The next morning they’d had a nice breakfast but Matt could tell she was holding herself back from him and he didn’t like it one bit. And he had no plans to let her get away with it either.
“So I sort of told my mother you’re coming to dinner at their house tonight.” He sipped his coffee and sopped up the gravy on his plate with a biscuit. She was the best cook he’d ever met, even better than his mother. If the woman hadn’t been everything he’d ever wanted otherwise, he’d still have wanted to keep her for her skills in the kitchen.
She jerked her head back and put her fork down. She’d eaten fruit and just one biscuit, much to his consternation.
“What? Why would you have done such a thing? I’m having dinner with my family here tonight. We do every other Sunday.”
“My momma’s gonna be so disappointed.”
“Matt, I’m sorry but I have plans with my family.”
“Can’t you break them just this once? Have dinner with them tomorrow night? My parents are expecting you and you know my mother, she’d take it awful hard if you didn’t come.”
Her eyes widened and he knew he’d gone too far.
“In the first place, I would never ask you to dump off a family commitment for me. In the second place, I would never dump a family commitment for something like a sneak dinner invitation that you didn’t even bother asking me for. I have nieces and a nephew, they have school during the week so I wouldn’t interrupt their weeknight schedule just to suit your whim. In the third place, my family is very important to me and I don’t appreciate you treating it otherwise. Lastly, don’t you ever try and guilt me with your mother like that.”
Knowing he’d been rightfully busted he put his coffee down and reached out to take her hands. “I’m sorry. You’re right, I shouldn’t have asked you to choose like that. It wasn’t fair. Next Sunday will you come to dinner at my parents’ house? Assuming you don’t do dinner with your family in those off Sunday nights?”
“I don’t know, Matt. This is moving so fast. I...”
“Fast? We’ve known each other for a few months, that’s not fast. Come on, Tate, look, let me just go ahead and put it all on the line and be totally straight with you. I really like you. I enjoy your company and I want to be with you. I want us to continue dating and I want to see where this can go. This is not a casual thing for me. I’m old enough to know what I want and you’re it, Tate Murphy.”
“You can’t know what you’re saying.” She pushed back from the table and began to pace. The silky red shortie robe she wore fluttered around as she moved.
So on the ropes, his little Venus. He grinned. He knew then what had to happen. He’d helped every single one of his brothers with the wooing of their future wives so he had enough experience. Clearly Tate was caught up in their supposed differences again and he’d have to drag her, kicking and screaming, hopefully in the throes of orgasm, into love with him.
He leaned back in his chair and watched her. “I know exactly what I’m saying, Tate. I’m well on my way to being in love with you.”
She spun, sputtering. He had to bite his cheek to keep from laughing.
“Love? Fuckadoodledoo! You’ve had sex before last night, right? I’ve heard enough stories about your prowess to know you have. I promise to let you in my bed again, you don’t have to tell me you love me to get back in.”
“Little Venus, gorgeous, I know I don’t have to tell you I love you to get back between those silky, pale thighs of yours.” His voice lowered and he winked at her, loving the way she blushed and fanned herself briefly. “But the truth is, I do love you.” He shrugged.
“Matthew Chase! You can’t love me! I’m a fat little nobody from a horrible family from the wrong side of the road. You’re meant to be with a woman who knows how to use all the right forks, a woman who knows how to pick linens. A woman who has buildings named after her family.”
He stood and moved to her, so angry he barely remembered moving. “You will not talk about yourself like that.” He took her arms and kissed her hard. “You are someone. You’re Tate Murphy. You work hard, you built your life from nothing and I couldn’t possibly care less about forks or linens. You don’t think much of me if you think I’d care about all that stuff more than what’s inside a person.”
“What’s inside? Matt, you have no idea what kind of genes I’m carrying.”
“You don’t scare me, Tate. We’re not the sum of our parents you know. You aren’t. None of your siblings is from what I can tell. You’re not his anyway, even if I was concerned. Isn’t that what you told me?”
Her eyes widened and he raised a brow. “What, think you can scare me away with rough talk? Not. Going. To. Happen.”
He nodded. “It is. Now will you come to dinner next Sunday and can I come over here tonight after I finish up at my parents’? I’m not going to let you push me away. The cooking’s too good and you’re hot in bed.”
She shoved her hair back away from her face, frown lines etched into her forehead. “You don’t love me, Matt. This can’t be anything more than some fun evenings.”
