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The pain tugs at me. He lets go of me and turns me towards him. He gently pushes me up against a wall and places his hands on my shoulders. Ok, then. He waits until he has my full attention.

“Don’t get mad again, but crazy, fucking beautiful, nutty-bonkers woman, you told me never to contact you again. But more importantly and poignantly, your father told me you didn’t love me. You didn’t know how to break up with me, so he did it for you. He threatened me with legal action because he claimed you said I was stalking you. There was a restraining order pending and phone records would be checked. Tony’s father confirmed all of it for me.”

Holy shit. That’s detailed. But it doesn’t sit right with me. “And you believed him?”

“I was eighteen and essentially alone. Clearly, I couldn’t go to my parents but your dad did file for a temporary restraining order and your signature was on it.”

My jaw drops. My whole being goes cold. He did do it. It was his way of getting me back under his thumb. So fucking evil and sick; he can’t have gone to this depth lightly. This is pathological.

“I didn’t sign that, my dad must have done it. I would never say any of that.”

He inhales in a sharp breath and I try to look away. He pulls my face back to his. He places his forehead to mine and we stand there, letting the pieces fall. Neither of us speaks for minutes.

I start, “That night when my dad and I fought about prom, I told him there wasn’t anything he could take away from me. That I was old enough to make my own decisions. I was wrong. There was one thing he could take, so he did.”

Tears well up and I can’t stop them, so I just let them fall. He looks concerned and I hold up one finger as I try to collect myself.

He asks, “Can I hold you while you say whatever it is you’re going to tell me?”

I shake my head no. I’ve had a lifetime of being angry at my dad. This is my undoing. Eighteen years of resentment, but in the end, doing as I was told. I lived up to his mold for me, until Danny let me know that what I had to say and think mattered.

Hayden’s anger will be fresh and raw. I want to give him that so maybe we can get through this. But holding me will only muddy the issue.

I gasp as I try and control the crying. “He showed up at the hotel I booked us for prom. He gave me a printout of your email. You wrote there was no place for me in your life. That your athletic career had to take the front seat. And that you didn’t know how to tell me you didn’t want me in Boston. You couldn’t shake me off because I was clinging to something that wasn’t there. And my father was kind and gentle as he delivered the message. He was there as I crumpled to the floor when my world fell away.”

He’s walking around, alternating clenching his fists and running his hands through his hair.

He grabs my hand roughly and pulls me into the closest bar. He sits and snaps at the bartender, “Bourbon. Neat.” He looks at me and I nod. “Two.”

The bartender places them down. He shoots his and I take mine. He takes it out of my hand and I start to speak. He places his finger over my lips and shoots mine as well.

I smile and put up two fingers to the bartender, and he fills the glasses again.

Hayden turns to me. He speaks through clenched teeth. “Is there more?”

I turn towards him and nod.

He slams the drink. “You know I didn’t send that. You fucking know that, right? Jesus. How the fuck could we be that stupid?”

“He was a genius puppet master. I found out later he’d cancelled my phone contract, which is why none of my calls or texts went through, and neither did yours.”

His eyes are so full of hurt and anger.

Hayden pulls me off my barstool and into his arms.

He mutters into my neck, “I never ever did, felt, or said such things. I was told you wouldn’t want to waste your time with a Southie like me.”

I’m stumbling over my words. “I didn’t do that. That doesn’t even sound like me.”

He pulls back but his arms settle around my waist. “’Athletic career.’ You thought I wrote ‘athletic career?’”

I smile as tears well up again. “I lost it that night.”

“No. Really? You never lose anything.”

I blurt out, “Except you.”

It’s barely out of my mouth when his lips are on mine. I lean into him. It’s a sad and sweet kiss that reinforces we were played for idiots. Neither one of us ever broke up with the other. He pulls out his phone and orders a car. I slam cash on the bar and we run out of the bar. I stop and his mouth is on my neck as I lean back.