Page 147 of The Exit Strategy
Then I notice the thin gold bracelet she has on her right wrist. It’s the one I bought her for her college graduation but wasn’t sure if she kept it or even if she ever received it.
“Don’t,” she says when she sees me eyeing it.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t start things we don’t have the time to finish. Plus, if Nana Mae catches us, she’ll turn this into a photo shoot like we’re heading off to the damn prom.”
I glance around the driveway because I suddenly want those photos. “Juniper.”
“Cole.”
I hand her the clutch she’d left on my kitchen counter. She takes it without meeting my eyes. That’s good. If she does, I won’t pass a decency test in any county in South Carolina.
Nana Mae materializes on my porch wearing lipstick that means war and a dress that means Paula Van Holten is going to have a very bad evening. We purchased four ticketsto this thing, and in hindsight, I should’ve purchased an entire table to hedge my bets.
“Are you going to tell me who your date is now?” Junie asks Nana Mae just as Hudson’s rental car pulls up the driveway.
The number of things that Hudson’s pissed off at me about are too numerous to count, but the one I feel worst about is asking him to keep this a secret from Nolan. But my reasons for keeping the secret haven’t changed. I don’t want Anna and Tommy Mercer’s actions to hurt their children—my family.
“There he is,” Nana Mae says. “Cole.” I stand up straighter. “Fix your bowtie. Juniper, stand up straight. We’re not walking into that ballroom looking like a funeral procession.” Then she tilts her head to the side. “Though, Junie, I think you just might start an inferno. You look beautiful, dear.”
Junie flushes on every inch of visible skin. “Nana Mae?—”
“Don’t Nana Mae me. This is the night I beat Paula in a room of three hundred people and Cole finally gets the recognition he deserves. I need both of you to comport yourselves.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Junie bites back a smile.
A car door closes behind us, and when I meet Hudson’s glare, it’s like meeting a stranger. I’ve never felt this level of hostility from him.
“Oh, Hudson,” Nana Mae gushes. “Look at you. You do clean up nice. Now, let’s get out of here. Can’t be late.”
“Can’t have that, now, can we?” Hudson holds out his elbow for my grandmother without so much as a hello for me.
“Did you knowhewas coming?” Junie whispers.
“Yeah,” I say because there are already too many secrets between us.
She peers up at me, waiting, but it’s all I can give for now.
As the two most important women in my life enter Hudson’s rented BMW, I allow myself to have one uncomplicated thought.
This is what I’m fighting for. This is mine.
Almost.
After tonight, this is mine.
The ballroomat the La Foire hotel in Charleston is opulence in understated tones. I haven’t been in this building in years, but my body remembers. The cold breath of the HVAC. The specific glimmer from the chandeliers. The way the acoustics swallow your voice when you stand near the south wall.
“I don’t know what the fuck you did, but I can’t find Junie’s name on anything,” Hudson hisses in my ear while Junie and Nana Mae select a glass of champagne. “Fucking nothing. Are you sure her name was on the original loan?”
“I sent you what I had. When I beat the shit out of Tommy, he specifically said that the house and the loan transferred to Junie’s name the second she turned eighteen. Isn’t it good that you can’t find her? That means that the asshole did what I told him to do.”
“You don’t get it, Cole. There’s always a paper trail. Alw?—”
Junie slides her hand around my elbow, and Hudson plays chaperone to Nana Mae as if we hadn’t been mid-conversation.
He barely spoke the entire drive here, instead allowing Nana Mae’s constant chatter to fill the space. But his gaze met mine in the rearview mirror more than once, filled with fire for all I’ve done.
