Love Rising: Spring (Mandrake Falls Series Romance Book 4) by Catherine Lloyd Page B

with rage and deeply embarrassed by the gathering of spectators.
His conscience pricked. He had a vague idea of being in the wrong, and yet he
couldn’t see how when it was he who had been deceived here.
    The fact was Norm Tate was unwilling to let anyone love his
daughter. Jocelyn didn’t know the boys who wanted to date her were losers and
it was his job to see that she did know. He was a bully, but he was also a
buffoon, which made his outbursts worse for Jocelyn to endure.
    His daughter’s red face and downcast eyes filled Norm with inarticulate
fury. Was she embarrassed by him ?
Norm began to think he was making a fool of himself when he was only doing what
was right by her. He was the girl’s father—he had a right , damn it!
    “Dad,” Jocelyn whispered in a high voice. “Dad, please. Take
it easy—”
    “Get in the truck. You’re coming with me.”
    “Dad, no. I’m a grown woman. I don’t
have to do what you say anymore. I’m going back to my place with Jeremy. He’s
helping me with—”
    Norm boxed her ears. A quick cuff against the side of her
head that wasn’t painful so much as it was humiliating.
    Jocelyn’s eyes immediately filled with tears.
    Both Norm and Jocelyn felt the eyes of the whole town on
them. Lydia and Walter Rutherford, Letitia Murdoch
and Sheriff McIntyre were in the crowd. Everyone was staring at them like they
were a sideshow. The sheriff took a step forward but was halted by the look on
Jocelyn’s face. Please don’t interfere .
    For Jocelyn, the worst of all was the pitying look in Jeremy’s
eyes. She wasn’t a goddess anymore. Real goddesses didn’t get cuffed in the
street by their fathers. Her dad felt worse than she did. Norm’s face was
etched with shame and misery. Hitting his kid in public like common trailer
trash—Norm Tate had fought against becoming that man since Jocelyn was old
enough to walk. They were poor but they weren’t going to live like everyone
else they knew. No brawling or drunken rages or shitty yards filled with scrap
metal or poor grades or pay day loans—Norman Tate had standards. Poverty was no
excuse for being stupid. His daughter was going to make something of her life
and show them all it could be done.
    The only trouble was Jocelyn Tate had no skills, confidence
or aptitude. She wasn’t smart like Andrea Tarnham or
disciplined like Paula Dunlop to finish hairdressing school, or skilled like
Jeremy Marks who could fix anything. She was pretty. And she liked growing
things in her back yard. She was good at growing herbs and organic vegetables,
but who was going to pay her to grow plants in Vermont where everyone had a
green thumb? Jocelyn had big dreams just like her father but no means to pull
them off. Marrying wealth was the only option for her.
    Father and daughter struggled with this reality in the
middle of Mandrake Falls under the curious gaze of most of the town. Their
shared humiliation had one source: they were poor and her father wasn’t going
to let her forget it for one moment.
    “Mr. Tate,” Jeremy said in a low voice, controlling his
rage, “you have to back off.”
    “Or what?” Norm sneered uneasily.
Getting into a street brawl with the boy would be the final nail in the coffin.
If he laid a hand on him, he’d lose Jocelyn forever if he hadn’t already. From
the look on her face, Norm knew he was close.
    Jocelyn touched her father’s arm. “Dad, please go on home. I’m
all right. I’ll call you later.”
    Norm was privately relieved she was still speaking to him
and grateful she still called him Dad. Humbled, Norm could only nod mutely and
shuffle away, defeat in his rounded shoulders.
    Jeremy opened the car door and Jocelyn climbed inside. As he
closed it, he glanced up at the onlookers. “If you’re standing around staring
because you want to help, then go after Mr. Tate. I’m sure he could use a
friend right now. Otherwise, get out of our sight.”
    Jocelyn heard him. She heard every word. She slumped