“Kevin, if you’re not willing to tell me what happened, then I don’t have a choice.” She broke off a tiny piece of cracker and chewed it slowly. She was out of ginger ale, so this would have to do. “This is your chance.”
“He said my mom was a piece of trash and nobody likes her.” Kevin’s voice hitched. “And he called me a liar.”
Annabeth’s heart sank. Nobody liked to hear someone talk about their family that way. “What happened before that?”
Kevin leaned forward, his face turning red. “You mean did I do something?” he yelled.
“I need the whole picture, Kevin.” Annabeth stayed calm. “Billy had no right to say those things, but it will help me decide how to handle it if I know everything.”
Kevin sat back, crossing his arms over his chest again.
She sat at her desk, turning her attention to the paperwork spread out across her desk. If he wasn’t ready to talk, she’d give him some time to think things through. Kevin was very good at pressing buttons. Something more had happened to make Billy fight back.
“I said Ryder Boone had asked my mom to marry him and she turned him down.” Kevin’s words were thick, as though he was having to work to get them out.
Once they were, Annabeth wasn’t sure what to do about it. Billy’s parents worked on the Boone Ranch—his mother was a cook at the Lodge and his father a gamekeeper. So Billy, like so many in Stonewall Crossing, were protective of the Boone family.
“Is that true?” Annabeth asked. She knew it wasn’t.
Kevin scowled at her.
“Kevin—”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Kevin snapped. “My mom’s way prettier than you are.” Kevin’s voice rose as he kept talking. “And I don’t talk funny like Cody does. He could love us, if he wanted to. Why wouldn’t he want us instead of you?” He sniffed, on the verge of tears. “Why not?”
He broke her heart. She couldn’t be mad at him, even if the words were hard to hear. Every boy wanted a father, someone to love their mother. By defending the Boones, Billy had hit on Kevin’s biggest weakness.
Movement in the doorway caught her eye. Bryan Goebel stood there, hovering just outside, probably concerned over Kevin’s noise level. She gave the slightest shake of her head. He stepped back, but his shadow lingered on her office floor.
“People can’t choose who they love, Kevin.” She spoke softly. “It’s hard, isn’t it, living without a dad?”
“You don’t know.” Kevin frowned at her. “Your life is perfect.”
She folded her hands on her desk, swallowing down the laughter his words stirred. “My parents died when I was in first grade. In a car crash.”
Kevin’s eyes went round.
“I moved here to live with my grandmother.” She shrugged. “She took good care of me, but it wasn’t the same.”
“My dad left when I was in second grade.”
Annabeth knew the story. Most of Stonewall Crossing did. While Winnie Michaels had a questionable and very public relationship with a married man, Winnie’s husband got involved with that man’s wife. They left town together—leaving Kevin behind. As far as Annabeth knew, the only good thing about Kevin’s father was the reliability of his child support.
“It’s hard. And it hurts.” She nodded, searching for the right words. She didn’t know what to do for Kevin. But she wished he was involved in something, some outlet that would keep him out of his toxic home environment and let off some steam for a few hours each day.
Kevin stared at his hands. “I get angry sometimes.”
“We all do.” She nodded. “How we deal with the anger is what matters.”
“You get angry?” From the look on his face, he didn’t believe her.
She smiled, nodding. “Yes, I do.”
“Doubt it.” He shrugged, then asked, “So what’s
my punishment?”
“What do you think it should be?” she asked.