She’d only ever been with two men. One of them was dead, and the other was sitting close to her, his knee brushing up against hers.

“You know what happened to me. I met Cliff that same night.”

“I blamed myself for that, too. You went with him because I’d broken your heart.”

“Partly, but not entirely. There were reasons I went with him that night, and you were only one of them.” It was her turn to tell the truth. “It wasn’t a rebound affair, at least not at first. He was kind. He gave me a way out. I took it.”

“There were other reasons?”

“Yes. I had—” what should she call it? “—an encounter with Denise after I saw you.”

“You mean a fight?”

“No, not really. That requires two people, and she was the one who did the talking.” She’d tried to put that episode out of her mind. “After I saw you with Whitney, I was upset. I was a mess. I had no one to turn to. Normally when something was wrong I turned to you, but in this case—”

“I was the problem.”

“Yes. And I didn’t feel it was fair to confide in Mel. It felt as if I’d be forcing her to pick sides. So I went home and I shut myself in my room. My stepmother came in. She wanted to know what was wrong. Normally I wouldn’t have told her. We didn’t have that kind of relationship. But I was upset, and she was there, so I told her and—” She paused, feeling the pain of it even after so many years.

“Knowing Denise, I’m guessing she wasn’t sympathetic.”

“Worse. She said she wasn’t surprised you’d ended it with me. That I wasn’t an easy person to love. Unlovable—she used the word over and over. She said that if I had been easier to love, then maybe her relationship with me would have been better. She accused me of destroying her relationship with my father. Without me, they’d still be together. She thought my broken heart was karma.”

Nate threw the shell back into the ocean. “She was a cruel, vicious woman.”

“Yes. But when you’re feeling vulnerable it’s easy to believe bad things. Her words soaked in. Unlovable—that’s what I took from that day, and when I dragged myself to work in the café that night, it was how I felt.” She’d wondered if people could see it in her as she walked around taking orders and clearing tables. She felt as if it was stamped on her forehead. Unlovable.

“And then there was Cliff, with all his money and charm.”

“He paid me attention when I’d all but decided that I deserved none. He gave me a way out. I hadn’t even known I wanted a way out at that point, but when he asked me to go with him it felt like a fresh start. The thought of staying in Silver Point and seeing you all the time—I couldn’t do it. Nor did I want to go home. My stepmother was there and I didn’t want to speak to her again. Living there with her was unbearable. I hated it as much as she did. I knew we couldn’t share the same space.”