Читать книгу Her Texas Rebel - LeAnne Bristow - Страница 12
ОглавлениеTONY STARED AT the television, but had no idea what he’d just watched. He stood up and paced around the living room. He’d finished the breathing treatments the doctor had ordered and was given the okay to start exercising. Lightly. Right. Tony didn’t understand the meaning of light exercise. What good was it if it didn’t make him sweat and leave him tired?
The phone in the kitchen rang and his grandmother answered. “Tony, it’s for you.”
Who would call him here? Most people called his cell. “Hello?”
“Tony Montoya?” an unfamiliar voice greeted him. “My name is Jarrod Butler. I work with the Lampasas County Sheriff’s Department.”
“Hello, Jarrod. What can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if you could meet me for coffee. I’d like to discuss some things with you.”
What did someone from the sheriff’s department want with him? “Yeah, sure. What time?”
“I have time right now. How about meeting me at The Eagle’s Nest in about twenty minutes? I’ll buy lunch.”
The Eagle’s Nest. Any place but there. His first instinct was to insist on discussing this on the phone, but curiosity got the better of him. “Sure. See you in a few minutes.”
He’d been through town several times in the weeks since his return, but this was the first time that he paid attention to his surroundings. It looked the same as it had...well...almost. A few more of the old buildings were boarded up. The drought that had racked the area over the past few years had taken a toll on the small ranching community and many of the smaller mom-and-pop shops had closed. How much longer would the place be able to survive?
When he paused at the town’s only intersection, next to what used to be a dry-goods store, Tony scanned the graffiti on the weathered lumber across the window. A force of habit. There were no gang signs or hidden warnings in the scribbles on the warped wood. Just kids looking for something to do.
The gravel crunched under his tires as he pulled into the café parking lot. He recognized many of the vehicles. More proof that small towns were reluctant to change. Might as well get this over with.
Pausing at the café’s entrance, he tried to shake off the feeling that he truly was about to walk through time. A small bell rang when he opened the door. He scanned the dining area but didn’t see a uniformed officer anywhere.
Nostalgia punched him in the gut as he slid into a booth to wait for Jarrod to arrive. How many hours had he sat in the exact same booth, waiting for Sabrina to finish her shift as a waitress here? He shook his head, warding off the memories.
“Tony? I’m Jarrod Butler, I’m an investigator with the Lampasas County Sheriff’s Department.” He looked up to see a redheaded man with freckles.
Standing up, he shook the man’s hand. “Nice to meet you.” He followed Jarrod to a secluded area at the back of the café.
The waitress greeted them. Makeup pancaked her face in an attempt to cover the wrinkles. “What can I get for y’all?”
The aroma of fried chicken overpowered his resolve to find out what Jarrod wanted and leave. “Give me the special and a glass of sweet tea.”
Jarrod placed his order and then they were alone. He swirled his water glass, watching Tony carefully. “I read the article in the paper about you. Impressive.”
“I was just doing my job.”
“I talked to your captain.” Jarrod leaned his forearms on the table. “He says you’ve got quite a gift for working with troubled kids.”
Jarrod had talked to his captain? Why? He gave the man a level stare. “It’s not a gift. It’s experience. I’ve been where those boys have been. I understand what they’re going through.”
“He says you’ve helped more boys get out of gangs than the rest of his staff combined. Sounds like a gift to me.”
“I like to think I’m using my rebelliousness to allow me to connect with the kids no one else wants to deal with.” Was Jarrod aware of Tony’s teenage reputation in this town?
“While you’re here, I wondered if you would be willing to put your experience to use.”
“Surely you’re not having gang trouble in Salt Creek?”
“No.” Jarrod shrugged one shoulder. “At least, not yet. But we are experiencing some issues.”
“Issues?”
“Vandalism, theft.”
Tony shook his head. “Sounds like typical teenagers.”
“I thought so at first. But we’ve received reports of drug activity in the area. Maybe linked with a group home here in town.” Jarrod leaned back in his chair. “Some of the teenage boys have suspected gang ties.”
“So what do you want from me?” Bitterness soured his sweet tea. Was Jarrod looking for someone to tell him it was okay to send the kids away? Pack them up and ship them out. That’s how everyone wanted to deal with kids in the foster care system.
