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Her cry-weathered eyes lift to mine. “I want to go home.”
“Where’s that?”
“Tallahassee.”
“Does your abuser—?”
“Joel,” she corrects, making him real.
Although I’d rather call him Bastard, I refer to him by his given name. “Does Joel know where home is?”
“Yes.”
“I see.” I press my lips together. “Who lives in Tallahassee? What family do you have there?”
“My father, two brothers, and sister.”
“And do they know about Joel? What he was doing to you?”
She looks down at her lap. “No,” she whispers.
“It’s okay. I’m sure telling your family is difficult.”
“It is. I didn’t want to burden them with my problems. They didn’t want me to move here. I thought I loved Joel. We went to counseling once, but it didn’t help. It got worse. I, ah—”
“It’s okay.” I place my hand on her shoulder. “You don’t need to explain.”
“I just want to go home.”
I hear the desperation in her voice. She’s lucky to have a family to go home to. The only family I have is Aunt Willa.
“I understand, but he might look for you there. Will your family help you?”
“Yes,” she says with confidence.
“Okay.” I get up and walk over to my bag. I pull out the envelope Aunt Willa left for me. “There’s two-thousand dollars in here.” I hold it out to her.
She looks at it for a few moments. Then she takes it.
“I’ll get you a bus ticket to Tallahassee, take you to the station, and wait for you to leave. When you arrive, I want you to get a motel and pay with that cash. Don’t use any credit cards. Stay there for a week or two. Keep your head down, and don’t go anywhere in case Joel comes looking for you immediately. Then reach out to your family. Have them meet you there, talk to them and come up with a safe plan. Can you do that?”
“Yes.” She clenches the new lifeline in her hands.
“And if anything happens, anything, you call me.”
“I don’t have a phone.”
“We’ll pick up a burner on the way.”
“Thank you.”
I sit down on the bed beside her. “Everything is going to be okay, Amanda.”
She looks up at me and offers a small, hopeful smile for the first time.
Chapter 5
“What the hell, assholes!” I storm into the office.
