shut, but of course I don’t. “Not that you’d know what it’s like not to have a father around. After all, you had mine.”
I can feel the tension quickly rising between us, and I hate myself for causing the change in mood. Then again, he was the one that had to offer me a ride. Maybe he’s a glutton for punishment.
“Remember earlier, how you told me I had no idea about you? Well, you know nothing about me either, Maggie. I guess it’s best for both of us not to make assumptions.”
I snort. “I don’t have to assume much. Monica told me how you used to bully Zach when you two were kids. How my dad saved you both from killing each other and took you under his wing. He put you on his football team and straightened you up. You consider him some kind of hero according to her. But did you know that while he was putting all his time and effort into you, Zach, and the rest of that team, he was neglecting his family? Did you know there were two young girls sitting on the porch every night just praying that was the night their father would finally come home? Spoiler alert—he never did.”
“Maggie stop—”
“No. I won’t.” Desmond has no idea how much pain I have in my heart because of someone he idolizes. “Instead of coming home to his family, he was off starting a new one somewhere else. You want to know how Monica and I found out?”
Desmond is now fuming. “I don’t need to know about his past. That doesn’t matter to me.”
“His past?” I challenge. “At one point, that was his present, and you were right there with him. That might not matter to you, but it sure as hell matters to me.”
“So, then how did you and Monica find out?”
“I found his address and I dragged Monica out of bed in the middle of the night to surprise him the next morning. He wasn’t the only one surprised. That morning we met his new wife and two new daughters. He’d replaced us, just like that.” I suck in a deep breath. “Still want to get to know the girl who hates to cook?”
“It doesn’t matter. Tell me whatever you want me to hear, but it’s not going to change my mind about Coach. What he was for you and what he was for me are two totally different things.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “Never mind. You’d never understand.”
He slams his hands on the wheel and pulls off to the side of the road before we reach the highway. There’s an empty parking lot looking out over Lake Union, and before I know it, Desmond is stripping off his seat belt and facing me. “You think I don’t know what it’s like to feel abandoned by one of your parents? Well, here’s your reality check. Try growing up with a father who spent most of his life in and out of rehab. And when he was out of rehab, you’d be lucky to spend a single day with him without him falling off the wagon all over again.”
My heartbeat quickens. “That doesn’t change my situation.”
“Yeah, well, at least you weren’t abandoned by your mom too.”
The air goes cold. Whatever point I was trying to make earlier suddenly feels wrong. “Where was your mom?”
“Dead.”
The word comes out with a chill on his breath, and I shiver.
“She died when I was four,” he continues. “Couldn’t handle life, so she decided to take hers. I don’t even remember her.”
“I’m sorry.”
He blows out a breath. “So what now, Maggie? You still want to compare your daddy issues to mine? Because while your dad wants to make amends, mine is somewhere in Texas, stealing food from trash cans and getting wasted behind the nearest dumpster, just biding his time until he’s back in jail or rehab.”
My insides are quaking like an active volcano a second before erupting. Maybe I shouldn’t make assumptions about Desmond, but he’s just as guilty for making assumptions about me.
“I think you should take me home now,” I whisper. I never meant for things to get so intense, but every time I’m near Desmond, it’s like I get this overwhelming anxiety that brings me back to everything I’ve spent my life stuffing deep down into a secret box in my chest, one I swore I would never open again. No matter what I do, I can’t escape the key that’s forcing its