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“I’ve never seen you the way you were with Daniel.” Mallory looked at Danny. “Sorry, but you’re going to either have to cover your ears or deal.” Then she came over and set her hand on my shoulder. “You let Daniel leave as a reason to bail on him before your relationship got a chance to succeed. You slept with him because he’s hot as hell–”
“GAH!” Danny shouted, then covered his ears as if a fire truck with a siren blaring cut through the kitchen.
Mallory rolled her eyes at him but pushed on.
“–but is it also because you knew he wasn’t going to stick? You said yes to a guy who wouldn’t stay, which is totally ironic because that’s all you want.”
I glared, then, realizing she was absolutely right, crumbled. Mallory pulled me into a hug as I cried.
“No crying!” Danny said. “Shit. Don’t cry. My dad’s a catch, I guess.”
I laughed into Mallory’s shoulder. When I lifted my head, I asked, “Did you say that to get me to stop crying or because it’s true.”
“Both,” he admitted grudgingly.
“He’s gone and I made it clear I don’t want a relationship. I think he wants more because he asked me to go with him and–”
Mallory pushed me away so fast I got whiplash. “HE ASKED YOU TO GO?”
It was my turn to cover my ears. “God, Mal, not so loud!”
Danny moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Mallory and the two of them stared at me.
“He asked you to go,” Mallory repeated, quieter. “Why are you standing here?”
“Yeah, my dad wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t mean it,” Danny added.
“I have puppies now and it was temporary and he said we’d have fun.”
“Of course you’ll have fun, it’s Scotland with a man who tosses cabers in a kilt. How much sexier can that be?”
Danny gave Mallory a look like he might want to hurl. “Can you stop calling my dad sexy?”
“My mom’s boyfriend asked me to go off with him,” I said. “Told me it’d be fun.”
Mallory’s nose scrunched up in disgust. “This week?”
I shook my head. “When I was eighteen. That’s why I came home.”
“That’s why you came home to live with your grandma? Because your mom was okay with her boyfriend fucking her daughter?”
“Wouldn’t you catch a bus out of state, too?” I countered.
“This guy from when you were eighteen. What’s his name?” Danny asked. “I’ve got four uncles to help hunt him down and a woodchipper.”
I burst out laughing. “Your dad said the same thing. I have to wonder who might be missing in town because of the Pearson personal justice woodchipper.”
Mallory pouted and took my hand. “That guy was a predator. And a creep.”
“Yeah, I called him Creepy Carl.”
“Creepy Carl is not my dad,” Danny said. “If he invited you to go to Scotland, it’s not because he–okay, maybe he does want to do that with you, but God, I can’t believe I’m saying any of this, but he’s respectful.”
When I wanted him to be. I liked him when he wasn’t. The way Danny was grossed out by talking about me having sex with his father, I wasn’t going to tell him I’d been on the phone with him while his father fucked me from behind.
Not a smart move.
“We had three days. Three days!” I said, tossing up my hands. “That’s not long enough for anyone to say the “L” word and besides, we barely talked.”
