I inhale sharply then try to mask it with a cough. What the hell did he exactly say to her? He wouldn’t have told her the story, I know that, but even if he alluded to it, I don’t know what I’ll do.
“Trust me, Lucy. I was the lucky one in that situation.”
“So I hear.”
I cough again.
“Don’t worry, Kale. He didn’t give me any details. If you have things to share, I’ll respect your decision to wait until you’re ready. Just know that whenever you do decide you’re ready, I’ll be here to listen.”
Even though she may not know every single detail of my life, Lucy can read me like a book and she’s giving me an out. I’m going to take it, like a fucking coward, and pray that I’ll be able to open up to her sooner rather than later.
“Thanks, baby,” I tell her in a hoarse voice.
“So where was I? Right. Like I said, he wasn’t physically abusive, at least not with me. And the first time he hit Mom, he made the mistake of doing it in front of her boss.”
“Steve?” I ask, hoping that’s where the silver lining in this story is.
“Yep. It was something stupid, like she forgot to pay a bill or something. He showed up at the restaurant where she was working—the same one Steve and Mom now own—and tried smacking her around in the parking lot. Steve intervened. Tim freaked out and accused them of having an affair and then went so far as to ask if I was even his.”
“Damn,” I whisper, and she echoes my sentiments.
“Yeah, damn. I don’t know why it took Mom ten years to leave him, but whatever Steve said to her that day helped. When she picked me up from school, she was in his truck and it was loaded with our things. He drove us to my grandma’s house and spent the next six months taking Mom to and from work while Grandma made sure I got to school.”
“I wish it hadn’t taken ten years, but I’m glad Steve was there that day,” I tell her.
“You have no idea. I was an impressionable ten-year-old, and while I was skeptical of him at first, I was also in awe. He was like a superhero to me. Once the divorce was final, Tim washed his hands of me, saying I was Steve’s problem now. The thing, though, is that Mom and Steve weren’t even dating. As much as he wanted her, she kept saying she needed time. Eventually, he wore her down, and the day they told me they were getting married was one of the happiest days of my life.”
“How old were you then?” I ask, wanting to know every single detail.
“I was twelve by the time they got married. I haven’t seen Tim since that last day in court, but Steve made up for it tenfold. I remember the day of the wedding telling my new stepbrother, Jared, how lucky he was and I wished Steve was my real father. Later on that night, when Steve asked me to dance, he told me that he loved me like his own, and if I wanted, he’d be more than thrilled to have me take the Dawson name. After bursting into tears and asking him about ten times if he really meant it, I said yes. That was the second happiest day of my life. Tim didn’t fight it for a second, and within six months, I was Lucy Dawson, with a new father, brother, and a baby sister on the way. It was the first time in my life that I really felt like I was part of a family.”
She turns in my arms as she wraps one of hers around my back. “Here’s the thing though. I’d spent ten years hearing how I wasn’t wanted, wasn’t needed, and I felt like I was worthless when it came to love. No matter how much Mom and Steve showed me affection, one man’s emotional torment was too strong to break hold. My sophomore year of high school, I was at a party after a football game. I’d been drinking a little, and a guy I was seeing at the time pulled me into an empty bedroom. Long story short, one thing led to another, and I ended up losing my virginity on the floor of a dirty bedroom. The worst part was the whole school knew about it by Monday morning and my brand-new nickname was plastered on my locker.”
I look down into her eyes, unable to read her expression. She’s speaking as if it’s just another ordinary thing when all I want to do is find that asshole and beat the shit out of him for not only ruining her first time, but for being a prick and spreading the news.
“Nickname? Do I even want to know?”
She lets out a small laugh. “It’s not that bad. There I was, sixteen and I’d had sex once in my life. Before that, I’d only ever messed around with one other person, but for the kids of Gulf Breeze High, that’s all it took. Their less-than-original Loosie Lou was all over my locker for the whole school to see.”
“Kids are fucking brutal. Baby, that was fucked up. You know that, right?” She places a finger on my lips then points to her belly. I give her a sheepish look, having forgotten myself for the moment. “Maybe for talks like these, we should put headphones on your belly so he can drown out the sound of his parents’ conversations.”
“I’ll remember that next time, Kale. But as for the nickname, it wasn’t all that bad. In some weird, twisted way, I liked the reputation. As guys started saying they’d hooked up with me, too, I took it as a sign that I was wanted. Messed up, right? For someone who spent her first decade being reminded that she wasn’t wanted, it made me feel good inside to know that so many guys thought I was special enough that they just had to claim that they’d had me, too.” She shakes her head and lets out a small laugh. “I know that sounds so stupid now, but at the time, the logic made sense to me. Looking back on it, I know it wasn’t that they wanted me. They just wanted to say that they’d also had a chance to bag the school whore, when in reality, I didn’t have sex again until I was in college.”
I honestly have no idea how to respond, and she gives me a reprieve by continuing. “You know about Noah,” she says, and I remember the conversation we had about her college boyfriend. “There wasn’t anything painful there, no terrible breakup, and by the time we split up, I was in a really good place. And for the first time in my life, I took control with how I dealt with relationships. Which ultimately led me to you. Meeting you, Kale Montgomery, was the third happiest day of my life. I might not have known it at the time, but my life changed significantly that day, and if I’d had any idea the impact you’d have on me, I probably would’ve run screaming from the classroom. Instead, I was practically giddy when I saw you waiting for me in that parking lot. And then that night? Well, you were there. Let’s just say I was more than happy to accept your friends-with-benefits proposal.” She smiles up at me—the sweetest smile she’s ever given me.
“What I thought would be a summer of fun turned into almost four of the best months of my life, followed by the worst nine as I watched you date that guy from seven thousand plus miles away.”
Her smile turns earnest, almost rueful. “The day you left for Afghanistan, I was devastated, and that’s when I knew you were so much more than my best friend. At the time, I realized I couldn’t do casual anymore, because you’d basically ruined me for all others. What I didn’t know was that you didn’t just ruin me for casual flings, but for any other man. I’m not proud of it, but I tried to forget my feelings for you while I was dating him, yet in the end, they’d only grown stronger.”
“We’re kind of a sad pair, right? All that time wasted because we didn’t want to admit that we had feelings for each other. Until him,” I tell her, rubbing my hand over her belly.
“Maybe not sad… Stubborn, perhaps? Oh well. It doesn’t matter now. When I found out about Sprout, that became the new happiest day of my life, but it was also one of the scariest. And I hope that telling you about Tim can kind of help you understand why I was so hesitant to jump into a relationship at first. I was terrified that the only reason you were expressing feelings for me was because of him. At the same time, I realize how hypocritical that was, because I didn’t tell you how I felt until then either. And I know how unfair it was to project what my father did onto you, but I couldn’t help it. It felt like the past repeating itself, and it scared the sh–er, crap out of me. Which is why I shut you out. I don’t know if I’ve ever said it, but I am really sorry for that. You were so sweet, so gentle and reassuring, and all I could do was kick you out of my apartment and ignore you for the next two days. It’s a wonder you even put up with me.”