She wasn’t ashamed.
She had spent too much of her life being humiliated by others. This was nothing.
But before she could take more than a couple of steps, someone grabbed her wrist.
Blayne frowned at her. “Do you even know what kind of event this is? And what’s with your face? Are you deliberately making a fool of yourself, or are you trying to embarrass the Holzmans?”
To the outside world, Terri was known as Blayne’s parents’ daughter-in-law. So, whether he wanted to or not, Blayne had to come back and pick her up for an occasion like this.
But the moment he turned around and saw the slap marks on her face, his sharp-tempered nature flared. His tone, half-questioning, half-mocking, was laced with concern.
It was the first time he had shown any real concern for Terri since Valerie returned.
Terri suddenly recalled the way Blayne used to be—how he was always by her side, inseparable.
Back then, it hadn’t felt like she was just a stand-in. There had been no distance, no Valerie between them.
As if they had never changed.
But it was just as if.
Pulled back to the present by his questioning, Terri spoke, her tone indifferent.