She threw another pillow at him.
“What is he saying?” Livinia actually sounded interested in something involving Lyric.
“Nothing, Momma, he’s um … talking about …” She r
eally should be faster on her feet.
Her mother sighed. “Tell me you didn’t sleep with him, Lyric. You know a man won’t want to buy the cow.”
And there it was.
“Yes, I know mother. Especially if I’m the cow.” Did she know her mother, or did she know her mother? Then again, thirty-two years of Livinia-isms tended to stick with a woman.
“Now, now, Lyric, there’s no need to put yourself down—”
“Oh, I know. There’s never a need for that when you’re around.” Hello, pithy comeback. She was damn proud of herself.
“I meant, you’ve got Heath now.” Her mother actually sounded slightly remorseful.
“Heath doesn’t put me down.” Lyric’s eyes went the bathroom door, which he’d left open.
He never had put her down or laughed at her or nodded like what she’d said was the dumbest thing he’d ever heard.
“Of course he doesn’t. I would never condone that in a man. But now that you’re with him, no one else will either, Lyric. When you’re on his arm, women will actually envy you. Can you imagine?” Livinia was so excited.
And just when she’d thought her mother had some actual human DNA, she opened her mouth and all bets were off.
She didn’t need to imagine it. She wouldn’t be on Heath’s arm for much longer and didn’t really care who envied her. She wanted to shout that in certain circles, she was just as successful and famous as he was, but the only circles that her mother cared about were the ones where she could brag to all of her friends about her screwup daughter finally catching Texas Monthly’s Most Eligible Bachelor.
Uneasiness crawled around in her stomach. She knew she should have stopped the fake engagement story yesterday. Damn Heath and his big ideas and even bigger mouth.
This was going to be a mess that rivaled that Wranglers-Cowboys game during the winter of 2004. Around these parts, it had been referred to as the Texas Civil War. The ref who’d called foul on the Wranglers’ overtime field goal had never been seen or heard from again. The folks at the Baptist church told everyone who’d listen that Jesus had smote the ref and sent him directly to hell in a blaze of fire. Lyric had tried to tell them that it was a solar eclipse, but no one would listen.
Because she couldn’t take any more of her mother’s fawning over Heath, she changed the subject. “How’s Daddy? Is he awake yet?”
“Awake? He’s been up for hours. He’s doing so well, Lyric, and feeling so much better already. Even the doctors are surprised.” Her mother actually sounded happy—that didn’t happen often.
Lyric sat up. “That’s amazing, Mom. I’m so excited.”
“So is he. He’s already been up twice, walking down the hall. He’s telling everyone he meets that he’s in training to walk you down the aisle.” Her mother’s voice broke a little on the last word, and for a second Lyric couldn’t help wondering if she had somehow fallen into an alternate universe during the night, one where Heath Montgomery actually wanted to have sex with her and where her mother actually cried real tears over someone other than herself.
“Oh, wow. That’s … that’s something else, isn’t it?” Lyric tried for excitement, but it fell flat.
“It really is. I haven’t seen him this excited since the Wranglers came back the year after the Texas Civil War. He is beside himself with glee.” Glee was never a word that Lyric had associated with her mother.
“Speaking of your father, I should go check on him. Good-bye.” Livinia hung up without giving Lyric time to return the good-bye.
God. Lyric barely resisted the urge to beat her head against the wall. Or the nightstand. At this point, she wasn’t exactly picky about what to use to knock herself senseless. Or to at least put herself to sleep.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy her daddy was excited. Because she was. She knew attitude was more than half the battle after major surgery, and the more can-do her father’s attitude was, the faster he would heal.
But his sudden obsession with marrying her off left her with a problem. How was she supposed to tell him that she and Heath weren’t getting married without giving the man another heart attack? Or sending him spiraling into a depression that not even a perfect season for the Wranglers could cure?
God knew, if she were her father and being married to her mother was the only reason she had to get out of bed in the morning, she’d spend the rest of her life wallowing under the covers.
It didn’t sit right with her to go on with this lie. She was a lot of things, but she wasn’t a coward … only, she loved her father and needed him in her life.
Was she actually thinking about going along with this fake engagement?