Page 65 of Give Me Perfect Love

Her eyes go to the letter I just dismissed as I take another sip of my wine. I realize I still haven’t told Claire anything. She’s asked about how things went back in my hometown and I simply told her fine. With everything I’ve had going on with Bryce I just didn’t want to talk about it, but that’s the thing with me. I never want to talk about it.

I exhale and look down at the floor. I guess now is as good a time as any to finally reveal my past to my best friend.

“Are you not going to open it?” she asks.

“No. I don’t think I am.”

“Why? You haven’t heard from the woman in years, right?”

I chew on my inner cheek. “Actually, I saw her the weekend I went back.”

“What?” Her eyes grow wide. “You saw her and you didn’t tell me?”

I hold up my hand. “Look, a lot went on up there. I haven’t told you because we’ve both been busy. You with work and me with the shop and dealing with things with Bryce. I just… I needed a minute to catch up. I’m sorry.”

She narrows her eyes. “I’ve asked you several times how things went, and you just said fine. I don’t know why you feel like you can’t talk to me, but it hurts, Kat. We’ve been friends a long time.”

I put my glass down. “Me not telling you things about my past has nothing to do with us.”

She doesn’t respond.

I exhale, trying to rein in my nerves. My pulse quickens and I swallow, white knuckling the edge of the countertop. “My mom, Bethany, left us when I was eight. My stepdad, Saw, was the nastiest man I’ve ever known, and even till this day I can’t smell a cigarette without thinking of him.” I look down at the floor, a chill running up the back of my spine. “The beatings happened when I was around ten and the rape happened a few years after.”

“What?”

My eyes jump up to hers. She shakes her head and puts her hand over her mouth.

“He was a drug dealer. He sold heroin to the locals. It wasn’t a good place to grow up. I worked at a local diner and saved up all the money I could.”

“The money you threw on the desk when we first met?” she asks.

“Yes. I worked every shift I could and saved every penny. I got out of there.” I pick up my glass and take another sip. “When I went back, Bethany showed up, too. I told her what happened in that house, what she left me with, and she seemed indifferent about it. Like it wasn’t her fault.” I shake my head, anger still there. How will I shake this hatred toward her?

“Wow,” Claire says, her voice even.

I scoff. “There’s more.”

She lifts her brow.

“I had a regular customer who used to come through on his trucking route. His name is Mills. We grew kinda close. He was a good man, and someone normal to talk to in a town that was anything but.

“Turns out, he and Bethany had a fling back in the day. Well, she got pregnant and never told him. She broke it off because she thought he wasn’t reliable enough—I guess with his career choice and him always on the road.

“Anyway, she thought Saw would be a better fit for her and her new baby, so she married him instead.”

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Claire asks.

I nod my head. “Yep. Mills is my real father.”

“Oh my God. Kat, this is nuts.”

“I know,” I say. Hearing it all out loud like this…all of it. It sounds insane. And it’s all because of Bethany.

The woman made some pretty stupid choices.

“I went to the bar after I left Saw’s old house. I got pretty drunk while trying to deal with all the flooding memories that came with being in that town. Mills just magically appeared.

“I hadn’t seen the man in years. He stopped coming by the restaurant and I left not too long after. Anyway, unbeknownst to me, Bethany had followed me to the bar, but not before Bryce walked in.”

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