had
enough of my own flaws to understand that.

I knew who I
was—that had been hammered home enough throughout my life.

I dried off, trying
not to think about the way she’d turned me on in my dream. It
couldn’t be real. Again, no idealizing.

My dick hardened,
and I tried even harder to ignore my purely male reaction to her, in
spite of the fact that she’d accused me of doing something
terrible.

I was interested in
her, even my dick knew that. No matter how much I told myself I
wasn’t, or told Booker, or told Braxton. Hell, my subconscious
laughed at me every time I fell asleep. She was there enticing me
with not only her smokin’ body, but
her
.

Weird thing is, the
only interaction we’d ever had was at the graduation party last
year. And with high school over and the future before me, I had felt
defeated even before I could start.

I freaked out
sometimes when I thought about how wasted, how messed-up I was in
high school. And if it hadn’t been for Booker seeing something
more in me, something worth believing in, I don’t know where
I’d be.

The only interaction
we had now? Every time we were in the same room, she scowled at me
angrily, and she had slapped me with a look on her face that had made
my gut clench up. I understood the anger.

But what I couldn’t
understand was why she always looked at me with that bruised
accusation.

Like I had hurt her.

How?

I didn’t even
know her. Yesterday was the extent of my interaction with Holy Mary
Verity. I hadn’t said more than hi to her the whole time she’d
been on my radar.

But the part of the
dream where I was deep inside her always seemed so real. Like a
fragment of a memory.

I was absolutely
sure I’ve never touched her. And just as sure she’d never
even thought about touching me.

I had to talk to
her, clear the air, make her understand who I was then and that I was
different now. It was vital to make her understand that I would never
have done such a thing. Especially not to her. Everyone in the town
thought poorly of me, I was used to that; but it bugged me too much
to think that Verity did, too.

I had to do
something about it, even as the anger jabbed at me again at how
easily she had jumped to the conclusion that I was the one who had
spiked her drink.

And, something else.
I didn’t want to invade her privacy, but what the hell had
happened to her after she’d consumed the X?

And based on the
dream I keep reliving, I began to wonder if I had played a role in
it.

#

Verity

He didn’t
remember!

Now I had something
else to make me feel like shit, guilty and peeved to no end. All this
time I thought he just didn’t care, but he’d blacked out
and I didn’t know. Everything about Boone shifted inside my
head and I had to reassess my whole perception of him. The fact that
I had taken advantage of him, unjustly blamed him, weighed heavily on
my mind. If only I’d had a chance to talk to him
afterwards…maybe…I cut off my thoughts. What I had done
was done and there was no going back.

Boone just didn’t
remember. I thought he had tried to duck me when I was looking for
him, but that also wasn’t the case. I had to face the fact that
I had screwed up. The miscommunication and misunderstanding from that
night was starting to pile up.

I stood by the
window as I did every day and watched him. Why? I didn’t know.
He pulled me here every day, like a ritual. Now, part of what I had
kept hidden was out in the open. He knew why I was mad at him. But
his denial rang all too true. If that was the case, who could have
done it? If it was someone I knew and trusted…that would be
awful.

The emptiness
expanded until I almost drowned in the pain of what was securely
locked away inside. Deep inside. Something so devastating that if I
gave it free rein I wouldn’t recover.

I stared at him. Was
I pulled here to watch because we were now linked by something that
connected us? Something important and life-changing? Was it because I
was trying to understand who he was? Who he had been? The boy who had
been in most of my classes. Even though he’d never approached
me, I had often felt the weight of his eyes on me. Eyes that were
often glazed, I suspected, with drink or drugs. There were so many
days when he’d looked miserable and beat down. Days when I’d
wanted to talk to him and soothe whatever troubled those
heartbreakingly blue eyes.

I was quite
exhausted with my anger. It burned painfully in my abdomen. And
besides the anger, Boone could be really exasperating, and I was
never quite sure how to handle him. He was going to be here every
day. But I would find things to get me away from the rectory, so I
could avoid him whenever possible. River Pearl, Aubree…when
she got back from New Orleans…and I had plans to do a bunch of
stuff for the rest of the summer.

I felt a bit like a
betrayer for not confiding in my friends. Over the course of the
year, they had seemed so far away and inaccessible, but since we’d
been back, it was as if our bond had strengthened. All of us were
involved with the Outlaws. Me with Boone, and I knew she wanted Brax.
Aubree? She was head over heels in love with Booker. Her journey
through all that had happened to her had definitely changed her for
the better. She was way less judgmental.

But what to do about
Boone? I would have to talk to my friends about that night.

My original Boone
plan had been to hide and evade. It was the middle of June, and I
only had the rest of this month and two more to get through before I
could move on to the next step in my plan. It was just a matter of
time.

