Little Girls Tell Tales. Rachel Bennett

I barely even knew her by then.’ Dallin kicked a tree stump in annoyance. ‘I didn’t know either of you, apparently.’

      I stopped walking and faced him directly. ‘Is that why you acted like a spoiled baby? Because you had a stupid childhood crush on your best friend and it turned out she wanted to be with me instead?’

      Dallin met my gaze briefly. ‘You never loved her like I did.’

      The anger that’d been absent from my life for so long rose up in me. I swung my arm and punched him in the jaw. It happened so fast I couldn’t believe I’d done it. One second I was standing there, the next, Dallin was reeling backwards. He put his foot down in a marshy puddle and almost overbalanced. If he hadn’t caught hold of a tree branch for support he would’ve fallen.

      ‘She was my wife,’ I said. My voice rose along with my anger. ‘Don’t you dare talk about her that way.’

      I shoved past him.

      Cora was staring at me with shock on her face. I walked straight past her too.

      ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I can’t do this.’

      It wasn’t possible to run in the thick bogland, but I hurried as fast as I could in the direction of the road.