Page 69 of The Secret to a Southern Wedding

Guilt squeezed his chest. He looked back at the bedroom door then at his dad. Worry filled his dad’s eyes. He understood the panic of waking up and not knowing where your loved one was.

He opened his mouth to confess, consequences be damned, when Preston’s cell phone rang. His dad’s eyes widened. “It’s Linda.” He answered the phone. “You find her?” Preston nodded then he smiled. “Good. Good. Okay great. Let me tell Cyril and call you back.” He hung up and grinned. “Your mom got in touch with Tracey. She stayed at the bed-and-breakfast last night. I guess they had fun hanging at the bar and decided to make it another sleepover.”

Cyril blinked. Surprised and grateful that Tracey was looking out for her friend. “Yeah... I guess so.”

“You want some breakfast? I’m hungry now that everything has settled down. I can make something for us,” Preston said in a cheery voice.

He shook his head. “Nah, don’t you think you should go back and check on Ms. Kemp?” He ushered his dad toward the front of the house.

Preston waved a hand. “No need. She’s going to the bed-and-breakfast to give Imani a piece of her mind. She doesn’t like her not calling like this, but I think she just wants to see her daughter.”

A thump came from behind his door. Cyril coughed to try and cover it. His dad frowned at him then the door. “What was that?”

“What was what?”

“I thought I heard something in your room.” Preston edged toward the door.

Cyril wrapped an arm around his dad’s shoulders and ushered him down the hall. “You know I am hungry. Can you make me some pancakes? And I picked up some sausage from the Meat Market earlier this week. That would be good, too.”

Preston’s eyes lit up. “We do have that fresh sausage, don’t we? I think I will make some.”

“Good. I’ll go freshen up while you do that.”

“Okay.” His dad nodded and headed to the kitchen.

Cyril rushed back to his room. Imani was dressed and stared at him with panic. “She’s going to the bed-and-breakfast,” she hissed.

Cyril rubbed his temple. “We’ll get you out of here.” Once he figured out how to distract his dad.

“And then how am I supposed to get there? My car is downtown. You drove me here.”

He slapped a hand to his forehead. “Damn.”

“What are we going to do?”

He frowned and thought of the options. “Dad’s in the kitchen. We’ll go out the front door. Get in my truck and then leave.”

“What about your pancakes?”

“I’ll say there’s something going on at the bar. He’ll understand.”

twenty-seven

Imani called Tracey as Cyril drove her downtown to pick up her car. “She’s coming to the bed-and-breakfast. Tell her I left already and I’m on the way back home.”

“How do you know she’s coming here?” The alarm in Tracey’s voice took Imani back to their high school days. Tracey could stand up and cover for anyone, but she tended to buckle under Linda’s gaze.

“That’s what Mr. Preston told Cyril.”

“Oh really? Hold up, wait! I was right. You did spend the night with Cyril.” The alarm gave way to a smug I knew it tone.

“Why would you say that?”

“Halle told me you stayed at the bar to talk to him, and I could tell by the way you kept looking at him that you were waiting for a chance to repeat that kiss. Maybe more. So, how was it?”

Imani forced herself not to look at Cyril sitting next to her. He was focused on the road and didn’t appear interested in her conversation. But still, she wasn’t about to dissect what happened the night before and rave about how great it had been with him sitting beside her.

“We’ll talk about that later. Thank you for covering for me.”

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