The next step
involved talking to my daddy, and I knew that wasn’t going to
be easy, especially since Ethan had left after a blowout with him. I
was in daily contact with my brother. As much as the military
allowed, anyway. He was my one and only support in this family unit.
I loved my momma, and she was a calm in the storm, but she often
sided with my daddy on family matters. There have been several times
when I so desperately wanted to confide in her, but the shame always
held me back. So I had endured it all alone. Made my decisions by
myself, and was now trying to live with them. Ethan didn’t know
about what had happened. Only God and I knew the whole story, but my
brother did know I was struggling with personal stressors and the
situation with our daddy.

He knew my plans for
the future, though, and he enthusiastically supported them. Ethan was
coming home. Daddy didn’t know, because they were estranged,
but I couldn’t wait to see my brother. It would be so
wonderful. We were and had always been close. The rift he’d
caused when he’d refused to go to seminary and follow in my
daddy’s footsteps had changed my daddy.

That’s why I
had to be somewhat careful about how I dealt with the whole Billy Joe
Freeman thing.

But what about
Boone? How much did I want to tell him? Now that I knew he didn’t
remember and he wasn’t a bastard, I felt compelled to talk to
him.

Had Boone slept with
Marcy what’s-her-name?

Crap! I was trying
not to think about that.

I was such a
hypocrite. I had distinctly told Boone to mind his own business. So I
really couldn’t get into his. Even if he had slept with her, it
was really none of my business. The fact that I couldn’t seem
to help my jealousy spoke volumes. She had the luxury of touching
him, kissing him…damn this was getting me more jealous and
angry at myself and the circumstances.

I was looking at him
right now and the external package was damned sexy, damned
distracting, but who was Boone as a person? I lost sight of him and
sighed. It was time I got over to the rectory anyway. I had promised
our day-care center manager, Lindsay, I would help with the kids
today.

When I emerged from
my bedroom, I heard someone knocking. I walked over and pulled the
door open, and found Boone standing there with some large square
boards in his hands. His blue eyes locked onto mine, and, for a
moment, I couldn’t take a breath.

Damn, I wished he
wouldn’t do that.

“Verity. You
did a really nice job of opening that door. Gold star.” There
was some anger in him today, but something else that immediately made
me wary, a bad boy vibe that kept making my heart skip a beat.

He smirked, and my
own anger or was that my jealousy lost its dull edge and cut me.
“I’d be even better at slamming it in your face.”

“Verity!”

I flinched at my
daddy’s outraged tone and it was totally rude. I shouldn’t
be acting out my jealous behavior on Boone. “Don’t speak
to Boone in that manner, young lady.”

Boone smirked at
getting me into trouble and I felt like I was still in high school.

I looked him in the
eye and mouthed.
Jerk.

He inclined his head
and laughed. Which wasn’t exactly the reaction I expected.

“Invite him in
and ask him if he’d like some refreshment.”

I stepped aside with
a wide, inviting gesture. “Oh,
please
do come in,
Mr.
Outlaw
,”
I said. As he tried to move past me, I stuck out my foot and tripped
him so he staggered and almost dropped the boards. “Oh, dear,
gotta watch that first step. Would you like something to refresh
you?”

He cut me a look of
such pure, unadulterated amusement all mixed up with a bad boy
overtone, I couldn’t help the way my stomach flipped over. And,
okay, I smirked.

Did he always have
to look so damned gorgeous?!

“I can have
anything I want,” he whispered as my daddy’s cell chimed.

I narrowed my eyes
at him. “Sure, Boone, if you want to be crippled for life.”

“Ooh, ouch,
darlin’.”

“What do you
want to drink? I don’t have all day,” I hissed.

He rubbed at his
temple and I noticed that his blue eyes looked a bit glassy. Looked
like Boone was still either drinking or doing drugs. Maybe he hadn’t
changed. I felt sad about that.

“Water is
fine.”

I stomped into the
kitchen and got him a bottle of water, muttering under my breath, “I
hope you choke on it.” But when I came back out into the living
room, they were in the dining room and the boards Boone had been
carrying were on the table between them. I headed there to drop off
the bottle and then get out of Boone’s presence.

But my gaze snagged
on his drawings. Holy cow! They were amazing. He’d transformed
the church and rectory. The display was tasteful and well thought
out, exactly perfect, not only for the Founders Day Festival, but for
every aspect of the church grounds. Boone hadn’t skimped on a
thing.

I couldn’t
image how much money he’d roped my daddy into paying for all
these changes.

“I was
thinking that I could build something nice for where you hold the
socials. I have two choices for you. Of course, it would serve for
the Founder’s Day festivities.” He searched the stack of
boards and pulled out a couple. “Here’s the sketch for a
pergola…and one for a gazebo.”

“The gazebo,”
I blurted. “It would be so pretty lit up at Christmas, and the
perfect spot to place the nativity,” I said, my voice filled
with enthusiasm. “It’s really quite beautiful.”

Both of them turned
to look at me. My daddy smiled.

“Well. I guess
that’s settled. I’m going to assign Verity to you, Boone,
as the liaison for the gazebo. You have him construct it to your
specifications, honey.”