Jesus Christ!

"Molly deserves to know who set the fire." The words spilled from my lips in a venomous hiss. "She deserves the truth about what happened back then, and you damn well know it!"

"Why?" Mr. Peterson shot back. "So you can ease your conscience?"

I stiffened. "I don't have a damn thing to feel guilty for. Not compared to you! The lies and deception are on y'all, not me. I was ten years old, dammit, I didn't do shit!"

"Except for omitting the truth," he reminded me.

"It's not like I had much of a choice in that," I bit out, memories flooding me to the point where I felt faint. "Y'all took my choices away from me."

"We're all liars, Daryl," he said sadly. "But sadly, in this case, it was a lie worth telling." He blew out a pained breath before adding, "Just walk away, son."

"I can't."

Didn't he get that?

Didn't anyone fucking understand?

"I love her."

"The boy in you loves the girl in her, but those kids are gone now," he replied. "You're not the same children you used to be, and my daughter has no place in your future."

"Yeah? Well, plans change."

"Not overnight they don't," he dismissed. "Keep spending time with her and you won't be able to keep your mouth shut." Another weary sigh escaped him. "Which is exactly why I didn't want to bring her back here in the first place."

"It's not fair," I choked out, feeling at a total fucking loss.

His eyes flickered with sympathy. "Go home, Daryl. Concentrate on football and make a good life for yourself. There's no chance of a future for you and my daughter with a secret like that hanging over your heads, and there's even less of a chance with it out in the open."

I stood there, numb to the bone, and with my hands hanging uselessly at my sides.

What could I say to that?

Not a damn thing because as much as I hated to admit it, the man had spoken nothing but the truth.

Not telling her was killing me.

If she asked, I would cave.

If she pushed, I would ruin her life with my truth.

God knows I'd ruined myself with it.

"All of the letters I wrote her when y'all first moved away…" I swallowed the lump in my throat before continuing, "She never got to read them, did she?"

Her father shook his head slowly, confirming what I'd already guessed. "I had to protect her."

"From me."

"From the damage you could inflict on her."

And that was that.

Pain ricocheted through me.

"I didn't get over it." A pained breath escaped me. "Her," I clarified gruffly. "I never got over her."

"And I have no doubt that it was the same for her," he replied.

"You don't get it," I forced the words out, shaking and reeling. "What I feel for her… how much I –" my words broke off and I blew out a pained breath. "Only her," I finally added, hopeless. "Only ever her."