Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
“All this time…” Angie muttered.
“Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law,” Jason advised her. “We’re just going to sit here quietly until my backup arrives.”
“You’re good,” Angie spat. “You had me thinking that you really cared.”
“Of course I care,” he said.
“For her!” Angie surged to her feet.
Jason pushed her back down. “I’m warning you.”
“You don’t love me anymore!” The crazy lady collapsed into great, heaving sobs.
Suddenly, I felt bad for her. It was obvious that in her deranged mind she had wanted to get back together with her husband. And I was the other woman standing in her way. The situation wasn’t fair to any of us. Jason, who had left Nashville to try to escape the hell his life had become, was a victim in all this. I was supposed to be in love with him, and even I couldn’t tell him the truth. The silence stretched us to the breaking point, punctuated only with Angie’s gut-wrenching wails.
When the police arrived, I breathed a sigh of relief. Jason holstered his gun, allowing his fellow officers to remove the hysterical woman. As she was walked out, she shot him a look of pure hatred. Her mascara was smudged into raccoon eyes, her features swollen from the exertion.
Ryan waited on the porch to oversee the arrest before stepping inside to see if we were okay. “I guess I know where to find her,” he said.
Jason smiled tightly.
“You, okay?” his partner asked.
Jason nodded. “Go book her. I’ll be back in an hour.”
Ryan looked at me, crossing the room to offer a friendly hand. I took it and squeezed, looking up into his gentle eyes. Whatever had gone on between him and Ava, I could tell he was a decent man.
“I’m sorry this had to happen,” Ryan said.
“I’m okay,” I sniffed.
“Take your time,” Ryan told his partner.
Jason walked to the door to make sure Angie was in the back of the patrol car. He stood out on the porch for a long moment as the caravan of police officers drifted away down the hill. I waited on the love seat, working my hands together in a sweaty knot.
All I wanted to do was go to Jason, to wrap my arms around him, to find safety in his touch. But I had betrayed him just as surely as Angie had. I had kept the one thing from him that all men need to know when that event occurs in life. I had deprived him of making a decision. For selfish reasons, my lies had compounded his stress. I could only wait and hope that he would forgive me.
When he came back inside, he wasn’t angry. He sat down next to me without speaking, gathering me into his arms. I sobbed, burying my face in his chest.
“It’s okay,” he whispered.
I nodded and sniffled. The adrenaline was leaking away, and I could feel my body going limp. My heart was pounding. He just held me for a long time, the silence between us heavy with regret.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked finally.
“I didn’t know how you would react,” I said stupidly.
“I love you, Lindsey,” he said after a pause. “But I don’t know what to think.”
I collapsed into another sob. I really had broken this lovely thing we had between us. My failure to communicate had ruined his trust. I was desperate to know whether he wanted our baby, whether he wanted me. But he refused to tell me. Instead, he let me cry. When we had been sitting together for half an hour, he handed me his phone.
“Call Ava and Macy,” he told me.
I accepted the phone with shaky hands and made the call. Macy was in his contacts, and I asked her to call Ava and spread the news.
“I’m okay,” I told my friend as she gasped in surprise.
“Will you come sit with Lindsey?” Jason asked.
“Of course. We’ll be right there,” Macy promised.
“I’ll stay with you until they come,” Jason said, putting away the phone. “Then I’m gonna go back to work.”
“Do you have to?” I whined. It disgusted me, but I couldn’t keep the pleading out of my voice.
“I need some time to think,” he said. “And I have to sort out my divorce and get her the help she needs.”
Of course, he would still feel protective of his wife. Of course, he wouldn’t want her to suffer at the hands of the system. I understood only that he was a good man and that I had injured him. We waited together until Macy showed up with Dillon and the kids.
Jason stood to greet his friend, and Macy replaced him at my side. I fell into Macy’s arms with the same unashamed remorse that I had shown to Jason. Macy wrapped her arms around me, making soothing sounds.