Once they were in position, Mitch concentrated on keeping his weight centered. He’d been off the prosthesis most of the day so he wouldn’t overtire himself being on it tonight. Now he moved self-consciously, holding Lexi lightly, keeping them in time with the music.
“Not bad,” she said. “Can you dance
“We can try it.”
“Where the hell do you get off hurting my sister?”
She smiled as she spoke and her tone was pleasant, so it took him a second to hear what she’d said. Not that it mattered. Lexi kept talking.
“I understand you’re in a world of pain so you get a partial pass for that. But you have been nothing but a total shit since you got back home. Apparently that trend is continuing, based on the look I saw on her face five minutes ago.”
He stiffened. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t know all of it,” she admitted. “I’m sure Skye has kept the really bad stuff from me. Because despite everything, she still defends you. Amazing, isn’t it? Not that you deserve it.”
He glared at Lexi. “What about what she did to me?”
“You mean nine years ago when she wouldn’t marry you?”
“She chose her father over me.”
“Oh, I get it,” Lexi told him, her blue eyes flashing with annoyance. “She should have picked you because you’re her one true love. Well, this isn’t the movies. This is real life and things don’t always work out the way we want. Yes, Skye chose Jed. She chose her father because he was all she had.”
“She had me.”
“Did she? You got mad and left.”
The unfairness of that statement made him come to a stop. “She married someone else.”
“Did you bother to find out why?”
He already knew. “She was pregnant with his kid.”
“Before that,” Lexi said, pulling him to the side of the room. “Before she went out with Ray.”
“Screwed him, you mean.”
“So you’re still having the pity party,” Lexi said. “I should have known. Does it occur to you that this is about more than who she married? That it might be about why Jed’s opinion matters so damn much? Jed is the only parent Skye has left.”
“You’re preaching to the choir. I lost my parents, too. It was the year Skye and I fell in love. So when I lost her, I had nothing left.”
“Right. Nothing except Fidela and Arturo, who were as much like parents to you as your own. Skye, on the other hand, found her mother’s body. Did you know that? Pru couldn’t handle the fact that Jed didn’t love her so she killed herself. She got in the bathtub and cut her wrists, but not before leaving a note.”
Mitch hadn’t known the details. Skye didn’t talk about them.
Lexi continued. “She addressed the note to Skye because Skye always came to her room after school. Pru knew her ten-year-old daughter would find her body and she didn’t have a problem with that. The note told Skye that Pru had to kill herself because Jed didn’t love her. What do you think Skye took from all that? Just picture it, Mitch. A kid two years older than Erin finding her mother’s dead body and reading that note. Is it possible she believes, somewhere deep inside, that if her father doesn’t love her, she’ll die, too? Is there even a remote chance that at all of eighteen and in love for the first time in her life, she couldn’t think straight? That she could only panic? Or is this all about you?”
Lexi walked away.
Mitch stood in the corner, feeling small and wrong and wondering how it was possible for a mother to act that way. He’d heard rumors that Pru was a little crazy and self-absorbed, but now he knew those were more than rumors.
He looked around the room, searching for Skye. When he caught sight of her, he didn’t know what to do. Telling her he knew about her mother wasn’t going to help anyone. What it came down to was whether or not knowing this changed anything at all.
SKYE KNEW something was wrong. She couldn’t figure out what it was, exactly. The guests were still talking, but the overall noise level wasn’t right. There was a slight hush she couldn’t explain.
There was plenty of food. She saw the servers circulating and the guests eating. They hadn’t run out of liquor. From what she could hear, Jed hadn’t said anything that had offended twenty or thirty people. So what was it?
She was about to tell herself she was imagining things, when one of the servers hurried up to her.
“There’s a problem,” the woman said. “A couple of people are sick. It came on really fast. I hate to think it’s the food, but maybe it is.”
Skye’s body tensed. “Where are the guests who aren’t feeling well?”
“In both downstairs’ bathrooms.”
She hurried in that direction, only to have a local banker go rushing past, his hand covering his mouth. She heard a gagging sound and saw a well-dressed woman suddenly vomit.
Horror rushed through her. What was going on? Had the caterer brought something tainted? Was it food poisoning? Didn’t that usually take-
She turned toward the kitchen and saw Garth standing by the bar. He raised his glass toward her. All around her people started rushing for the door.
She walked to Garth. “What the hell did you do?”
He smiled. “Something seems to be wrong with your party. It can’t be the food, can it?”
“You poisoned my guests?”
“
“Bastard.”
He took another sip of his drink. “Yes, but you already knew that.”
Two hours later everyone had left. Whatever had caused the sickness faded as quickly as it started. The paramedics took a few older people to the hospital to be checked out.
“This is going to ruin me,” Mary, the caterer, said. “I don’t know what happened. I’ve never heard of anything like this before.”
Skye didn’t know what to say to reassure her. The truth was Mary hadn’t done anything wrong.
“If you need a reference,” Skye began.
Mary wiped away tears. “Like that will help,” she whispered, then walked away.
A few minutes later Dana arrived.
“I got your message,” her friend said. “What happened?”
Skye told her about people getting sick and what Garth had said. “One of the paramedics said there were only a few things that could cause instant vomiting.”
Dana shook her head. “Are you sure it’s Garth?”
“I know it’s Garth. He practically told me he did it. But when I explained that to the police, they wouldn’t listen. Why would a guy like that do something like this?” Skye was beyond frustrated. “At least that’s their reasoning. Oh, they’ll do an investigation, but they’re assuming it’s somebody’s kid playing a stupid game. Maybe a fraternity initiation. Garth is too smart to get caught. I’m sure he’s covered up his involvement. Jed’s no help. He disappeared at the first sign of trouble.”
“Can I make you feel better by saying you’ve never loved throwing Jed’s parties. Maybe now you won’t have to.”
“Small comfort,” Skye said, knowing Jed would blame her for this and equally aware that right now she didn’t care.
“I’ll ask around. See if I can find out anything. Garth is one busy guy. Eventually he’ll make a mistake and we’ll be there to catch him.”
“I hope so. I don’t want to think about what he might do next or who might get hurt.”
MITCH HATED to waste the time on his prosthesis, but he couldn’t stop pacing. He was angry, which wasn’t news, but for once it wasn’t at the world in general. This time his temper had a specific focus-Garth Duncan.
Last night had been a disaster for Skye. Nearly everyone at the party had gotten violently sick. While the illness
