Coming Home(67)

Danny leaned over and ran the backs of his fingers across her cheek, wiping away the tear she hadn’t realized had fallen. Leah reached up, swiping at her cheeks quickly before she exhaled.

“My family didn’t like him. They said he wasn’t good for me, and of course Scott said that was because he was revealing truths they didn’t want to acknowledge. He said they were mad because he opened my eyes to what was really going on. Everything he said made sense, you know?”

Danny nodded; he was trying to keep his expression smooth, but she could see something brewing just below the surface.

Leah bit her lip as she looked down at their hands clasped on the pillow. “So, I distanced myself from them. I would argue with them over stupid things. I’d get mad when my father called to check in with me. I refused to call and check in with him. It was disgusting. Most people go through their rebellious stage when they’re fifteen or sixteen, and there I was, a grown woman, acting like a child.”

Another tear slipped over her lash line, but she was quicker this time, swiping at it before it had a chance to fall.

“So one night my father and I got in a huge fight over Scott, and I told him I wasn’t going to let him control my life anymore. I left, and that was that. I wouldn’t answer his calls or his texts. I wouldn’t go see him. Almost a whole year went by, and I refused every attempt he made at reconciling with me. My whole life was centered around Scott, the one person I thought really cared about me and wanted what was best for me. And he had me all to himself, just the way he wanted.”

She turned to Danny, her cheeks heating with embarrassment. “The night of my father’s heart attack was the first time I’d seen him in months. And when I saw him in that hospital bed, with all the wires and machines, all I wanted to do was apologize to him.” She shook her head. “But he was unconscious. They didn’t even know if he would make it.”

Leah shrugged as she said, “After I left the hospital that night, I went to Scott’s apartment and found him in bed with another girl.”

Danny’s head whipped up, and the initial shock on his face transitioned into sympathy before settling on anger.

She nodded slowly. “So there it is. I threw my family away for a controlling, manipulative liar. If my father had died that night, he would have died thinking I resented him, after everything he’d done to try to hold my family together, after how hard he worked to take care of us all.”

He stared at her, his eyes swimming with pain and something else Leah couldn’t quite place.

She used the end of her sleeve to wipe her nose. “I’m pretty awful, huh?”

Danny didn’t say a word. Instead he unclasped their hands and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her against his chest. She stilled for only a second before she relaxed against him, her face buried in the crook of his neck. He brought his lips to the top of her head, leaving them pressed there as he gently played with the ends of her hair.

Leah closed her eyes and exhaled. She would relive that story again and again if it ended with being in his arms, because the way he was holding her made her feel like she was someone worthy of forgiveness.

It was some time before Danny finally spoke, and when he did, she could feel the gentle vibrations in his chest.

“Leah?”

“Hmm?” she said, her eyes still closed.

“The guy who killed your mother. Do you hate him?”

Leah’s eyes opened as she sat up, looking at him. It seemed like such a strange thing to ask, but his expression was smooth as he waited for her answer.

“Um…I don’t know. I mean, I never really think about him. He died on impact.”