Page 166 of Give Me Love

“Yes.” I give her a small smile.

She returns it and goes to walk away. “Hey,” I call out to her.

She turns back and lifts her brow.

“Did a man ever come in here by the name of Saw?”

Her eyes look up for a moment.

“He was tall. Had dark hair, a scar on the side of his neck.” He got that when he was a boy, told me his daddy liked to play with knives, and he’d do the same to me if I got any ideas about boys when I turned twelve and started my period. He then threw a box of tampons at me. I guess it was nice of him to buy me some. He could have let me bleed all over myself.

“Yes, I remember him,” she says. “He wasn’t a nice man.”

I look down at my coffee. “Yeah,” I agree quietly.

“Anything else I can help you with?”

I lift my hand. “No. Just the check. Thanks.”

After I pay, I walk out of the dump dinner, blowing smoke as I pull out my phone and call Claire.

“Kat? You make it okay?” she answers, but the background noise is loud.

“Yes, I’m here. It’s cold as shit,” I say, putting my free hand in my coat’s pocket.

“Right? It’s supposed to be below freezing tonight. You check in yet?”

“Yeah. You still at work?” I ask, knowing they should be closed by now.

“Yeah, remember I told you we were opening a few nights a week for dinner?”

I exhale. “Oh right, I forgot.”

“It’s okay. You’ve been preoccupied.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine, Kat. How’s it going? Have you been to the house yet?”

“No. I’ve got so much anxiety just thinking about it.” I unlock my car door and quickly climb inside and start the thing so I can get warm.

“Maybe wait until tomorrow then? Get something good to eat tonight. Have a drink or five at one of those bars and get some sleep. Deal with all of that tomorrow.”

I lean my head back on my seat. “Yeah.”

“You okay?”

“I don’t know,” I reply. “I’m not sure why I came back here now. It’s so sobering, Claire. It’s like there’s a dark cloud over this whole town.”

“You said you needed closure. So find it and come home.” Someone calls for her in the back. “Look, I’ve got to go. Call me before bed and be careful out there by yourself. People are crazy.”

“I will. Talk later.” I hang up the phone and gaze out the windshield, circling my finger over the window button as my mind takes me down memory lane.

I walked here a lot. My house was out by the county line, a mile from here. Some days I’d take the bus, but the walk did me good, and it was more time out of that house with him. He never worked; he was always there sitting in his recliner in front of the TV. People came in and out constantly. Nothing to do in this town besides drugs and drinking, and he was the big supplier of one of those habits.

I let out a deep breath and grab my seat belt. “I’ve got to do what I came here to do and then get the hell out of this place.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

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