Page 11 of When We Burn

“Never mind. I told you that you didn’t have to answer.”

He pulls his hand down his face. “It was a one-night stand. I’d been at the bar one night after a particularly brutal fire where one of my guys was badlyinjured, and I needed a drink. Angela was at the same bar, I got drunk, and we hooked up. She got pregnant, and when she found me, I did the right thing and married her.”

In shock, I look at him now and see his jaw tense. Well, that was a fast explanation. At least, it sounds like he didn’t love her.

“Turned out, after Birdie was born, she didn’t want to be a mom, so she fucked around with some tourist from New York and followed him out of here, leaving us behind.”

“Oh, my God.” I look back up at the sky and feel like shit for asking. “I’m sort of sorry, Bridger.”

That makes him chuckle, and it’s a sound I love because he doesn’t do it often. “You’resort ofsorry?”

“Yeah. I mean, no one deserves to be left like that, and cheaters are just jerks, but I didn’t like her, so I’m notall the waysorry.”

“You didn’t like her?”

“No. Not at all. Aside from…him, she was my biggest tormentor.”

He sits up now and frowns down at me. “What?”

“Look, you don’t come from the horrible home life I came from without having bullies in school because kids suck. My dad didn’t buy us new clothes. We weren’t poor, but he didn’t spend his money on us girls. And I was always super shy and meek. A book nerd. I’mstilla book nerd, actually, but you know what I mean. I didn’t talk back to anyone because I was taught that younevertalked back.”

I have to swallow hard as memories flood throughme, and Bridger’s hand is suddenly in mine, squeezing my fingers, grounding me, and giving me the courage to continue.

“Anyway, she was such a mean girl. Like, just a grade-A witch. She always told me I was too fat.No one likes a fat girl, she’d say. She called me Miss Piggy.”

“The fuck? You’re absolutely not fat, Dani.” Perhaps it’s petty, but I do like his angry response to Angela’s teasing.

“I’m curvy now, and back then, I was definitely a bigger girl, thanks to awkward teenage hormones. My body was figuring itself out, and after a lot of years of therapy, I understand that. My body’s gotten me through a lot, so I cut it some slack.”

“You’re fucking beautiful.” He’s gritting his teeth, glaring over at me, and I have to swallow hard before I continue.

“Um, thanks? Anyway, I went away to college to get away from her as much as to get away from my dad.”

“I had no idea.”

“It doesn’t matter. I just didn’t know why you chose her, and I’ve always wondered, but now I know.”

I swallow hard and look away, but suddenly, his fingers are on my chin, making me look at him.

His brown eyes narrow.

“One time”—I just can’t stop talking when he makes me nervous—“she was looking over my shoulder, and I didn’t know it. I was reading a text from you. I don’t remember what you said, but I must have had a dopey grin on my face or something, and she saw it, and she?—”

I bite my lip, not wanting to say more.

“She what?”

I shake my head, but his grip on my chin firms.

“She fucking what, Dani?”

“She laughed at me,” I whisper and let my eyes close. “Said that I was pathetic, that Bridger Blackwell wouldneverlike someone as stupid as me, and you were just being nice to me. And we’d already had the conversation where you said I was way too young for you, and we were just friends, and I knew that. I was a kid. But boy, did she drive it home that someone as hot as you wouldnever?—”

I shake my head and clear my throat.

“Anyway, it was a long time ago.”

And I feel so stupid. So ashamed. So foolish.

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