“Tate, don’t tell me I can’t love you. It’s too late and it already is more than some fun evenings. If I didn’t know you were so scared, I’d be offended and thinking you just wanted to use me for my great big penis.”
She fought a smile and he realized the warmth in his chest was her, the way he felt about her. Love. He’d never felt it before but he knew he never wanted to be without it again. She made him whole.
“Your penis is just fine, Matt. But just what exactly do you envision this being?”
One arm banded around her waist, he pulled her back to the table and down into his lap. “Don’t want this to get cold,” he said, picking up the remains of his bacon. “Damn, you’re a fine cook. What I foresee this being, Venus, is we date and date and have lots of sex and you get to know my family and I get to know yours and then I ask you to marry me and we get married and have a passel of kids and our house will always be full of busybody relatives.”
She closed her eyes. “Marriage and kids? We’ve been on one date, two if you count that first time at the diner. That’s not fast?”
“Every single lunch from May to now was a date.”
“This can’t happen. Look, let’s just date, have fun. Leave the marriage talk out of the equation.”
“Are you saying I’m only good enough to fuck?”
“Just go. Get your stuff and go.” But she said it with no conviction at all and he waved it off.
“I’m not going anywhere, Tate Murphy. Not in the way you’re suggesting. You need to know that right now. I don’t give up when there’s something worthy of working for. You may think I’m some soft, shallow guy who doesn’t know what it means to struggle and maybe that’s true in a lot of ways. But damn it, I’m worthy of you.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? This isn’t about you! This is about me.”
He stood, setting her on her feet gently before kissing her forehead. “I’m going to get going. Not because I’m going for good but I need to help Kyle do some work in my parents’ yard this morning.”
“I’m... I don’t want to hurt your feelings, Matt. I don’t think you’re soft and shallow. God, I don’t even know where you get that. You’re wonderful and handsome and funny and sweet. And you’re not for me. Can’t you see that? Can’t you see how wrong I am for you?”
“I’m not arguing with you over that point, Tate. It’s a stupid fucking point and I’m not discussing it.” He shrugged into his shirt and sat to lace his shoes. “I’ll be here tonight after dinner with my parents. I hear you make excellent dessert.”
“Matt, are you listening to me?”
He stood, pulling her to him, and brought his mouth to hers and kissed the hell out of her. “Of course I am. But you’re wrong. I’ll see you later. And I’ll be back between those thighs again too, Tate. Don’t think you can hold yourself away from me. I want you, you want me. It’s that simple.”
He strode out the back door and she stood in the kitchen, the morning sun shining through the window as she heard him get into his truck and go.
“I am in big trouble.”
* * *
Polly Chase watched Matt tear through his meal. Good Lord, finally. “You have someplace else to be?”
He sighed explosively and put his fork down. “Okay, Momma, I need your help.”
She sat back and smiled at him and then at his father who chuckled. “Tate Murphy?”
“How’d you know?”
“Son, she’s a witch. Didn’t growing up with her as your momma teach you anything? You can’t hide it from her.” Edward amused himself entirely too much. Polly winked at him and frowned a moment. The scamp was utterly unrepentant and winked back, taking her hand and kissing it. She married him for a reason and she’d collect her payback after everyone left.
“Matthew, you asked me about her. I’ve seen you in town with her a few times. I heard you took her to The Tonk last night.” She laughed, seeing his surprise. “Honey, who do you think the gossip about the last single Chase boy comes to first? I know you eat lunch with her three times or more a week. I know you ate dinner with her last Sunday night at The Sands. I know you slept at her place last night too.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ve just been waiting for you to ask me. I take it she’s holding herself back? Telling you she’s not right for a Chase?”
Maggie looked up and Polly laughed again. Young people! All one needed to do was keep their eyes open and their ears ready. People weren’t that hard to read.
“Yes. Stupid isn’t it? I told her I loved her this morning and she told me she just wanted to have a good time.”
“What? She thinks she’s better than you? I say you’re better off without her then!” Liv snorted.
Polly hid a smile. Liv was a smart girl.
“No! She just said it to blow smoke. Stupid woman said a bunch of stuff about linens and forks and me needing to be with a woman with buildings named after her family. She thinks she’s, and this is her words, a fat nobody from the wrong side of the road.”
Liv winked at Polly before turning back to Matt. “And you said?”
“I told her she was someone and not to talk about herself like that. I also said I didn’t care about any of that shit. Uh, stuff, sorry, Momma. I want to marry her.”
