“Well, just wait a minute, Michael” Grace said calmly. “This is probably just a crazy misunderstanding. Brad, where did you get your information? Did you run a background check or something? And more importantly, why would you purposefully try to hurt Sadie like this?”
Every drop of righteous indignation bled from Brad’s face as comprehension final sank in. “Their aunt told me,” he murmured. “I met her in the casino.” He gulped. “Miss O’Connor, I-I never meant to hurt you, I swear it.”
“No, you were so damn busy trying to hurt her brother you never once thought about her feelings,” Gage said with a disgusted sneer. “You always were a sniveling little shit, but this is low even for you.”
“Why would you lie to me, Sadie?” Michael repeated, sounding more than a little hurt and pissed off.
Sadie just shook her head, tears filling her eyes.
Nick ran a hand through his hair. “Jesus, wouldn’t you lie? What this little douchebag dug up? That’s not even half of what they did. She’s ashamed of them. I would be, too, if I gave a shit.”
But he did, Grace realized. She could see it in the tight set of his jaw. He just hid it better than Sadie. Her heart broke for these two obviously good people who were ashamed of their upbringing, of who they were.
Grace cleared her throat, trying to get rid of the lump that had settled there. “Well, Michael, let’s talk through this.” Because if there was a single thing in this world Grace Montgomery was good at, it was mediation. Law school had seen to that. “Can you honestly tell me that you haven’t lied to Sadie about anything over the course of your relationship?”
His chin came up defensively. “I haven’t lied about anything.”
Mistake number one, she thought. Never give a lawyer an absolute. “Nothing at all? So, you told her about how you wet the bed until you were ten?”
Michael’s outraged intake of air practically sucked all the oxygen out of the room. “You promised you’d never mention that!”
She smirked. “I lied.”
He sputtered for a moment before regaining his composure. “Well, it wasn’t technically a lie. I just didn’t mention it.”
Mistake number two. Don’t argue technicalities with a lawyer. “It was a purposeful omission, which, if we were in court, I would argue was a lie.”
She’d argue it. Couldn’t make it ever stand up in court. But Michael didn’t need to know that.
Sarah threw her napkin down. “Grace Emerson Montgomery, you apologize to your brother. Bringing up his little…problem was uncalled for.”
“Just trying to prove a point, Mom.” And take the heat off Sadie, of course. “We all have things we’re ashamed of and might lie about if given the opportunity.”
Michael crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, like when you were thirteen? When you said you were spending the weekend at Sheila McElroy’s house?”
Grace narrowed her eyes at him. “You wouldn’t.”
He smirked. “She was really at a Bon Jovi concert with Sheila’s brother. Sheila’s eighteen-year-old brother.”
Sarah gasped. “Damn it, Grace, you could’ve been raped or killed or…” she trailed off and pointed a finger at Grace, “you’re grounded.”
“I’m twenty-seven years old and live in a different state. You can’t ground me.”
Sarah pursed her lips. “David, say something.”
He didn’t lift his eyes from his Kindle, but parroted, “You’re grounded.”
Ruthie cackled, then belched loudly without bothering to cover her mouth—again. She pounded her chest lightly with her fist twice before saying, “Whoa, Nelly. That bisque was a pip, wasn’t it?”
“Fine,” Grace said, “I’m grounded.” She rolled her eyes. “My point is that we all have secrets, things we’re ashamed of and don’t want to tell anyone about. Like Brad, for example.”
Brad sputtered. “I don’t really see how that’s relevant at all to—”
“He wears lifts in his shoes,” she said, looking down her nose at him. “He’s really only about five-six.”
Sadie’s lip finally stopped trembling and her eyes brightened a bit. Gage must have noticed because he admitted with a careless shrug, “I have a juvenile record.”
Grace nodded. “He stole a car when he was twelve.”