His attention snapped back to her. "No," Scotty replied simply.
Beady sighed. "I guess he had his reasons. But … I thought he cared more. I hated him for a while for disappearing on us like that."
"He was an asshole-"
Beady shook her head. "Not really. He just didn't know any other way to be." She was quiet for a while and Scotty was uncomfortable enough that he had nothing to say either.
She drew in a deep breath as if coming to a difficult decision. "Back when that s**t went down with the … molestation …" she glanced at her grandmother checking that she was still asleep in her armchair.
Scotty c****d his head and listened with a silent nod. They had never discussed what had happened when she was thirteen. Child protective services had removed her and sent her to live with her gr
