Page 89 of Bring me Back
I called Preston blind before. Even resented him for not seeing and taking action. But the man in front of me wasn’t someone to blame. He was a husband who lost his wife in a tragedy so young, a man who raised his daughter the best he could. He was human. He couldn’t be everywhere and see everything.
His hands left the hood, turning to me as his eyes scanned the building behind my back. “She was always such an easy child. Intelligent, independent. I thought I was lucky, I thought…” He shook his head.
“Hallie knows how to keep a secret,” I offered.
His eyes focused on me. “Because she couldn’t trust me enough. She had to keep the secret.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. She’s ok now.”
“And the whole town is talking again.” Preston’s growl told me he was not even close to peace. A pointed look in my direction let me know he blamed me.
I suck in a breath, dipping my head down. “I know. I didn’t know I…”
“Hallie said to me,” he waved me off. “It was a freaky coincidence, she said. An incident.”
The word incident was thrown there deliberately. So, he knew what Hallie called what happened in the locker room. The tiredness caught me unaware. My shoulders slumped. I dragged my hand over my face.
“I can’t change the past, Preston. I thought I was going to ask for forgiveness because I didn’t tell her straight away, but I think it’s more than that. She can’t look at me without thinking of Katie.” I confessed. “I…”
“You're scared she never will,” her father finished for me.
I nodded. I was terrified to be forever Katie Campbell’s ex-boyfriend. A crime she wasn’t going to punish me for, but something she could never get over. The fragility of the situation was staggering. I never thought I’d see myself in a situation I couldn’t fix.
When Kelly left me, I thought I felt powerless. I thought I cared a lot, and she was accusing me of something I couldn’t convince her otherwise. I thought that was despair.
But as I stood there with Preston, I realized how wrong I was. Between Kelly and I lived resentment and built-up frustration of two people who grew apart. But between Hallie and I, there was only love.
I saw my love for her so bright, so clearly, but doomed. I couldn’t change her past or mine. I couldn’t do anything, and that nagging feeling that sometimes love isn’t enough poked me in the ribs.
I wanted love to be enough. And if it wasn’t, I was truly lost.
“Give her time,” Preston spoke up.
“You think that’s what she needs?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, but time helps with wounds. And in the meantime, have Katie Campbell shut up about my daughter, or her house is the next I visit.”
And with that, he finally got into his car.
Three days after my talk with Preston she waited for me in front of my house. Flowery dress flowing in the wind, blond hair in waves. I parked my truck in front and couldn’t dare to take my hands off the wheels. She waited patiently, like the perfect lady she ought to be. Knuckles white, I glanced out front and our eyes caught. I wanted her away from me, but Preston’s words rang in my ear.
She needed to stop saying things about Hallie. She needed to stop altogether and there wasn’t much I could do to help, but I could do this.
With a last breath, I opened the truck’s door and went outside. Her eyes perked up and she smiled at me.
I hated her.
I hated myself.
“You have ten minutes,” was my greeting, unlocking the door and throwing the keys on the hall table. I winced. Even my furniture had the memory of Hallie’s fingers dancing over it.
I heard the door close behind her but didn’t look back to see if she was following me to the kitchen. When I turned around with my arms crossed over my chest, she was there. Waiting.
“You have to stop talking about Hallie,” I started, direct to the point.
Her hopeful look turned ugly. “It’s her that—”
My palm went up. I didn’t even give her a chance to spin more lies. “Hallie isn’t saying anything about you. I didn’t even know your name for a long time.”