We Told Six Lies(42)

As they walked back in silence, Molly cast her eyes toward him. He may have confused her when he once again didn’t take his chance to ogle her body, but she’d succeeded in her second agenda.

Molly now knew what he looked like beneath that jacket.





NOW


Now that I know the truth about Molly’s father, I’m more determined than ever to figure out where she went. And why she lied. Nixon said I should talk to Coach Miller, so that’s what I’m going to do.

When Coach sees me standing outside his office, he makes a hard stop, seems to consider turning around.

“I need to talk to you,” I say.

He frowns and then says, “All right, kid. Let’s go inside.”

I take a seat on the other side of his desk, and instead of sitting across from me, he plops down beside me. Removes his baseball cap and runs a hand through his hair. His eyes fall on the mess that clutters his workspace: scattered papers, spilled pens, a Steelers mug, and a photo of him with a toddler I know is his. I look at the kid, at his innocent, smiling face. He’s raising one hand and grabbing his father’s nose. And his dad, Coach Miller, is holding him with both arms. It’d be impossible for him to fall with so much support.

“You here to talk to me about Molly?” Coach Miller asks.

I narrow my eyes in surprise. And suspicion.

Coach sighs and leans forward, puts his forearms on his thighs. “I’m not judging, okay, kid? I don’t know what was going on between the two of you.”

He must register the confusion on my face, because he says, “Wait, that’s why you came in here, right? The report?”

“What report?” I ask. “Someone told me I should talk to you about Molly.”

Coach Miller shakes his head. “Aw, crap, kid. The thing is, there were too many people saying the same thing. I had to turn in what I’d heard. I’m not saying I—”

Unease crawls across my skin. “What were people saying?”

“Look, to me, you and Molly seemed pretty happy. I was glad when you found someone to talk to. To tell the truth, I hoped it might bring you into my office one day, so I could get you on the team.” A little smile from him here. It doesn’t last long. “Anyway, I started hearing from some of the kids that Molly wasn’t entirely…happy, you know?”

“Wasn’t happy about what?” I ask.

Coach Miller cocks his head.

“With me?” I ask, stupefied. “With us?”

Coach Miller leans back, and as a look of sympathy crosses his face, pulsing rage fires through me. How can I turn on him this quickly? This man who brought me a scone from his favorite coffee shop when I told him I’d never had one. This man who grabbed me by the shirt and told me, Come on, kid. I’ll drive you home, okay? when he saw me sitting outside the gym, fuming because someone had taped a photo of a gorilla on my locker.

“Look, I have to ask, Cobain. Are you sure you were both totally in your relationship?”

“Yes.” No hesitation.

He frowns. “Well, I think Molly might have been telling a different story to her friends. Some of the guys on my team, I guess she told them or their girlfriends or whatever that you were coming on a little strong.”

“A little strong?”

“Like, maybe you were in it more than she was.”

“She told people that?” What the hell?

He shrugs. “I think Molly was trying to find a way to break it to you gently.”

The breath rips from my lungs. I think about the last time I saw her. Tears on her face. Me gripping her arms. Shaking her.

Did I shake her?

“I know when she talked to you, it hurt. It had to have. Am I right?”

I glance up at him, confused once again.

“Did you know I was married once?” He nods toward the picture of his kid. “He’s pretty much the only good thing that came out of it. Anyway, when she told me she was leaving, I hung on too long. I even followed her to her new place one day. So I get it, okay? I get it. But I still had to put pen to paper on what these kids were saying.”

“Wait,” I say, hardly able to process this. “You’re telling me…you’re saying that Molly was telling people that she broke up with me and that I was…what…stalking her?”

Now it’s Coach Miller’s turn to look concerned. “Stalking? No. Do you feel like you were stalking her?”

“No,” I say, too quickly. “No.”

Coach Miller looks unconvinced. “I just wrote down what they said. That Molly didn’t want to be together, and you were being pretty weird about it. That’s all. You have to understand how this school works. If we don’t report every single thing someone—”

I push up from my chair. The sound of it scraping against the floor startles us both. He rises to his feet, and now he’s staring up at me with this concerned look on his face. But I wish he wouldn’t look at me like that. I wish he’d just hug me or some shit. I wish he’d say, Hey, I believe you.

“We were in love,” I say.

He opens his mouth to respond, and I yell, “We are in love.”

I turn around and kick the chair and then barrel through his door and race down the hallway. Toward the double doors. Out into a world that’s blanketed in gray. It’s always gray. Why isn’t the sun ever out? Where did it go?