“Wow, that was fast.” Shane put his napkin down and looked at Matt. “You sure?”
“I’ve been sure since I watched her building block towers with Nicholas last month. I know it here.” He pressed the heel of his hand over his chest. “I’m old enough to know the difference between liking a woman and loving one. I sure as heck haven’t ever loved one before.”
Polly shrugged with a grin. “Well then, we’ll bring her into the fold won’t we? And her brothers and sisters too. You know you won’t just be getting a wife right?”
“That’s what I love so much about her, Momma. All the women I’ve been with haven’t ever thought about family the way I have.” He quickly looked at Liv. “Well, Liv but that was different. Anyway, she has such a love and commitment to them and they to her. So protective of her. You should have seen them at The Tonk when Melanie said a bunch of stuff about her. I thought we were going to have to hold her sister Beth back from taking Melanie out.”
Polly’s smile was nearly feral. Matt wanted Tate and so that made Tate hers too. Anyone who meant harm to the girl or her family would have to deal with the consequences and that meant Polly.
“I heard about Melanie.” Polly waved it away. “She’ll need a talking to. But, cookie, you know you’re going to have to deal with a lot of the same, right? Tate does come from the bad side of town. Her parents are awful people and she’s not as comely as the other women you’ve dated. Not that she isn’t beautiful, don’t you give me that look, Matthew. But I didn’t raise you to pretend the obvious doesn’t exist and if you don’t confront it, it’ll hurt her. Love isn’t about a dress size, neither is beauty and it certainly isn’t about a bank account. But it’s gonna be said so we have to be ready for it.
“Each one of my daughters came to me in her own special package but one thing they all have in common is that they’re stunning women. Without even knowing them, you look at them and they make your heart beat faster. Maggie had to deal with some jealousy issues but frankly, Tate will have it the hardest. You’re going to have to be very up front and very vocal that Tate is your choice.”
Matt nodded and Polly began to plan.
“Thanks, Momma.”
“Of course, cookie. That’s what family does. I take it you’re eating your food at three times the normal speed to go to her? Why didn’t you invite her here?”
“I started to talk to you about it earlier this week but I got busy with work. I invited her this morning but I sort of tried to guilt her into it.” He told her of what he’d done that morning and Tate’s reaction.
“Matthew, I’m appalled. I am happy to see the girl put you in your place after that. Things have come very, very easy for you. Too easy I think. You’ve never had to struggle. Always top marks in school, top of your class at the academy, you’ve always excelled at whatever you put your mind to. And never had to break a sweat to do it. Now you boys know I love you all equally but Matt, you’re the handsomest one of the crew. You grin and flutter your lashes and the girls have always bent into pretzels to please you. This one is skittish, you need to be blunt and up front with her at all times. Yes, be charming and handsome, it’s who you are, but don’t rely on that to do the work. You do the work.”
“I thought I was the handsomest,” Shane grumbled.
“Shane, you’re the biggest and bravest. Kyle is the kindest and most compassionate. Marc? He’s the sweetheart charmer. All of you are handsome, you know that so don’t try and play me. But Matthew here? Ahh, he’s nearly pretty he’s so handsome. Smart too, but handsome has done the work for him. He’s just realizing that now and he’s feeling a bit bad about it. Don’t feel bad, cookie. You’re a good man, a lot better than you give yourself credit for. You’ve found your special girl, that’s everything. You’ll build a life with her and she’ll be part of us and you’ll be part of her kin. Our family will get larger by eight, or fourteen because there are wives and children. Ahh, more grandchildren for me.” She smiled.
Matt wanted to put his head in her lap. No one understood him better than she did. He shouldn’t have waited so long. It felt so good that she knew him so well. He looked around the table at the family he loved and who had his back. Damned lucky.
“Go on. Tell her she’s invited here next week. Invite them all. I hear she’s a good cook. That so?”
Matt nearly choked on his tea, he wasn’t going there. “Sure. I won’t go hungry.”
“Better baker than Maggie?”
“Okay on that note, I’m going to get going. Thank you for the support.” He got up and kissed his mother’s cheek while his father chuckled.
“I’ll walk you out.”
His father walked to the door with him. “Nice one. She’s really better than Maggie or your momma?”
“Daddy, I’ve never eaten biscuits that I’d have sold my soul for until this morning. And she made them while she did three other things.”
