Dad just listened to what I had to say, growing paler with each passing word, until I had nothing left to say and everything left to hear.

"If I had one wish in this life, it would be that we never came back to Ocean Bay." He shook his head in dismay. "I knew better than to come back here, back near those people, and still, I let it happen. I let you talk me into coming back to this hell."

"All you have to do is tell me that they're lying," I begged, my voice no more than a broken whisper. "Just tell me that everything Trish and Wren said back there is a pack of lies and I'll believe you. I swear I'll believe you, Dad." Sniffling, I choked out a sob. "Just… just tell me it's not true."

"I can't tell you that," he whispered, sounding as broken as I felt. "I wish I could, Molly Sue, more than anything in the world, but I can't."

"Oh god." With my elbows on the table, I dropped my head in my hands and whispered, "I need to know everything."

"Are you sure?"

No. "I need to know."

Sighing wearily, my father reclaimed the seat opposite me before continuing to blow my world to smithereens with his version of the facts.

And the facts were that it had all been one big lie.

My life.

My family.

My relationship with Daryl.

All of it.

"…I wasn't ghosting you, Dolly. I would never ghost you. The truth is that I've a lot of shit bottled up inside of my head. Shit that stems back years. Shit that I need to tell you about, but ain't ready to talk about. Shit that will change everything between us..."

I forced the memory out of my mind, feeling like such an idiot for not figuring this out sooner.

"…"I didn't mean it, Dolly. I'm dealing with a lot of pressure right now, and I'm, uh, fuck, I was trying to do the right thing."

"By being unnecessarily cruel back there? By ghosting me all week?"

"No. By keeping my distance."

"What? What does that even mean, Daryl?"

"It means…It means I can't tell you…"

The very foundations upon which I had built my world from birth to this very moment in time were sullied, marred, and filled with more deceit and devastation than I could comprehend.

"You were only a little girl when it started," Dad said, voice thick with emotion. "When your mother and Wren…"

"Began their affair?"

Shoulders slumped, my father nodded. "Yes."

My heart squeezed tight in my chest.

So it was true.

My mother really did have an affair with Daryl's stepfather.

With Wretched!

"Did you know about it?" I forced myself to ask, feeling numb to the bone.

"No." He shook his head. "I didn’t find out until she was six months pregnant with your brother."

"My brother." I mulled the words over in my head. "But not your…"