Page 82 of On the Rocks

She sniffed, running the back of her hand under her nose. “He was taking loans from them at the casino for cards, sure he would win and pay them back. But he kept coming up in the red. Over and over again.” She shook her head. “He didn’t even tell me until the Scooters threatened to expose everything if we didn’t pay up.”

I covered my mouth.

No.

“We were going to loseeverything, Ruby Grace,” Mom said, reaching forward to grab my free hand in hers. “The house. The cars.Everything. He was in an amount of debt we couldn’t even dream of repaying.”

“But, he’s the mayor,” I said, lip trembling. “He’s always made good money. We’re fine.”

Mom shook her head. “He never made money like this.”

I dropped my hand from my mouth, shaking my head. “I don’t understand.”

“We were in deep, trying to figure out what our options were, when Anthony came to your father to ask for your hand,” she explained. “And… well… we saw an out. We saw a way to make our problem disappear, and Anthony saw a way to get what he needed, too.”

My blood ran cold.

It couldn’t be.

It couldn’t possibly be my mother standing across from me, speaking about me as if I was some old antique china cabinet or a prized hog to be bartered with.

But it was.

And suddenly, the betrayal IthoughtI’d felt from Anthony was nothing.

“How could you?” I whispered, shaking my head as tears flooded my eyes.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” she said, reaching for me.

I yanked away.

“It was our only choice. We would have lost everything.”

“Yeah? Well, now you loseme,” I spat, turning on my heels. “I’m calling off the wedding.”

“Ruby Grace! Please!”

She grabbed me from behind, spinning me around to see the devastation in her eyes — thedesperationin her eyes.

“This is your family,” she said through her tears. “This is your father, and your mother, and your sister. This is your family’s legacy, the Barnett name, our entire reputation. This is more than just a wedding. This is the only way to save our family from complete and utter wreckage.” She stood taller. “And I understand it isn’t fair. I do. And I am so,sosorry that you are in the middle of this.” Mama swallowed, like she didn’t like the taste of the next words she was about to speak. “But, you are a part of this family. And that means that when a fire happens, you do whatever you have to do to put it out.”

My next breath felt like the fire she spoke of. It was hot in my lungs, searing every fiber of muscle and organ around it. I whimpered at the feel, at my mother’s hands on my arms, at the plea she was giving.

“You cannot walk out on this family,” she said, tears building in her eyes once more. “We are a unit. We stay together —always— and we will get through this together. But we need you, Ruby Grace. Your father needs you. Your sister needs you.Ineed you.”

I couldn’t speak, couldn’t think, couldn’tbreathe. Every muscle in my body was locked in place, heart racing, pulse heavy in my ears.

“You can call off the wedding,” she finally said. “But if you do, you’re calling off this family, too.”

My mother’s eyes searched mine in a way they never had before, in a way I never knew they could. I’d never seen my strong, commanding mother look so broken, so desperate, so on the verge of losing it. She looked at me like I was the key to everything, and I realized in that moment that I was.

She was right.

This wasn’t just about me anymore.

And bile rose in my throat at what that meant.

We both jumped a little when the front door opened, Dad calling in from the foyer that he and Anthony were home. Mom’s eyes doubled in size when they looked back at me, her pupils dilating as they flicked back and forth.