“Hello, Sandy.”
Her heart jolted and she stumbled to a stop as a tall figure peeled off the wall in the short hallway. Irritation replaced the instinctive fear. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Her ex-husband smiled the broad grin she’d once found charming. “Saw you were here and wanted to say hello.”
“Goodbye.” Sandy shoved by him, striding with purpose toward the door.
Waylan followed. Fine. She’d rather say what she had to say to him in the parking lot. Automatically, she scanned the cars, looking for witnesses. It wouldn’t do for her constituency to see her lose her veritable shit with her ex. Seeing no one, she rounded on him. “I don’t know what you think you’re up to, Waylan, but I told you four years ago, and every other time before that—you will not get another penny from me. So, drag yourself back to whatever rock you crawled out from.”
He pressed a hand to his heart. “You wound me, sweetheart.”
“Don’t you sweetheart me. Just get the hell out of my town.”
“It may shock you to hear, I’m not here for money or for you.”
That left only one thing. “Cam doesn’t want you at the wedding.”
Surprise cracked his charmer facade. “Cam’s getting married?”
Sandy cursed herself for letting that spill. But if he wasn’t here for the wedding or for money from her, then why was he here? “That’s none of your business.”
“He’s my son. That makes him my business.”
“He stopped being your business when you abandoned him. You were no kind of father to him. You had nothing to do with the raising of him and did everything in your power to avoid a relationship with him. So, no, Waylan, he’s not your business. Nothing about his life is your business, and I’m telling you, you can’t be here.”
“It’s a free country, Sandy. I have a right to see my son get married.”
The blood drained from her face. Dear God, if he showed up, the wedding would turn into a riot.
“Don’t do this. If you love him at all, don’t ruin his wedding day by crashing it.”
“I’m not going to ruin anything. I just want to see him get hitched and wish him well. Where’s this whole shindig going down?”
Unbelievable. Abruptly, she thought of Trey. He’d removed himself from the entire event he’d helped orchestrate and largely funded just because he didn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. And here was Waylan, who gave not a damn about how Cam or anyone else felt. Per usual, all he cared about was himself.
“You won’t be hearing it from me.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s a small town. Someone else will tell me.”
Sandy wasn’t going to continue this conversation. She needed to get out of here before she did something radical, like planting her fist in his face. Apparently, her family’s aggression had bled over. Digging out her keys, she unlocked the driver’s side door and opened it. Before she could slide inside, Waylan reached out and shoved it closed again.
For the first time, a trickle of unease bled through her temper. “What are you doing?”
“We’re not done with our conversation.”
“We most certainly are.” She yanked on the door handle, but he didn’t move out of the way. For the first time in years, she registered her ex-husband as more than an irritation.
A few spaces away, a car door opened and a hulking man slid out. “You okay, ma’am?”
Sandy chanced a glance in his direction. She didn’t know him. By his neutral accent, he certainly wasn’t from around here. How long had this guy been sitting there? Why had he just been sitting in his car? It didn’t matter. He had her gratitude because as soon as he took a few steps toward them, Waylan eased back, lifting his hands in the universal gesture of no threat, a smile of apology creasing his cheeks.
Sandy called herself a fool for giving in to Trey’s paranoia. Of course, Waylan was no threat. She yanked open her car door. “I’m fine, thank you.”
The stranger nodded, his eyes staying on Waylan.
Sandy slipped into the car.
“I’ll see you at the wedding,” Waylan called.