Read The Fable of Us for Free Online Page A

knuckles went white as his grip tightened on the door handle. “You’ve always got a choice. You have a choice now, and you certainly had a choice then. Don’t blame them for the choices you made.”
    Here we went, mucking through the past again. This wouldn’t work. I should have sent Boone away right then. I should have paid him the ten grand just to leave, because showing up with Boone Cavanaugh as my date was going to drip a few more drops of nitroglycerin into the pot. My family wasn’t even on curt-greeting-while-passing-on-the-sidewalk status with the Cavanaughs. Boone should have been the last person I’d picked to pay to be my date this week.
    But then flashes of my sister’s picture went through my head. Avalee was engaged. Charlotte was about to be married. Everyone was expecting me to show up with a date. Everyone had expected me to be the first to get married.
    If I showed up alone . . . God, I didn’t want to think of the comments I’d get, or imagine the potential “suitors” my mom would line up for me. No, this was a good plan.
    At least better than showing up alone.
    “I’m not blaming anyone,” I said as the driver unloaded the luggage from the trunk. “I’m not blaming my parents, my sisters, you, Ford, or anyone else for anything. I’m just trying to get through this right now, so would you mind cutting me a little slack?”
    His expression stayed frozen. “Does that mean we’re doing this? We’re going, willingly into a pit of vipers?”
    I reached for the handle on my side. “We’re doing this.”
    He sucked in a quick breath through his nose, then threw the door open. “Then let’s get started so we can finish already.”
    His hand wove free of mine as he stepped outside to help the driver with the luggage. The luggage . . . there were only two pieces of it—my matching set. We had nothing to show for Boone, not even a small overnight bag.
    This might have been the most ill-fated plan ever conceived.
    “Boone!” I threw my door open and ejected from the backseat. “You have to hustle up to my room without being seen. We didn’t think to pick up a suitcase for you. My family won’t miss it. They’ll ask questions right from the start, and I’d prefer to delay them until at least day three or four.”
    I threw my purse strap around my neck and shoulder, fishing around for my wallet to pay the driver. The fare had been steep, as in a couple hundred dollars steep, but I guessed that was what one could expect when they spent forty-five minutes camped out in some bar, drinking cheap tequila and bickering with an old flame.
    The driver gave another low whistle after I handed him the bills. “Mighty generous tip, ma’am. Thank you much.”
    I nodded in his direction before zeroing in on Boone, who had a piece of luggage in each hand and was starting for the stairs. “Did you hear me, Boone? They can’t see you. Not tonight.”
    “Yeah, I heard you. Because I don’t have any luggage.” He paused with his foot on the bottom step. He didn’t look even a fraction hesitant about climbing the stairs to the house that had been just as responsible for eating away at him as it had me. I yearned for that kind of strength. “But who are you kidding, Clara? Your family has always lived under the impression I never had anything more to offer than the clothes on my back, so me showing up with no luggage shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.” He continued up the stairs, his boots stomping against each one like he was trying to drive his heel through them.
    I rushed up beside him, grabbing his elbow when he’d stomped his way to the top stair. “Boone, please,” I said, panic sharpening my voice.
    He stopped long enough to glare at the large double doors in front of us before his gaze moved my way.
    “Please?”
    He tried holding his glare while looking at me, but it didn’t last. A moment later, he sighed. “I won’t be your dirty little secret this time, Clara. Not