Edward laughed again. “Look, Matt, her daddy, I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others, Shane may know it though, being sheriff and all. Her daddy is a thug and a violent one. Keep an eye out. He’s a wastrel too. I wouldn’t be surprised if he hit you up for cash. Watch yourself. And her too, it can’t be easy on her coming from that when she’s such a good person.”
“It isn’t, I can tell. But the rest of them are good people.”
“Course they are. You wouldn’t have loved her elsewise. Don’t rush up on the girl. Let her know how you feel but she’s a person who’s been abandoned and disappointed and lied to by people she should have been able to trust. It’s gonna be a bit like she’s a wounded animal, I know that’s not entirely an accurate comparison but it’s close enough for you to know what I mean.”
Matt’s father didn’t hand out advice right and left. He knew people better than most because he listened more than he spoke. Kyle was a lot like him, Matt realized.
“It’s hard. I want to scoop her up and protect her.”
Edward smiled and squeezed his son’s shoulder. “I know. That’s why you know this is real, the fear of losing it or her.”
“You’re pretty smart for an old guy.”
“Smart-ass. Now get on out of here. If you promised her you’d stop in, do it. Keep your promises to her, no matter what.”
“Thanks, Daddy.”
“That’s what I’m here for, boy.”
* * *
“Why don’t you call him?” Nathan asked her softly as she looked to the front door for the hundredth time.
“I don’t know what you’re...oh fuck me, he said he’d stop in after dinner. It’s not like it’s a date. He probably just forgot. It’s not a big deal.” Tate knew it was useless to try and lie to Nathan.
The house had been loud and chaotic and filled to the rafters with Murphys but now with bellies filled and coffee making to go with the cherry pie she’d baked earlier that day, things had quieted down. The kids played out back in the twilight.
“Tate, if the man made a promise, he’s meant to keep it. If he doesn’t, he’s not worth caring about.”
Tate put her head on Nathan’s shoulder a moment before Tim noticed. If Tim saw her in any distress at all he’d go into protective mode right away. So far that evening he’d been on kid duty so she’d been spared his usual close monitoring of her moods.
She moved into the kitchen when the coffeemaker beeped. Beth followed along with Anne to slice pie and get coffee for everyone. Tim came in to get milk and pie for the kids.
Tate smiled, her life was good. When she was Belle’s age she’d never have imagined her life would be so wonderful as an adult. Matt Chase or not.
But when she made her way back into the dining room with a tray of plates with pie, she caught sight of the man she’d been trying so hard not to think of come in through her front door.
He grinned as he caught sight of her. “I see I got here just in time. Do I smell cherry pie?”
She smiled back before she could even think about it. “There’s enough for you most likely. Have a seat there.” She indicated a chair with a tilt of her chin and he rolled his eyes, approaching to take the tray from her and place it on the table.
“Thank you.”
“I don’t suppose I need to even ask if this is scratch pie.”
Nathan snorted and grabbed a plate and a mug of coffee. “Better grab a slice now, there won’t be a flake of that crust left over in about three minutes.”
Matt sat and she smirked, pushing a plate to him following that with a mug of coffee. “It’s decaf.”
The kids came screaming into the house but got quiet when they caught sight of Matt sitting at the table. Tim gave her a subtle eyebrow raise and Susan chuckled quietly.
“This is Danny. Danny, this is Matt Chase.” Her nephew took a bowl of ice cream and pie and sat at the small table kitty corner to the larger one. He eyed Matt carefully, making sure the stranger wasn’t going to snatch his pie. Nodding his head in a very fine imitation of his father, he got down to eating.
Matt nodded solemnly, eating his own pie.
“And this is Shaye.” Three-year-old Shaye waltzed into the room wearing a tutu and clutching her bowl.
“I don’t like cherries. Tate made me peach pie ’cause I’m special. And you can’t have none either.”
Matt stifled his smile. “Pleased to meet you, Shaye. I promise not to steal your pie.”
She re-introduced him to everyone else and explained that William and Cindy were home with their sick twins or there’d have been four more people there.
“Sit down, sweetness.” Matt patted the chair next to where he sat and she did. He looked around the table and she knew what was coming next. “Hey, let me go and get you a slice of pie.”
She put a hand on his arm to stay him. “No, I don’t want any. I’m having coffee.”
He narrowed his eyes at her and held a forkful of pie toward her mouth. “Take a bite of this pie and tell me why you aren’t having a slice. Because I’ve never tasted better.”
