Page 27 of Give Me Perfect Love

“I’m going to take a warm shower,” she says lowly. I grab her arm as she walks past me.

Her skin is cold and clammy. Her hair is damp, and she’s distant.

“You know you can talk to me about anything,” I say to her. Her blue-gray eyes look up at me for a brief moment before skipping past my shoulder.

“I just need a minute to think,” she says.

“Okay.” I nod. She moves away and goes into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

I sigh and remove my hat, tossing it onto the bed as I scrub down my face. I walk over to the window and look out at the flurry of snow. After Mills got my number, I hurried Kat to my car, and we drove off without so much as a word to Bethany.

I don’t even know the woman, but something is off there. Apparently, Mills is K’s father and neither one of them knew it. None of this explains why Kathrine is here, though, and I don’t think I’m getting any answers out of her tonight.

I see Kat’s things on the other side of the bed, so I walk over and pull out some of her clothes. I stand and go to the closed door, lightly brushing my knuckles against it. “K, I’ve got some of your clothes here.” I narrow my eyes and listen, thinking I hear her crying. Without permission, I open the door and walk to the shower. I move the curtain back, and the sight before me breaks my fucking heart.

Hugging her knees, she sits in the tub and her shoulders shake worse than her body was earlier in the storm. She looks up at me with tear-stained cheeks as the water cascades over her.

“Why would she leave me with him?” she chokes out. “Why did she do this to me?”

“Baby.” I turn the hot water off and wrap a towel around her body. “Come here,” I say. She weeps, linking her arms around my neck. I lift her in my arms and walk to the bed. Cradling love, I kiss her wet hair and let her cry. She struggles for air and sobs into my neck.

“Jesus, baby.” I rock her and look out the window. “It’s okay,” I murmur.

She unhooks her arms and brings the towel up, wiping her face. I gently move her off me and walk to the bathroom to get a wet washcloth. I hand it to her and then walk to my own bag. Grabbing a T-shirt and some jogging pants, I quickly change and then grab one of my extra shirts for her to put on. I know she has her own clothes, but something about her wearing mine brings me comfort. I’m hoping it will her, too.

“Arms up,” I say with a small smile. She doesn’t return it but lifts her arms and lets me put the oversized shirt over her head. She pulls her long hair out of the collar and moves the towel away from her. I toss it near the bathroom and sit down on the bed beside her.

Mindlessly, she looks out the window, rubbing her fingers over the washcloth in her hand.

“I’d give anything to know what you’re thinking,” I say to her. A silent shutter passes through her like an aftershock from an earthquake, but she doesn’t look at me. She just gazes out the window and I let her.

ChapterNine

Kathrine

Snow falls quickly outside, piling on layers to the leftovers that already cover the ground. I stare with a child wonder because it reminds me of when I was just that. A child. A fond memory with my mama…Bethany. I don’t have many of those. I guess being in this town and the fact I just saw her dragged one up.

I was seven. It was snowing hard, and it was just the two of us at home. She woke me in the middle of the night, and we got all of our warm clothes on before running out in the field.

We built a snowman by moonlight and threw snowballs at each other. I remember how the moon painted her silver and how fragile she seemed. I didn’t take after her in that fact, or maybe I was like her at one point. I just grew up hard and it made me harder.

It’s memories like that, that I’ve kept locked away because they were too painful to recall after she left me, and eventually, I stopped thinking about them at all.

All this time, I’ve wondered who my real father was. I cast him out, thinking he was no better than Saw because he didn’t want me.

That wasn’t the truth.

He never knew I existed.

I wonder what kind of life I would have had with him. Would I have seen the country riding around in his 18-wheeler?

Would we have pictures and memories that I would always look back on with a cheesy smile?

Just another thing Bethany robbed me of.

I can’t stand the sight of her. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to. She stole so much from me. She hurt me worse than anyone ever could.

Bryce speaks to me so gently it aches my heart. How he cares for me is beautifully odd. I’ve never felt this kind of affection before, and I’m not sure what to do with it.

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