Jarrod reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. He slid it across the table. “I want to help them. But I don’t know how. I’ve tried to get to know these boys but—”
“You were shot down.” Boys like that didn’t trust easily. Especially a deputy sheriff. Tony studied the list of names, complete with ages and where they were from.
The platinum blonde waitress appeared with their order. “Can I get you anything else?”
“No, thank you,” Jarrod and Tony said in unison.
She started to walk away, then stopped and turned back toward Tony. “Don’t I know you? You look real familiar.”
He narrowed his eyes as he tried to place the woman. “Could be. I lived here for a few years.”
She studied him for a moment before a toothy smile brightened up her chubby face. “You’re Antonio Montoya’s grandson, ain’t ya?”
She set the coffeepot down and grabbed him by both arms. “Stand up, boy, let me get a look at ya.” She clicked her tongue. “I guess I just lost a bet.”
Betty. She’d been best friends with Sabrina’s mom and had taken Sabrina under her wing when her mom died. “What bet?”
“I figured you’d end up in jail ’fore you were twenty-one, but Sabrina always said you’d come back here one day and prove everybody wrong.”
“If it wasn’t for her, I probably would be in jail,” he told her honestly.
“When Sabrina lit out right after you, we was sure you two had run off together.”
His gut wrenched. No way had she tried to follow him. He’d made sure she wanted nothing to do with him. From her reaction yesterday, he had done a good job.
A customer across the café called her name and Betty gave him one last bear hug before leaving.
“You okay?” Jarrod’s face was one of concern. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”
“This town is full of ghosts.” He slipped the list into his shirt pocket. “Thanks for the lunch, Jarrod. Can we talk tomorrow?”
* * *
THE WARM SUMMER breeze flowed through the windows of Tony’s SUV. For the last two hours, he’d been touring the back roads of Salt Creek. His own trip down memory lane. But more recent events were troubling him. It’d been almost a week since he’d seen Sabrina. Why didn’t she ever come into town?
The setting sun bathed the cab of his truck in an orange glow, and his stomach growled. Time to head home. He slowed down as he approached the outskirts of town. The large brick school that housed kindergarten through twelfth grade looked the same, but the area surrounding the school had changed. The residential houses across the street had been replaced by mobiles. A sign identified one of the buildings as an alternative school. Code for the place where the troubled kids had to go.
Was that where they would’ve sent him? A small dirt road branched off the main one and disappeared over the top of a hill. One more stop down memory lane. Tony turned his SUV onto the gravel and followed it to the end. Little Mountain. The namesake of the children’s home.
Tony got out of his vehicle and climbed onto the warm hood. Leaning against the windshield, he listened to the wind rustling through the tall oak trees surrounding the area. The stars twinkled as the heat from the day began to ebb.
This was the first place that he’d been alone with Sabrina. He had done nothing but complain about Salt Creek and she’d been desperate to make him see the beauty of small-town life. So she brought him to Little Mountain. After a brief history lesson on the town, she’d spread a blanket out in the back of his old pickup truck. They were there for hours. Just talking. He never even held her hand, but it was the closest Tony had felt to anyone in his entire life.
Now, as he lay against the windshield and searched for the constellations she’d loved to point out, a sense of peace washed over him. How long had it been since he’d taken the time to look at the night sky? Too long. It was almost impossible to see stars through the glare of city lights.
His time in Salt Creek was slipping away. It was the middle of June. Half of his six-week sentence was over and he didn’t want it to end. He took a deep breath, and the smell of cedar trees, wildflowers and mesquite enveloped him. By the time he got back in his truck and headed slowly down the hill, lightning bugs were dancing in the tall grass.
As he approached the school, the lights on the outside basketball courts drew his attention. A group of boys tossed a ball around on the center court. He pulled into the parking lot and shut off the engine. Jarrod wanted him to get to know the boys in town. The best way to learn about someone was to watch them when they didn’t know they were being watched.
The group home was just on the other side of Little Mountain. How many of the boys on the court were from the home? And were they here unsupervised?
A few scantily clad teen girls chatted on the benches while watching the game. Another group of boys huddled together in the far corner of the parking lot.
One shadowed figure straightened up and turned toward Tony’s vehicle. His companions followed suit. When three of the boys broke off from the group and headed to him, Tony pulled out his smartphone and pretended to be sending a text.
Aware of every move made close to his truck, Tony didn’t look up from his phone until he heard a sharp rap on the window.
“You lookin’ for somebody?” Long brown hair fell in the young man’s face.
