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“-stop being idiots,” Lucas finished. Until that moment he didn’t know what he wanted, but suddenly the windshield wipers to his soul kicked in, clearing off the gunk preventing him from seeing who he was. He didn’t know if it was because of what he’d faced with the children who’d never seen him before or if it was because Addy had stepped out of her own sheltered world to be with him. But something had changed him. “Let Ben be angry. Let him hate me. But we’re going to talk.”
“Fine. You do what you must, but please remember that he’s fragile.”
“But he’s not broken, and maybe if his anger burns out, if he and I can find a better place with each other, he can heal from the past and focus his energies on his future. I know I will feel a hell of a lot better saying what I need to say to you both.”
“Shit,” she breathed. “Closure is over-rated, Lucas.”
“I’d like to find out,” he said.
“Fine. See you this weekend.”
Lucas hung up, swung his camera forward, and walked purposefully toward a small apostolic church across the street from Mabel’s Jazz Club. The light streamed through the elaborate iron cross affixed to the top, making a long shadow against the old street. The name of the street sat in chipped tiles at the top of the shot. It would make a nice print… and he knew what he’d call it… Redemption.
Addy watched the clock tick on the wall of her shop and tried to remember how to breathe. Ten minutes until noon and her father still hadn’t called.
“You’re making me jump out of my skin,” Shelia said, glancing at the clock Addy kept watching. “That hour hand isn’t going to magically move.”
Addy looked at her friend. “What?”
“I know it’s a bad day, sugar, but you’ve got to work through this. You knew Robbie would get out. Think about what we talk about in group therapy. Handle what you can handle. Control what you can control. Be smart. Be aware. But live your life.”
“I know but saying it and feeling it are two different things. Robbie will come after me, Shelia, and I don’t know when it will be. Maybe tonight or next week or next year. But he’s not going to forget about me. Oh, my God.” Addy sank onto a stool, trying to beat back the panic, but failing. She gasped for air, sucking in the smell of sphagnum moss and funeral parlor.
Shelia rushed over and wrapped an arm around Addy’s shoulders. “Come on now, Addy. Deep breath, clear your mind, and remember you are stronger now than you were before.”
Addy pushed against her friend. “You don’t understand. All that crap I’d been convinced would save me—that inner awareness of danger—it isn’t true. Listening to yourself doesn’t work.”
“Yes, it does, honey. Being aware and heeding your intuition is part of your natural protection.”
“He sent someone to take pictures of me, Shelia, and I never knew it. I never felt unsafe or had any prickling of awareness. Don’t you get it? I failed myself.”
Her friend’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean ‘took pictures’?”
“I found several photos in a box on my porch. At first I didn’t realize the box wasn’t FedEx, so I didn’t open it immediately because Lucas and I were having lunch together. But last night I remembered. No postage and no prints. I called Andre, and he came over to procure the evidence. He’s as frustrated as I am because we can’t do anything with it. All circumstantial, and we can’t prove Robbie’s behind this.”
“Wait. Pictures of what?”
“Of me. Here at the shop, in my car, and at home in my nightgown when I went out to check on Michael one night. Flagrant intimidation.”
“How’s he doing these things?”
“One of his friends on the outside?” Addy shrugged and tried to tuck her trembling fingers in her smock pockets.
“You know he’s just trying to get in your head.”
“It’s working.”
“What did Lucas say?”
Addy turned away. “I haven’t told him, and frankly it’s none of his business.”
“You haven’t told him about Robbie?”
“I told him about the attack, but not about the ‘gifts’ he sends every now and then. Or that Robbie might be granted parole today.”
“You got a big cowboy living next door, one who cares about you I might add, and you don’t tell him about this scum trying to scare you? Are you plain stupid?” Shelia never minced words—it was something Addy loved and hated about her.
“No, but I didn’t want to throw my issues at him when we first met. For one thing, he was a stranger.”
