‘Fine.’ Drew made a show of rolling his eyes. ‘You’d do anything for a crispy strip meal and a box of popcorn chicken, wouldn’t you?’ ‘M...ybe,’ I taunted, meeting his gaze. But my attempt at innuendo backfired the moment I saw his speculative look and all at once, my mouth felt very dry. ‘Popcorn chicken,’ Dad repeated with a disbelieving shake of his head, oblivious to my discomfort. ‘Still, it’s your birthday, I suppose. Come on then, June.’ And after a flurry of goodbyes, my parents left at. However, in early June I was talking to my mother and she thought it would be a good idea if I stopped in and spent a few days with him. I wasn’t sure about it, not that I had anything against him but I was just really busy at the time. However, we all know how mom’s can be, and shortly thereafter I agreed to visit him. A week later I was driving the 4 hours that it takes to get to his old, 2 bedroom, and 2 bath house in the country. When I pulled up in his driveway I was wearing a jean skirt. “Sean Patrick Donaghue, son of Thomas Donaghue. I’d guess your ‘supposed to be’ father was the first person you killed. Him being the asshole he was, you probably would have gotten away with it with a slap on the wrist. Only, he wasn’t your real father, and his body has never been found. But I can’t really blame you for killing him, as he really was an asshole.”I gave him a few seconds to process that I knew something about him. Something that nobody was supposed to know.“Then, there is another. ”“I guess I’m just worried about how Bethany will feel about herself afterwards,” I said. “I don’t want to make things worse.”“I don’t think you will,” Kara said. “You both love each other and care for each other. I think you’re doing the right thing.”“What do you think, Jess?” I asked as she rinsed off.“I think that you’re on a good path, Tiger. You’re developing some close male friendships, which I think is really good for you, and important for the long-term. Your friendships with the girls.