“A place, actually.” Tony looked down at his phone. “Little Mountain Group Home. Ever heard of it?”
“I’ve heard of it. Nothing there but a bunch of losers.”
Yep. This kid was definitely trouble. It was in the way he moved and talked. Tony recognized it because he’d been like that once. “I’m supposed to start volunteering there tomorrow morning and I want to be sure I know where I’m going.”
The boy placed one hand on the roof of Tony’s Durango. “Why would you do that?”
Tony shrugged. “I have to.”
He was purposely vague. Someone used to trouble would assume he’d been ordered to do some type of community service.
“Kyle,” one of the boys on the court shouted at a kid walking away. “Where you going? We need you.”
Tony remembered seeing a Kyle on the list Jarrod had given him and looked up to see a lanky kid strutting across the concrete. He stopped next to Tony’s truck.
“Wassup, Nick?” The kids bumped fists.
Nick nodded toward Tony. “This guy wants to know where the home is. Says he’s supposed to start work there tomorrow.”
Kyle turned his head to spit on the ground. “Just follow the road around the mountain and follow the signs out of town. Can’t miss it.”
Tony frowned. Well, that had backfired. Now he had no choice but to leave. Unless he wanted to look suspicious. He fell back on his training. Keep ’em talking. “What’s there to do around here?”
“Not much. Where you from?” Kyle stepped between the truck and Nick.
Something about the way Kyle stood put Tony on edge. He hovered around the truck, his eyes darting back and forth from the dark alley next to the basketball courts to Nick.
“San Antonio.”
Kyle grinned. “No way. I’m from San Marcos.”
“I’ve been there. My buddies and I like to tube the Guadalupe River down to New Braunfels.”
“Yeah? We did that a few times, too.”
Nick slapped Kyle on the shoulder. “The guys are ready. You coming?”
“Yeah. I’ll be right there.” Kyle leaned against the truck, clearly in no hurry.
“I take it you’re from the home. What about him?” Tony nodded toward the retreating kid.
“Nah.” Kyle glanced over his shoulder. “His grandpa donated the building the state turned into the home, and his dad’s some big shot who inspects all the group homes in the area.”
“Sounds like the kid’s got it made.”
“Yeah.”
“Guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” Tony watched the teen head back to the others.
Kyle took his time getting to Nick’s group. He stopped and talked to a girl watching the game and another boy coming off the court. Tony smiled. Nick liked to run the show and Kyle was making it known that he wasn’t going to jump through the kid’s hoops.
Tony looked around the area. How many of the teens were from the home? He was pretty sure they were supposed to have adult supervision at all times. Wherever the chaperone was, they weren’t paying much attention to the boys on the courts. Kyle got in a truck with Nick and a few others and left without saying a word to anyone else. Was Nick one of the long-time residents of Salt Creek? Was he a transfer from the city?
Most people who grew up in the small town couldn’t wait to get out. Then, as they got older, they tired of the hustle and bustle of city life and recalled an idealistic childhood. When their teenage children became belligerent, the parents’ solution was to ship them to the grandparents, convinced life in small-town America would cure them. Sometimes it worked, like with him. Sometimes it didn’t. Too bad those parents didn’t realize it was the first decade of their life that counted the most. Was Nick one of those kids?
* * *
SABRINA SCRAMBLED EGGS while listening for Marissa’s car. She rolled her shoulders. Lack of sleep over the past week had given her a dull headache and an aching back.
She had no reason to be so worried. Marissa had promised to keep her secret but if Marissa had guessed that Levi was Tony’s son, how long would it take for others to figure it out? After almost an hour of questions, she’d managed to convince Marissa that she didn’t intentionally lie to Tony. She doubted others would be as forgiving. Especially Tony.
Her own sense of morality was the cause of most of her uneasiness. Would things be different today if he’d opened the last letter she’d sent? More than once he’d declared that he never wanted a family but deep down she knew he’d never abandon his child the way his father had abandoned him. And that was the crux of her dilemma.
Aunt Patty told her not to feel guilty because every effort had been made to notify Tony about Levi’s birth. After hearing her story, even Marissa agreed that Sabrina had done everything she could. Back then. But what about now?
Her son was finally returning to the happy, carefree boy she knew. If she told the truth, would it help her son or make him worse?
“Levi,” she called, scooping the eggs onto a plate. “Breakfast is ready.”