“Don’t bother,” Tim mumbled. “She won’t.”
“Don’t interfere,” his wife, Susan, murmured.
“He’s right. Why we all sit here when she does this is beyond me. Tate, take a bite of the pie.” Anne glared at her and Tate widened her eyes and then narrowed them, sending a nonverbal back off to her sister. One her sister ignored with a snort.
“Because she doesn’t want any pie. Why are you all talking around me? I don’t want any pie. It’s not a national tragedy that Tate Murphy isn’t having pie. Let it go.” Shame and anger roiled in Tate’s head. This wasn’t something for outsiders. She hated it enough when it was just them but it didn’t concern Matt and she didn’t want him in the middle of her damned business. She’d have told them to shut up and fuck off but Danny and Shaye were there a few feet away and she didn’t want them involved.
“Is this a regular thing? The not eating of pie?” Matt asked Tim.
“My father made us all messed up in our own special way.” Her older brother looked at her totally unrepentant. Triumphant even that he’d gained another ally in his war against her refusal to eat dessert. It was stupid.
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at them all. None of them seemed to care, which only made her angrier. It was her damned body, what she chose to do with it was her business. She didn’t let her father control it and she wouldn’t let anyone else either. If not eating pie pissed anyone else off, too bad. It had taken an awful lot of years to be okay with her shape and her size and she was! She didn’t deny her own issues, she knew she had them, but they were hers and she’d deal with them in her own way.
Matt felt her tense up next to him. He glanced at her, noted the blush and looked at Tim. Relieved, he saw the concern on her older brother’s face before remembering the moment in The Sands and her reaction to the pie there—her comment that she didn’t eat dinner when she was around her father. His heart ached for the wounds she’d been dealt by her own damned father. Instead of railing about it, he sighed and thought about how he’d handle it.
“Tate took the brunt of it all for us. To protect us. He did the worst to her.” Nate kept his eyes on his pie as he spoke and a chill worked its way down Matt’s spine.
“Nathan, Tim, stop it now. You too, Anne. We don’t need to relive it. I don’t need to. All of you stop talking about me like I’m not here! While you’re at it, remember the children are listening to everything we say.”
“Well then, you talk to me.” Lowering his voice, he turned to her, seeing her eyes spark but feeling enough spark of his own. He’d be damned if he let her asshole of a father abuse her when he wasn’t even there.
“I don’t want any fuh...freaking pie.” She looked quickly at the children, who happily ate their pie and ice cream, before turning back to him. “That’s all. I’m full. I had dinner and I sampled when I made it. It’s not like I’m in any danger of wasting away.” She made a frustrated motion at her body.
“And you’re not in danger of exploding if you have a bite of this heaven on a fork either.” Matt danced the fork in front of her but she was not amused.
“You need to stop this now, Matt,” she told him softly and he reluctantly pulled the pie away but not before he saw the look of approval on her siblings’ faces. Well, they liked him and were on his side in this thing.
“Fine. For now.”
He finished as he visited with her family, getting to know them all, liking them tremendously. There was a great deal of familiarity there and he approved. They loved each other, made jokes and took care of each other. Tate would fit into his family just fine, and he would hers.
Everyone helped clean the kitchen and Matt didn’t fail to notice Tate kept busy, avoiding being alone with him. Silly woman. She couldn’t win when he wanted something. And he wanted her.
Tim and Susan left first with the kids and everyone else followed. Matt ignored her looks suggesting he go each time someone else left and he liked seeing her siblings ignore the hints too.
“Alone at last.” He flopped back onto her couch, putting his feet up on her coffee table.
She bustled into the room and pushed his feet off with her bare one. “Get your feet off my table.”
He grinned. “Sorry. Come sit here with me. I’m lonely and I’ve wanted to kiss you all night.”
“Matt, I’m so tired.”
He saw the edge of fear and panic on her face. She needed comfort and didn’t want to need it. She broke his heart sometimes. God how he loved her.
Standing, he moved with purpose to where she stood and encircled her with his arms. “I know, sweetness. Let me. Let me ease it for you. Lean on me.” He spoke, lips against the pale, cool silk of her hair.
“Why are you doing this?”
“I told you. I love you, Tate. Let me love you.”
“You can’t love me. You don’t love me. You just feel sorry for me.”
He sighed and walked her to her bedroom, turning off lights as he went.
“You talk too much about stuff you can’t possibly know about. I know what I feel, Tate.”
