Page 36 of Her Forever SEAL

“Are you kidding? Lettie is keeping this from Tom. The only reason Peggy knows, is that she’s going through the same thing.”

“You think she’s protecting Tom?” Angie asked.

“I think that she’s protecting Bree, and doing everything she can to keep her daughter safe. I think she is deliberately not telling him.”

“Yeah, that tracks.”

Sophia stood up straight and headed to the refrigerator. “I have to go and see her.”

“Sophia, what in the hell is that going to accomplish?”

“I’m not sure. All I know is she needs to know she has someone on her side.”

“You’re going to scare the hell out of her.”

“Not if I do this right.”

“They could have her under surveillance.”

Sophia pulled a plate of lemon bars out of the refrigerator, then grabbed a box out of a cupboard. “Then all they’ll see is a friend delivering baked goods in the morning. Nothing wrong with that.”

“Sophia—”

“Angie, I have to! I'm not going to push her. I'm not going to say what I know. I just need to see her face. I've seen what this kind of fear looks like, Angie. I've worn it. She needs to know that somebody sees her. That's all.”

“You’re going to push.”

“Only if I think I can help.”

“Call me after you leave.”

“I will.”

She got the girls out the door first. Lisa remembered at the last possible second that she needed her science project, which she had left on the back deck for reasons she couldn't fully explain, and Kayla's permission slip was already signed and on the counter because Kayla had thought of it three days ago and Kayla was not Lisa.

By seven-forty, the house was quiet again.

According to Angie, Tom Bowman left for North Island before seven. She picked up her box of lemon bars and was out the door by eight.

The Bowman house was in a quiet cul-de-sac three neighborhoods over. Tom's truck was gone. The driveway was empty. The curtains in the front room were closed.

Sophia knocked, then waited. She was debating ringing the doorbell when the door was opened.

Lettie looked terrible. Her eyes were tired in a way that neither sleep nor make-up was going to fix. She was holding the door like she needed it to stay upright.

“Sophia.” Genuine surprise. “I wasn't expecting⁠—”

“I'm sorry to show up like this.” She held up the box. “Lemon bars. I had extras and I remembered you liked them.” She smiled. “I can just leave them with you, if now is a bad time for a visit.”

Lettie looked at the box. Then at her. The calculation behind her eyes was fast and tired and resigned.

“Come in,” she finally said.

The house was spotless. Where Lettie looked haggard, the house was immaculate, like she had won the ultimate cleaning service from Molly Maids. It took Sophia a moment to catch on. Lettie needed something to do with her hands while she worried. Something that she could understand and control.

Lettie set the box on the counter and moved toward the coffee maker without being asked, and Sophia sat at the kitchen island and waited for Lettie to say something.

“How’s Lisa?” Lettie asked with her back toward Sophia as she stared at the coffee maker.