“Is Bradley here?” He came out of his room, already dressed.
“Not yet, but any minute now.” She poured him a glass of milk.
“I hear them.” Levi shoved the scrambled eggs into his mouth and jumped up from the table.
By the time Sabrina met Marissa at the door, the two boys had taken off to the barn in search of her father.
Marissa watched the boys from the porch. “I take it that Levi’s as excited about this fishing trip as Bradley.”
Sabrina laughed and held the door open for her. “I don’t think either of them are as excited as Dad. He’s been packing things all week.”
Marissa’s easy laugh put Sabrina at ease. It was clear Marissa wasn’t going to judge her for the sins of her past. As soon as she signed the paperwork in Marissa’s briefcase, she’d officially have a job. And better yet, Levi would get the counseling required to get him back into school. Little Mountain even promised a bonus after six months of employment. A bonus that was large enough to pay the first semester’s tuition for the nursing program.
By the time she’d poured Marissa a cup of coffee, Marissa had papers scattered across the dining table.
She handed the cup to her friend and sat down to look over the forms. “Thanks for bringing these over. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”
Marissa sipped her coffee. “No sense in you having to drive to Lampasas to sign papers and turn around and come back. Especially if you want to start today. Besides, it gave me an excuse to go into the office late this morning. And Bradley was going nuts waiting for Levi. This was the fastest way to get him out of my hair.”
A thrill ran through her as she signed the last form. “How are you involved with Little Mountain? I’m going to be working for them, not Crestview, correct?”
Marissa stacked the papers together. “Yes. We’re a contracting company and just assist with the hiring process. They tell us what they need, we find them the best applicants for the job. Once hired, you’re all theirs.”
Sabrina nodded. Her dad was less than thrilled to hear she’d be working at the children’s home. Maybe they were rougher than what she’d been led to believe. “Any advice on working with these kids?”
Marissa nodded. “I understand your concern, but we’ve never had any major problems with them. They’re troubled, yes, but most of them are just kids who need someone to care about them. The state puts those who have a violent history in a different facility. This one only takes fifteen to thirty children at a time, and the ages range from seven to eighteen.
“A couple of the kids have diabetes and need glucose monitoring and shots occasionally. And several of them have asthma. The entire staff is CPR certified, but the state requires someone with more medical training during the day. At least while the kids are out of school for the summer.”
She relaxed. That didn’t sound too bad.
“The home is in the old Johnson house, outside of town. Do you remember where that is?”
Sabrina nodded. She knew the house where the home was located well. Once considered a model home in the county, years of neglect had taken its toll. Sabrina and Tony had gone into the abandoned house one night. Not one ghost jumped out to scare them, much to their disappointment.
It was a large home, but not large enough for thirty children plus all the adults it took to supervise them. “Where do they fit that many kids?”
“The younger children stay in the main home, but they built cabins on the ten-acre property for the teens. The boys and girls are separated, of course, and each cabin has a married couple who lives with them.”
Thirty minutes later, Sabrina stood in front of the double wooden doors of the main house. It looked like the property had been a good investment. The State of Texas had probably bought it for next to nothing, which made the obvious repairs on the home that much more affordable.
The door was unlocked, so she stepped inside. Chimes echoed, alerting anyone in the building someone had entered. Where was everyone? A small girl ran across her path and stopped short when she saw Sabrina. Her dark brown eyes opened wide. “Are you a wobber?”
“A what?” Sabrina squatted down so she could understand her better.
“A wobber,” the girl said slowly, then smiled, revealing her missing front teeth.
Sabrina smiled. “No. I’m not a robber. I’m a medical assistant. Is there an adult around here?”
“Ms. Paula!” the little girl yelled, and ran down the hall.
The hallway ended in a large playroom. Several children, boys and girls who all looked to be under the age of ten, were sprawled across the floor, engaged in different activities. A woman with short, spiky hair sat cross-legged, reading a story to a small group.
She jumped to her feet when she noticed Sabrina. “Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Karen?”
“Down the hall and to the right.”
Sabrina followed her direction and almost ran into a robust woman in a hot pink dress decorated with ducks. “I’m looking for Karen.”
“You found her.” The woman smiled and reached out to shake hands with her. “From the scrubs you’re wearing, you must be our new medical assistant.”
