Page 187 of My Five Daddies

“I don’t know,” I admit. “It was so long ago. We were in high school. I guess I feelstupid.”

“Don’t feel stupid. My god, this is insane.” She sips her drink, shaking her head. “I can’t believe I let thishappen.”

“How could you have stoppedit?”

“I do have some say in casting, you know. If I made a stink…” She shrugs a little. “Maybe it could havehelped.”

“It’s not a big deal,” I say to her. “It just messed me up a lot back then. But I’m finenow.”

“This explains so much,” she says, eyes wide. “It’s why you barely date. And why you’re so emotionallyunavailable.”

“I’m not emotionally unavailable,” I saydefensively.

“Sure you are. And it’s all because the love of your life broke your heart when you wereyoung.”

“It’s not like that,” I say, but I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what it’slike.

“Listen, Tara, we’ll get through this.” She leans toward me, looking serious. “Now, I have an important question toask.”

“Go ahead,” I say, afraid of what it mightbe.

“Can I write a script aboutthis?”

I sigh and smile. “Sure,whatever.”

“You’re a princess.” She picks up my hand and kisses it. “I don’t know why that idiot would break yourheart.”

“Yeah, me neither,” I say and finish mydrink.

“You have to tell me more. What was he like backthen?”

So I take a deep breath and I fill her in on the details. I talk about his difficult family, and how he would always come spend time with me to get away from them. I tell her about falling in love with each other, sitting down on the dock and putting our feet in the lake, leaning up against his huge body, kissing his soft lips. I talk about how popular and handsome he was, how he had the whole world in front of him, but his abusive father was constantly pushinghim.

And I talk about how one day, he disappeared. He joined the military and I never heard from him again. He just ghosted on me, no goodbyes, no nothing. We never really broke up, he just went away and stopped talking to me. That was so much worse than actually breaking up. One second he was there, my whole world, and the next he wasgone.

I don’t tell her about kissing him. I don’t tell her about what’s going on right now between us, because it’s just too fresh. I don’t want to talk about that. When I finish, I order another drink, and Laney thoughtfully watchesme.

“I can see why this might be weird for you,” she saysfinally.

“Weird is putting itmildly.”

“Why did he leave?” she asks. “That’s what I don’t get. Why didn’t he tellyou?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “There are things I’ve always wondered. I know his mom died like a year after he left, but I was too mad at him back then to say anything aboutit.”

“What did she die of?” Laneyasks.

“Cancer, Ithink.”

She nods and sips her drink. “Well, kid, that’s one crazy fucked-up story. And now he’s back. You’re handling it prettywell.”

“No, I’m really not,” I admit. “I’m barely keeping my shittogether.”

“I wouldn’t even be able to do that much, so good for you.” She sighs and looks over my shoulder. “Ah, crap. Don’tlook.”

“What?”

“Some guy is coming right for you. Should I get rid ofhim?”

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