Beautiful Sacrifice (The Maddox Brothers, #3)(82)

“That’s not true. I’m appalled that you live up there in that filth,” she said, looking up at the café’s second floor.

“Don’t you see where keeping up appearances has gotten our family? Your husband is sick. Your daughter wants nothing to do with you. And for what?”

“Because it’s important!” she hissed, her hair swaying when she moved her head.

“To you. It’s only important to you. I’m not obligated to live a life I hate so that you can feel important.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What is wrong with our way of life? Because I want you to go to school? Because I want you to live somewhere that doesn’t need to be condemned?”

“When you say it that way, it sounds wonderful. But you can’t keep omitting the ugly parts. You can’t just erase a pregnancy. You can’t hide a baby. You can’t pretend your daughter isn’t a waitress who doesn’t want to be a doctor. Our life is not a highlight reel. It’s time you stopped pretending it was.”

She inhaled through her nose. “You have always been supremely selfish. I don’t know why I expected tonight to be any different.”

“Don’t come back,” I said before getting out of the car.

“Falyn,” she called.

I leaned down as the passenger window lowered.

“This is the last slap in the face. If your father loses this campaign because of you, we won’t offer to help you again.”

“I didn’t expect that you would.”

I thanked her for the ride and then left her alone, ignoring the sound of my name.

By the time I pushed open the glass door, it was night, and I was exhausted—physically, emotionally, and mentally.

The headlights of the G-Wagon poured through the glass wall as Blaire backed out and then disappeared as she pulled away.

The dining area was dark, and I was alone. I sat on the orange-and-white tiles, lay on my side, and then curled up into a ball before crying myself to sleep.



Someone stabbed a finger into my shoulder, and I winced. The person did it again, and I opened my eyes, raising my hand to protect me from another jab.

My vision sharpened, and I saw Pete standing over me, concern in his eyes.

I wiped my face, sitting up. “What time is it?” I asked, not really expecting an answer.

I twisted the narrow leather band on my wrist to see the face of my watch. It was five a.m. on Saturday morning. Chuck and Phaedra would be arriving at any moment.

“Shit,” I said, scrambling to my feet.

Before I could make a dash for the stairs, Pete grabbed my wrist.

I relaxed my shoulders, covering his hand with mine. “I’m okay.”

He didn’t let go.

“Really. I’m okay.”

Pete touched his thumb to his lips, lifting his pinky in the air.

“No. I wasn’t drinking. The girl Taylor was with in San Diego? She’s pregnant.”

Pete’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline, and he released my arm. I hurried to the stairs, taking them two at a time.

I jumped in the shower, pushing down memories of the previous evening before they could surface.

I was never so glad to be working on a Saturday. It would be busy, and there was a festival this weekend. There was no better distraction than impatient, hungry customers. Without a phone, Taylor would have no way to contact me, other than coming to the Bucksaw, and I knew he was on second shift that day and the next.

I was conflicted, trying not to cry one minute and fighting anger the next. I worried, knowing he was miles away in the burning woods with so much on his mind. Leaving him alone to deal with Alyssa hadn’t helped matters any, but I had created the mess we were all in. Taylor had made it worse. But his job wasn’t going to change, and neither were our problems. It was time I bowed out for good. One of us had to do it.

I walked down the stairs, tying my still damp hair into a bun at the crown of my head, and I heard Phaedra having a one-sided conversation. I pushed through the double doors and sat on my regular counter in the kitchen, across from the center prep table.

Hector was washing vegetables, keeping his head down, not saying a word. Pete was peeling potatoes, grimacing at me while he worked.

“What the hell is going on?” Phaedra asked.

Chuck was standing behind her with no sign of talking her down. I opened my mouth to speak, but she held up her hand.

“And don’t tell me it’s nothing, that it’s no big deal, or that you just had a bad night because nothing that’s nothing is going to make you curl up in the fetal position on a tiled floor for an entire night.”

I snapped my opened mouth shut. Phaedra could intimidate anyone, but she had never been so cross with me.

“Spill it,” Phaedra demanded.

“When I asked Taylor for the break, he went to San Diego to see his brother. He ended up … with another woman while he was there. He told me about it in Saint Thomas. We’ve been working through it.”

“And?” she asked, unfazed.

I sucked in a breath, feeling a lump form in my throat. “She came to the hotel last night. She’s pregnant.”

Audible gasps came from all four of my coworkers.

I quickly wiped away a few escaped tears.

“She’s keeping it?” Chuck asked.