“Yes. I’m Sab—”
The back door burst open and a young man in his early twenties shouted, “Miss Karen! Help!”
Karen rushed to him, with Sabrina right behind her. The man carried a boy down the hall. Blood dripped from under the hand he had pressed to the child’s scrawny arm.
“Bring him in here.” Karen held a door open.
Sabrina followed closely, recognizing the room as the medical office. She snatched some alcohol wipes and gloves off the shelf next to the exam table. Karen stepped back to let Sabrina examine the wound.
“What happened?” Sabrina removed the man’s hand from the cut.
“We were on a nature walk when Jake decided to run again. He tried to climb the fence and cut his arm.”
Jake, the boy in question, winced as Sabrina dabbed an alcohol wipe over the cut. When she asked him questions, he turned his head, refusing to talk. A current of anger ran through the boy. He was about the same age as Levi. What could cause so much rage in such a young kid?
“What a day for you to show up.” Karen handed Sabrina a box filled with different sized bandages. “It’s usually not this exciting.”
The ringing of the doorbell was followed by a man calling out, “Hello? Anyone here?”
Sabrina didn’t need to look up from the butterfly bandages she was applying to Jake’s arm to know who was in the hallway.
“That must be the new volunteer,” Karen said. “Travis Anderson, our campus director, is out of town for a few days, so I’m holding down the fort. Be right back.”
A few minutes later, Jake was bandaged up and sound asleep on the cot in the corner of the room. Sabrina held her breath. Was Tony gone? Was it safe to come out?
The half-open door swung open all the way and Tony leaned against the frame. “I thought that looked like you in here. Everything okay?” The dimple on one cheek deepened.
“Fine. Thanks.” She kept her voice calm.
“I didn’t know you worked here.” He ran a hand through his dark hair, pushing the curls out of his face. He nodded toward the sleeping figure. “The kid going to be okay?”
“He’ll be fine. And today is my first day. What are you doing here?” She pretended to organize items inside the desk.
“I work with an outreach program to try to keep kids out of gangs back in San Antonio, so I stopped by to see if I could hang out with the kids here.”
She looked up at him. “I thought you were a police officer.”
He cocked his head to the side. “I am. I volunteer at St. Paul’s.”
“Does it work?”
“What?”
She sighed. “The outreach program. Does it keep kids out of gangs?”
“Sometimes.” He looked squarely at her. “We do what we can, but not every kid wants to be saved.”
She chuckled. “Seems like someone told me the same thing about animals once.”
He reached over and took her hand. His fingers traced the deep scar running across her palm. “I was right, but you had to learn the hard way.”
His featherlight touch sent chills up her arm. She snatched her hand away from him. “It may take me a while, but once I learn something, I never forget.”
The last thing she wanted was to be reminded of his gentle side.
“I have scars from that night, too.” He held up his own hand to reveal a matching mark.
Sabrina looked down at the sleeping child on the cot. “Funny thing about scars. The worst ones are the ones people can’t see.”
* * *
A SHARP PAIN twisted Tony’s gut. Sabrina was looking at the little boy curled up on the cot, but he had the feeling she was talking about herself. The last ten years hadn’t been easy for her. He could tell without asking. She was still beautiful, despite being much thinner than she’d been in high school. Her long blond hair was wrapped in a tight bun, making her high cheekbones stand out.
He’d thought he made the right choice so long ago. Or, rather, that he’d forced her to make the right choice. But looking at her now, it was easy to see that she carried a heavy burden.
“Bree.” He swallowed. Where to begin? “I heard about your fiancé. I’m sorry.”
She crossed her arms. “Thank you.”
“It must be hard being a single mom. I’m sure his family helps you a lot.”
Sabrina found a supply chart inside the desk and pulled it out. “No. They aren’t involved.”
“Why?”
“Levi’s father didn’t know I was pregnant when he left.” She placed the clipboard on the desk. “I’m really not comfortable talking about this. Especially here. Do you want something?”
Something was wrong. Her voice was missing the bitterness and pain he would’ve expected from a woman in her situation. She couldn’t even look at him.
First she’d been abandoned by him. Then she’d lost her son’s father.
The boy on the cot stirred and he knew the conversation he wanted to have with her would have to wait.
“Sorry about that.” Karen breezed back into the room. She stopped three steps inside the door. She looked back and forth between Tony and Sabrina. “Everything all right?”
