Page 85 of Bring me Back

“Not a story.” I gulped.

Her eyebrows shot up. “I hope the part about the threesome is a lie.”

“Gross, Marian.” I made a face. “I mean, she’s his ex. He and Katie.” I took a breath. “Katie and Daniel,” I said, just to drive the knife further to my chest.

“It’s not something you can forgive, right?”

I didn’t ask how she knew about my trauma with Katie, but gossip always comes to the diner first, so it wasn’t a surprise.

“It’s not about forgiveness,” I told her truthfully. “I just can’t. It’s the only thing I can’t.”

Katie and Daniel were the two people who saw me naked, ironically. Of course, more people were there in the locker room, and much more saw the pictures. Nevertheless, it felt like that. Katie took and to Dan I gave willingly. And it didn’t matter how much my heart hurt, I couldn’t get over that. That connection, that… Lie.

He lied because he knew we were doomed. We were over before we started.

Itold Dad I was going to help organize the shelves with the new stock and he accepted. It was Saturday, most of the costumes were already done and I spent a full hour looking at the dress I started to make for myself so many weeks ago, but bailed again when I got distracted with other things.

Tired of my inner war, I grabbed my things and marched to White Hardware with a chicken pasta lunch for Dad and Cole. Dad helped a customer while Cole managed the till, and I worked around them. Cleaning what didn’t need to be cleaned, fixing things that weren’t broken.

I took a bunch of things from the first drawer behind the counter just to organize and put it back in again. I was so engrossed in my useless task I barely noticed when the bell above the door chimed and the whole shop stopped.

My hands stilled on my task and I watched as my fingers shook. The air around me charged, his scent reached me like a brick wall. Drawing a calming breath, I looked up. He was barely at the door, those hazel eyes eating me alive.

“Hallie…” Daniel started.

“No,” boomed Dad. “No.”

He crossed the shop, and I was already shaking my head. “Dad…”

“I just need to talk to Hallie for a second, Preston.”

“If she wanted to talk to you, she would have sought you.”

Dad knew nothing about the ordeal, but his loyalty was heart-warming.

Dad and Daniel were locked in a stalemate, as Cole looked like the cat who got the milk. We all stood in silence, and then, one by one, the customers left. Only a few that time of day, but finally, when the bell above the door rang for the last time, I licked my lips and ordered. “Talk.”

Daniel looked around. Dad and Cole were there. Not ideal, but I didn’t care. He knew we were done, but still he came around Torres’. Still, he texted and called. He knew my reasons, he knew why this could never work. But I simply couldn’t be alone with him. As it was, with the giant watchdog that was Dad, I barely could hold still.

He cleared his throat. Dad was wearing a scowl and his student the biggest smirk yet.

“I had no idea you and Katie knew each other.” It was his first sentence.

“Not at first.” I pressed my fingers to the counter.

“No. Not at first.” He swallowed. “I broke my arm last year, and she’s a nurse at the hospital. We met and started dating.”

I closed my eyes. I heard shuffling, and when I opened them, I realized it was Dad coming closer. Trying to get between me and Daniel.

“I know that already,” I strangled out. “You should’ve told me on the Ferris Wheel. Right there when you realized it was the same person.”

He raked his fingers through his hair, looking exhausted. “Right after you told me everything she did to you?” he pierced me with a look. “How could I tell you the monster who haunted your dreams was someone I dated?”

“She doesn’t haunt my dreams.” Not anymore. I stuck my chin up.

“I didn’t want that connection.”

“I get that.”