Page 42 of Tough Love

He’s seen you before, Mimi. He’s seen you almost naked. Give it a rest.Except I was a flat-chested teenager then. Ugh.

I dash for the door and twist the locks to let him in. “Hey! Right on time.”

Evan grins, walking past me as I step aside. “If being a part of the police force has taught me anything, it’s to be punctual.”

I chuckle awkwardly and shut the door. He hovers near my sofa, clearly unsure whether he should sit or not.

“Make yourself comfy,” I say with an arm outstretched. “Would you like anything to drink?”

He shakes his head, dropping into the middle of my sofa so as to leave room for his bulky duty belt on either side. “Nah. I scoffed my lunch on the way over, so I’m good.”

“How long do you have?”

“About twenty minutes before I need to head back.”

I nod, uncapping a bottle of water for myself. For some reason his presence evokes the worst case of cottonmouth I’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing.

“So what did your mum say that upset you so much?” he asks with a concerned frown as I cross over to where he is.

“We were talking, as you do”—I roll my eyes at my stupid conversation starter—“about Kath and me; the reasons why we lost touch.”

“Tristan.”

He throws the name out there so … casually. So matter of fact. I stiffen. Nine years I’ve avoided saying his name. Eight since I tore my mother to shreds for talking about him in my presence. And yet, there it is, a ghost from my past sucking the air from the room with only his name dropped from the tongue of a man nothing like him.

I can’t escape his oppression, no matter how far away he is or how long it’s been.

“Yeah.” I suck in a deep breath and take a seat on the chair adjacent to Evan. “Apparently, he stuck around for a while, even after I left for University.”

Evan frowns, his hands tightly clasped between his knees as he leans forward.

“Mum said that Kath snuck around with him behind their back, and when they found out, they didn’t stop it for fear they’d drive her away like they did me.”

He shakes his head, leaning back into the cushions with awhoomph. “That’s bullshit.”

I could cry. For once I feel vindicated in thinking the way I do. That I’m not unjust in believing I’ve been let down by the people who are supposed to care for me most.

“I know it must have been hard for Mum and Dad,” I say, “but it still seems as though they shut me out, left me in the cold by choosing her over me.”

“What made her finally cut him off?”

I shrug, choosing not to tell him about Briar just yet, but also not lying. I really don’t know why they went their separate ways. “Mum didn’t say.”

His eyes bore into mine, the pupils growing and shrinking as he frowns intensely. “What happened after I left, Mimi?”

I stare at the carpet beneath my feet. “Come on, Evan.” I chuckle awkwardly, staring everywhere but at him. “Do you really want to talk about that?”

“Yes.”

The sincerity in his tone snaps my head up. “Why?”

“I want to know if what I heard was true.” He leans forward again, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. “I want to hear the truth, straight from your mouth.”

I hold his gaze as I gently shake my head. “I can’t. Not with you.”

“Why not?” he presses, scooting forward.

I bring my hand to my chest, patting the space over my heart. “Because it hurts.” My eyes well, the pain and regret I’d condensed into the deepest, darkest parts of me overflowing now the lid has been cracked. “Youhurt me.”

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