“I was nice to her. I didn’t know she was Ms. Kemp’s daughter when she squirted mustard on me. I also didn’t make a big deal out of the situation. She was the one who kept it going and then used it to insult you.”

His dad sighed and took another swig of his beer. “She doesn’t know me.”

“But the serial killer comment was out of line.”

Preston shrugged. “A lot of people say stuff like that. She didn’t mean anything by it.”

Cyril frowned, measured his words, then spoke what was on his mind. “She did, if she believes the rumors.”

His dad shook his head before sipping his beer. “She was just talking.”

Cyril closed his eyes and let out a long breath. When he opened his eyes, his dad was staring off into space. “You don’t know that.”

His dad sighed and met his eye. “Do you know about Ms. Kemp’s ex-husband?”

“Why would I know about her ex-husband?” he asked, surprised by the question.

“Small-town talk. You own a bar. I figured someone must’ve come in and told you the story.”

“I don’t get into small-town gossip. You know that.” Being on the end of malicious gossip in his neighborhood after his mom’s murder, he didn’t find participating in gossip of any kind to be interesting or necessary. He always found a way to change the subject to something else.

“Even if you don’t participate that doesn’t mean you don’t hear snippets here and there.”

“I haven’t heard snippets. I barely remembered she had a daughter until you decided to marry her.” He grunted. “I can’t believe it had to be her.”

“You really that mad about the mustard?”

“Nah...it’s just... I don’t know.” He glanced at his dad then looked away.

What could he say? That he’d had a weird moment where he’d believed in fate before reality crashed down on him? None of that mattered now. She was against the wedding and he was supporting it. There was nothing he could do with this attraction but push it to the deepest recesses of his mind.

“Alright, I won’t push, but I need you to at least be nice to her. I don’t want any problems popping up between you two that’ll then cause problems with me and Linda.”

“You know I’m for this wedding.”

“Are you?” his dad asked seriously.

“I haven’t seen you this happy in a while. Hell yeah, I support this marriage.”

His dad smiled and stood. He slapped Cyril on the shoulder and squeezed. “Good. Then don’t worry about what she said and play nice with Imani. If you can win her over, maybe she’ll be okay with me.”

“Shouldn’t you be the one to win her over. You’re trying to be her stepdad.”

“She’s going to take a minute to warm up to me. But maybe, if we’re lucky, she’ll like you, and when she sees how happy her mom is, she’ll be okay. If that’s the case, then she’ll come around the mountain and support this wedding.”

“Mom, what was that?” Imani asked as soon as the door closed behind Preston Dash and his son.

Her mom placed her hands on her hips and glared back at Imani. “That’s the exact question I was going to ask you. Why were you so rude to Cyril? You were the one who messed up his shirt.”

“Forget his shirt. I’m talking about the way you turned into a different person with Preston.”

Linda’s head jerked back. “What are you talking about?”

Imani relaxed her shoulders and pretended as if she were leaning against someone. She smiled and batted her eyes before saying, “Okay, baby,” in a sweet, exaggerated voice while pretending to pat a man’s chest.

Her mom scoffed and waved her hand. “I didn’t sound like that.” Linda spun away and went toward the kitchen.

Imani was hot on her heels. Her mom wouldn’t have walked away if there wasn’t some truth in Imani’s words. “Oh, yes you did. Mom, you practically melted against that guy. And those words, practically melted, are not words that I would have ever used to describe you before.”