Page 62 of Against All Odds

CHAPTER 21

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“Junebug, talk to me,” I pleaded while we had a late breakfast together the morning after the farmer’s market debacle. She’d ignored my knocks on her door all evening and finally came to the kitchen around noon.

She sat across from me at the breakfast nook, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, her eyes red-rimmed. I felt like shit. She’d been crying.

“Hey, I’m sorry about what happened and?—”

“What exactly are you sorry about?” Juno demanded.

Her question stumped me for a moment. “For you having to witness me losing my temper and…seeing Sable talk to your mother that way.”

She looked up at me, her jaw tight. “Really? That’s what you’re sorry about?”

I nodded, feeling uneasy as hell.

“I don’t even know what to say to you, Dad.”

I blinked. “You can say anything to me, Junebug. You know that.”

“I can’t believe you did what you did and said what you did to Sable.” Her voice trembled.

Okay, what?

“Look, I know I should’ve talked to Sable in private. I lost my temper when I saw how she was treating you and your mother. I won’t stand for that.”

“Oh, you won’t, will you?” She sounded like a sarcastic teenager giving me sass. She never spoke to me like this. “Did you bother to find out what happened before you showed up and dragged your girlfriend away and then insulted her and embarrassed me in front of everyone?”

She had a point. I didn’t know what had happened, but I had Alexa’s version. She called last night to check on Juno and told me that Sable had fought with her, saying Alexa was hurting her business and was a lousy mother.

I felt my chest tighten. “Juno, I didn’t want you to see that?—”

“Too late,” she cut in, her voice rising. “I did see it. And it was awful. Mama was already horrible to herandme, and then you just piled on.”

Say what?

“Juno, it’s not that simple,” I tried to explain. “Sable was yelling at your mom. That is unacceptable.”

She slammed her hands on the table, startling me. “You didn’t even ask why! You didn’t care what Sable was trying to do. You just assumed Mama was right.” Hervoice broke, and tears spilled down her cheeks. “Sable was standing up for me, Daddy.For me. And you treated her like garbage…well, why shouldn’t you? Mama called her trash and said that if I associated with her, I’d become trash, too.”

My nostrils flared.

She stood up, looking down at me. And that fucking hurt. I’d always been my daughter’s hero; now, she’d lost respect for me.

“Oh, and then Mama blamed her for stealing her husbandandher daughter. When I asked her to stop it, she yelled at me and told me I had no loyalty or integrity and that I should be ashamed of myself. For what? For being a decent human being? For liking Sable, for thinking she’s cool? That’s when Sable spoke up. Otherwise, she was leaving. She wasn’t looking for an argument. That would be yourwife. Why did you even start dating again if you’re still hung up on Mama?”

“Juno, I’m not hung up on your mother.”

“Then why are you defending her against Sable? Especially when Sable did nothing wrong. Do you know that Mama and Grandpa told everyone to boycott the Wildflower? Did you know that?”

No, I didn’t. And not because I hadn’t been told; Sable had told me, but I hadn’t believed it.

“Juno, your mother isn’t doing that. Okay?”

“Notokay.”

Juno was angry, and I didn’t quite know how the fuck to handle her, handlethis. I’d misunderstood the situation at the farmer’s market, this much I knew—andI’d treated Sable exactly how everyone else in this town did.

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