“Yes,” Tony said. “I’d better be going. I only wanted to stop by and introduce myself.”
“Come on back to my office,” Karen said, “and I can go over the schedule with you.”
He nodded. “I’ll be right there.”
Karen waited at the door for a moment. Tony crossed his arms. She pressed her lips together. “I’ll just go get the schedule for you.”
He waited for her to leave and turned back to Sabrina. “I don’t want things to be like this. Can we get together sometime and talk? Please.”
“What do you want?” Her eyes were red. Was she holding back tears?
His mouth dropped open. “I need to know you’re okay. That my leaving didn’t force you into a doomed relationship with a guy that was no good for you. That you won’t hate me forever.”
She lifted her chin. “I know you’re only going to be in town a few more weeks, so I’d appreciate it if you’d stay away from me while you’re here.”
There was the pain and bitterness he’d expected. Aimed at him. Of course. She couldn’t be angry with a dead man. It was easier to be mad at him. She’d confirmed his fear. Her life hadn’t turned out as planned and it was his fault. He couldn’t go back to San Antonio without setting things right. But where did he start? “I need you to know that leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“Good.” Sabrina turned her back to him and opened a supply cabinet at the back of the room.
* * *
AFTER HIS BRIEF meeting with Karen, the assistant director, Tony decided to stay for rest of the day. The kids at Little Mountain were a different kind of intense than the ones at St. Paul’s Mission. He could see a little of himself in the eyes of the children at both places.
He was signing out at the front desk when Sabrina closed and locked the medical office. For a brief moment, their eyes met.
He caught a whiff of honeysuckle as she whisked by.
Taking his visitor badge off and setting it on the counter, he nodded at the woman behind the desk. “Thanks. See you tomorrow.”
Without waiting for a response, he turned and almost ran to the parking lot. He stopped short when he saw her open the door of a beat up gray Toyota. At least he thought it was gray. Wasn’t that the same car she drove in high school? It’d been on its last leg back then. How had it lasted this long?
Catching up to her, he cleared his throat.
“I’m in a hurry, Tony.” She kept her back to him and opened the door.
“Please. I need to get this off my chest.”
She tossed her purse on the seat. “You’ve got two minutes.”
Tony rubbed his palms on his jeans. She wasn’t going to make this easy. “I am so sorry for the way I treated you. And the way I left. I never meant what I said that night.”
“Yes, you did. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have said it.”
“That’s just it. You ruined your reputation by vouching for me the night I was accused of robbing that store, so I couldn’t let you take any more chances on me until...” He paused. “Until I could deserve you.”
Sabrina shrugged and looked down at her feet. “It doesn’t matter anymore. We were young. I’m over it. I went on with my life, just like you.”
“Is that what you think I did? Just went on with my life like nothing happened?” He pointed to the diamond on her left hand. “Looks like you didn’t have a hard time moving on.”
She whipped her head up to look at him. Anger flashed in her eyes. “You’re the one who left me. You have no right to judge me for the decisions I made when you left.”
Is that what he was doing? Judging her? The truth was, he was jealous of the man she’d loved enough to have a family with. Angry, even. “I only left because I thought it would make things easier on you.”
She threw her hands in the air. “How was leaving me when I needed you the most supposed to make things easier for me?”
“When I heard you tell Adalie you wanted to put college off for at least a year so you could go to Louisiana with me, I panicked. Without me around stirring up trouble, I thought the town would forget about me, and you would go to college like you were supposed to.”
“Well, guess what? It didn’t work.”
“If I’d stayed, you’d never have become a nurse. We’d both be stuck in this little town forever.”
Her hands curled into fists. “Here’s a newsflash for you. I’m not a nurse. I still haven’t finished college and I like this little town.”
Tony sucked in a breath. “Your scholarship—”
“Got yanked right after you left.” She pulled herself up tall. “And thanks to your disappearing act, people just shook their heads when they saw me. So I pulled a page from your book and ran away, too.”
“I didn’t know.” Stepping over to her, he took her face in his hands. How had things gone so wrong? “Everything was planned. You were going to finish school and become a nurse.”
“No, we had everything planned. Then you decide to leave. I have the same CNA certification I had when I graduated high school. That’s how perfect our plan worked out.”
The words slapped him in the face. He had hurt her. On purpose. And it killed him. Had he done it for nothing? “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t care. Not anymore.” Sabrina slid into the car and slammed the door.
