Page 99 of See You There
“My mom was pregnant with the twins and money was tight. My father’s mother lived with us, making everything even more tense. She hated my mom. Called her all kinds of names.”
Dahlia swallowed hard. “My parents got married when they were still teenagers because my mom was pregnant with me. My grandmother never forgave either my mother or me for it. In her mind, we destroyed my dad’s life.”
It had been so long ago, but the memories still brought a sickening knot to her stomach. Dahlia looked at a spot over Luke’s shoulder so she wouldn’t have to look at him. He was from a privileged, educated family. Dahlia had grown up not always knowing if there would be enough food for all the kids her parents couldn’t seem to stop making.
“My dad was a farm mechanic… large machinery… tractors, combines… That kind of thing. Physically taxing work for little pay. My mom cleaned houses, so by the end of the day, they were both exhausted. She had a hard time when she was pregnant with the twins and couldn’t work as much.”
Dahlia closed her eyes against the memories bombarding her. “They fought a lot, tears and yelling, as you can imagine. I hated being there, so I did anything to be out of the house. I was selfish and immature. I got in trouble at school, only adding to the fights at home.”
Dahlia wrinkled her nose. “I’m sure this is hard for you to believe, but I have a bit of a smart mouth, and I would fight with my grandmother all the time. It was almost like the more she insulted me or called me names, the more I wanted to fall to her expectations. In a sick way, I think that I thought it proved I didn’t care.” She squared her shoulders.Spit it out, Dahlia.
“One afternoon I was drinking with my friends, and someone dared me to walk the ridge beam on the top of the Henderson’s barn. It would have been a stupid thing to do even if I wasn’t drunk, but I couldn’t resist a dare.”
Dahlia’s chest tightened. “It was twenty feet in the air and only a few inches wide. Brian was there. He begged me not to do it. He was worried I would fall.” The pressure in her chest increased until she found it difficult to draw a complete breath. “Frankly, I didn’t care if I fell.”
Luke’s body stilled, his hand tightening on her hip.
“I don’t know how to explain it to someone like you. My life felt hopeless—a dead end.” Dahlia shook herself. She wasn’t the victim in this story. “I actually made it pretty far across. Years of climbing trees,” she said, her lips lifting in a humorless smile. “But being who I am, I had to show off. Shocking, right? One minute I was fine and then I was falling.
“I don’t remember a lot of what happened or the hours after. Brian said I was lucky. I fell over the barn extension, which broke most of my fall, before I tumbled to the ground. I broke my arm pretty badly. Someone ran to the Henderson’s house to call for help, and Mr. Henderson called my dad.”
Her throat worked as she tried to swallow past the thickness in her throat as pain hollowed out her chest. “Brian hadn’t told Mr. Henderson all the details, just that I’d fallen from the top of the barn and was hurt. Mr. Henderson told my dad to get to the hospital as fast as he could.”
Luke’s hand lifted and stroked away the tears on her cheeks with his thumb.
“My dad had been working lots of extra hours trying to save for the twins. He was tired… panicked. He had a heart attack, which might have been fine except he was driving. Racing to the hospital… to me. He hit a telephone pole.”
The same pole that killed her mother. Not a coincidence.
“Dahlia,” Luke’s voice was husky. “I’m so sorry.”
“Everything changed after that. Money had been tight, but now there was almost nothing, and it was my fault.”
Luke caught her chin between his thumb and pointer finger and turned her head until it forced her to meet his eyes. Instead of the disgust and horror she expected, Luke’s eyes swirled with sympathy.
“It wasn’t your fault. It was an accident. No one could possibly blame you.”
Dahlia huffed a laugh. “That’s where you’re wrong. Everyone blamed me.”
Luke’s eyes widened with shock, and he shook his head. “I’m sure that’s not true.”
“I’m not looking for sympathy. It’s just a fact.” Dahlia tried to cover the wobble in her voice by clearing her throat.
Her mother had never said the words. She’d said very few words to Dahlia ever again, but her grandmother hadn’t held back. According to her, Dahlia was rotten, and it was her fault that her father was dead.
“My mom went into labor early. The twins were healthy, but there were a lot of medical bills. The state benefits didn’t stretch to cover everything, and my mom eventually started dancing.” Dahlia’s chin lifted. “Everyone judged her, but she was doing what she had to, to take care of us.” Until the night a few years later when it all became too much for her.
“After my dad died, I knew I had to change. My recklessness had destroyed our family. I learned how to hide how I felt, to push down the bigger emotions and survive. It worked.”
“That’s when you became Lia?” Luke’s voice was quiet.
“Not exactly. I became more reserved. I tried to change, get a job to help, but no one in town accepted I had changed. We werethatfamily.
I started dating Scott a couple of years later. His mother hated me. She thought he could do better, but then again, she could never accept that Scott did anything wrong. She was a lot like my grandmother that way,” Dahlia said wryly. “Victor cameup with Lia Everton and created a fake back story. It wouldn’t have stood up to a deep dive, but there was enough truth in it. He said people wouldn’t look closer. Now, he plans on revealing it all to the press if I don’t come back. My parents, Scott… The fact that I’ve lied about who I was all these years.”
Dahlia’s expression became serious. “It’s been a long time coming, and I don’t think it will be as bad as I used to believe. Even if it is—I have survived four attempts on my life this week—I’ll survive the scandal. But he will ruin you, Luke. He’s going to spread the false accusations and tie you to my past to make it extra salacious. You don’t know how nasty—”
“Dahlia.” Luke caught her face in his hands again. “My father was a notorious, womanizing billionaire with a cadre of children by different women across the globe. David Bloom was a cutthroat media mogul. I can’t even comprehend what kind of underhanded illegal shit he had to have done to achieve what he did. The world talked about me before I was even born. This kind of bullshit isn’t new.”
