“You’re making sense, but the situation doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know. They can print complete and utter lies, defame my character, and I can’t really do anything about it. I have a publicist and she puts out the fires if necessary, but that whole affair thing. God, I wanted to sue. I wanted them to stop. But I didn’t lose work because of it. Only sleep, tears, pride, self-worth. Nothing that stands up in a court of law.”

“It shouldn’t be like that. They shouldn’t be allowed to do that kind of stuff.”

“But it makes them so much money, why would they ever stop?”

Frowning, I admitted, “I’m starting to get angry, Paige.”

“Don’t. It’s not worth it. I’ve been doing this long enough that I’ve got it under control, for the most part. They don’t say many bad things about me. I’m lucky in that regard.”

“Lucky? You don’t do anything for them to talk about. You don’t do anything wrong.”

“I know. And that’s exactly why. There hadn’t been anything dramatic written until—”

“Until Douchepants cheated on you.” I finished her thought for her, and she lowered her head.

“Yeah. That was mortifying. Is”—she looked at me—“is mortifying.”

I leaned toward her, placing my hand on her knee. “He’s an idiot.”

“True,” she said with a smile.

“Do you miss him?” It was another loaded question, but this detail was more recent. Forget my simply wanting to know…I needed to know.

“Missing him is the easy part. I don’t. At all. We were both so busy and rarely in the same place at the same time, that there isn’t really a lot to miss. I’m more angry at myself, to be honest. I feel like I was a complete idiot and I should have known better.”

I nodded. “That’s how I feel about Brina. Like I should have known she was just using me the whole time.”

“How could you have known something like that?”

“How could you?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted with a little shrug. “I just feel like I should have.”

“Me too.”

We stayed silent for a minute, maybe more, letting the similarities of our experiences sink in. At least, that was what I was doing. I’d never expected us to have much of anything in common, but I was learning how wrong I was.

“Will you tell me what happened with your dad?”

I sucked in a breath. Was I ready to head down this road? If I didn’t drive down it now with her, when would I? Talking about this would never be an easy conversation to have, but I wanted to be open with Paige. She needed to know this side of me, and understand the moment that had altered my life.

“I came home for Thanksgiving break. Mama had dinner ready, and we were waiting on my dad to come home. He was late and wasn’t answering the phone, so Mama asked me to run to the shop and go get him.”

I looked away from Paige’s eyes, staring firmly at the wall behind her before meeting them again. Reliving that day hurt like hell, but I’d do it for her. My throat felt thick and it was hard to swallow, but I continued.

“I pulled my truck up to the shop and saw all the lights on. Thinking everything was okay, I yelled for him to wrap it up and come home to eat before Mama killed him. The music was playing and Buster was whining, but my dad didn’t respond. I walked through the office and into the garage when I saw him lying there. The truck he had been working on had fallen off the jack and was lying right on top of his body. All I could see were his legs and a pool of blood.”

I lowered my head and started shaking it back and forth. “I didn’t know what to do, so I tried to lift the truck. Like with my bare hands. I tried to tried to get it off of his body, but it wouldn’t budge. I screamed for him, shouted his name, but he didn’t move. I fell to my knees at the front of the car to see if I could pull him out somehow, but that was when I saw that his chest was crushed and a piece of metal had pierced through his stomach. That’s where all the blood came from. I knew he was gone, but I refused to believe it and I didn’t want my mama to see him like that, so I ran to Doc Tracy’s house. I don’t even remember running there, but apparently I did. I don’t remember most of what happened after, but my God, Paige. I wish every day it didn’t happen. I wish every day that I’d gone to check on him sooner.”

Paige reached out and intertwined her fingers with mine. Squeezing them, she brought my knuckles to her lips and placed a kiss against them before bringing my hand to her lap and holding on tight.

“Doc Tracy said there wasn’t anything that I could have done. That he most likely died instantly, but those words never seem to make a difference. You can hear them a hundred times, but your brain refuses to believe it. What if I’d shown up ten minutes earlier? What if Buster had run home to get me, like the damn dogs do in movies? What if, what if, what if…” My voice drifted off as the pain came crushing back.

Paige squeezed my hand. “I’m so sorry, Tatum. I’m so sorry that you lost your dad like that, and that you were the one to find him.”

“I’m glad it was me and not Mama. I don’t think she could have ever recovered from seeing him like that. The funeral was bad enough.”

“So after he died, you never went back to school?” She adjusted herself on the couch and sat up straighter against the back.

I sighed. “I went back. But only to quit the football team, drop my classes, and get my stuff.” She nodded as if my words resonated deep within her. “What are you thinking?” I asked.

“That I would have done the same thing,” she admitted with a shrug.

“Really?” I couldn’t believe it.

She continued to nod. “I think so. I mean, on one hand, school would have been a great distraction, but I couldn’t imagine leaving my family after a tragedy like that. I’d want to be home. I’d feel like everything else could wait.”

“That’s exactly how I felt. I didn’t want to play football anymore. I didn’t care. And who was going to run my dad’s shop and support our family? My mom? She’s not a mechanic. And no one in town was interested in buying it. The shop has been in our family for generations. It seemed like the right thing to do.”

“I completely understand.”

“Brina didn’t.”

“I heard a little about that from Celeste,” she said, and I instantly bristled.

“Yeah. I realized later that Brina was just using me as her get-out-of-town ticket. And when that fell through, she wanted nothing more to do with me.” I blew out a loud breath. “I thought she really cared about me. I don’t understand how someone can fake something like that for so long.”

“I’m sure she wasn’t faking all of it. She can’t be that cruel,” Paige said, giving Brina the benefit of the doubt, even though she didn’t deserve it.

“Who gives a shit? No more talking, Paige,” I said, the weight of our discussion bearing down on me. I was exhausted emotionally, but I needed her more than ever.

“More kissing?” she asked through puckered lips.

“Lots more kissing. Stay here with me tonight.”

“I thought you weren’t ready for that?” She pulled her head back in surprise, and I wondered what exactly she was thinking.

“I just want to hold you in my arms all night, if that’s all right with you.”

“It’s more than all right,” she breathed out before standing and reaching out her hand for mine. She led me into the bedroom, kicked off her shoes and looked at me. “What do you normally sleep in?”

“Nothing,” I said with a big smile.

“I figured. But what will you be sleeping in tonight?” She walked over to my dresser and opened up the top drawer before closing it. Opening up the drawer beneath it, she smiled and pulled out a pair of my workout shorts. I assumed they were for me to sleep in, but she unbuttoned her jean shorts and dropped them to the floor. My eyes fixed on her bare thighs, her hips, and the tiny piece of red cotton covering her skin. She pulled my shorts on over her underwear and I blinked.