“No you don’t. You need to be held. I want you, yes. But tonight, let me hold you. I want to sleep with you against me. Will you let me stay here tonight?” He searched her face tenderly, loving the surprised and slightly confused flutter of her lashes.
“I don’t know...”
“I do. Please, Tate.” He’d never actually begged a woman to let him sleep in her bed, not even to fuck her, before. He needed her as much as he knew she needed him.
“All right. All right. I can’t argue with you over it. I don’t want to.”
He smiled, leaning down to kiss her gently.
* * *
Damn that Matthew Chase! Tate couldn’t help but smile as she pushed her cart through the grocery store several days later. No matter how much she tried to push him away, he was there. Always there.
So thoughtful too. She’d come home two nights before to find a new flower bed dug and planted. He and Kyle had spent part of their day doing it. All because she’d told him how she kept planning to do it but never had the time.
Reaching up, she touched the small silver Venus pendant he’d brought to her that morning at the shop. Said he’d seen it and it reminded him of her, wanted her to wear it against her skin and think of his lips there.
A shiver of delight headed up her spine.
All her delight evaporated as she turned the corner and saw Melanie standing there with Kendra Fosse and some other twit, Dolly somethingorother.
Melanie caught the cart as Tate attempted to steer around them.
“Go on then, say your piece and then move.” Tate glared at Melanie.
“I shouldn’t need to point out to you that you’re in over your head, you gold digging whore.”
The look on Melanie’s face was pure hatred and Tate had seen it more than once. She could never quite figure out why Melanie Deeds hated her so damned much. But they all treated the Murphy kids, especially Tate, badly. Because they could, she supposed. Where most of her siblings were tall and thin, her sisters were gorgeous and her brothers all hale and handsome, Tate was short, pale and fluffy. That made her otherness the biggest target.
“Excuse me? I take it this little scene is sour grapes because Matt and I are seeing each other?” Short, pale and fluffy or not, she wasn’t about to take any guff from the likes of a snotty bitch like Melanie and her little cabal of mean girls. Mean girls way past thirty. She snickered.
“Seeing each other? Is that what you call it?”
“Get to the point, Melanie, the shrillness of your voice makes my teeth hurt and your fake tan is giving me a headache. Oh and do your roots for cripes’ sake.” Hee! That hit home. Melanie’s pretty face crumpled on even more ire. Tate hoped she got a wrinkle Botox couldn’t clear up.
“You keep your cheap, fat ass on your side of town. Matt Chase isn’t meant for the likes of you.”
Tate raised an eyebrow, a naturally blonde eyebrow. “Ahh, that’s what this is about. Can’t take it that he dumped you and came to me. Oh, that must sting that shriveled up, black heart of yours. All the money and good shoes in the world can’t lure Matt from my bed to yours. I may be fat and cheap but I’m the one getting laid by Matt Chase. Guess you’ll have to find some other guy because Matt is taken.”
Melanie pushed the cart but Tate was stronger than she was and she pushed back, making Melanie step backward.
“Don’t you push me, Melanie Deeds. You said your piece now get your ass out of the way or I’ll run you over and smile while I do it.”
“We’ll see how funny you think this is when me and my friends boycott your ratty little salon.”
Tate whipped her head around. “Oh no you did not just insult my salon! Look here, you stupid bimbo, you’d better have a salon visit somewhere in your future because your roots are so bad you look like you’d be at home next to my old trailer.” She turned to Kendra who’d been smirking at Melanie’s little tirade. “Although I’m sorry we can’t help you. We don’t do Botox.”
“You slut! Just like your mother. You’re not good enough to be a Chase, you just remember that. Matt Chase will get tired of you soon enough and you’ll run back to your tacky little house and your cheap, buy-one-get-one-free life with your cheap shoes and knockoff bags. You’re a nobody, Tate Murphy. A fat nobody who doesn’t even know who her dad is.” Melanie’s face was red but Tate was the one who saw red.
“Get. Out. Of. My. Way.” She shoved the cart menacingly and Melanie finally moved aside. “I’m Tate Murphy and I’m better than a thousand of you, Melanie Deeds. You know it too. If money bought worth, I’d still be better than you.”
She blew past them and managed to finish her shopping instead of running out the doors in tears like they’d wanted her to.
Still, there’d been several cancellations for the rest of the week. It’d cost the shop several hundred dollars. But not her pride. Never, ever her pride.