AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Titan’s house. He stayed over last night and his mom said he could hang out there as long as we needed.” Harris looked at the door and the floor, anywhere but at her. “I thought we should talk before he comes home.”
“Go ahead.”
“I messed up. The things I said to you during that last fight...” He finally looked at her. “I’m sure you hate me.”
“Never.” That was the hard truth. Their lives were bound up together and she did not want Josh’s actions to rip them apart.
“I’ll make this up to you. I’m not sure how, but—”
“Therapy.”
His eyes widened. “Okay, sure.”
It surprised her, too, but she’d learned so much. Shelby was right about trauma, or at least made Elisa think she needed to stop beating herself up for not being okay.
“I’m going to go back for me, too. Separate from us.” For the first time, talking about therapy and getting some help sounded right and not like an admission of defeat. “I want to feel better and now I have to figure out how to deal with multiple traumas.”
“Elisa—”
She couldn’t deal with the pleading look on his face one more second, so she skipped to the question she had to ask. “What are you going to do about Josh?”
“Help him get a lawyer.” There were a few seconds of tense silence while they stared at each other. “That’s it. He has to take responsibility and your statement to the police, whether he realizes it now or not, will force him to do that.”
She didn’t care how Josh got there as long as he did. “I won’t apologize.”
“Don’t. I love him but the things he did are unforgivable. I mean, damn. I can’t help but think if I’d done something different after our parents died none of this would have happened.”
She knew his mind would go there. It’s one of the reasons they needed to get some help together. “He did this, not you. He brought all of this on.”
“You’re my concern. You and Nathan.” He turned his hand over, palm up.
“Good, because we’re going to try to put this back together. It won’t be easy and we’ll be different. I’ll be different.” Sheslipped her hand into his. “Youarea good man, Harris, but our marriage can’t be about me idolizing you and you worrying about me. That’s no way to live.”
“I don’t want that either.” He gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. “But you’re willing to give us a chance?”
“I am, but not tonight.” She dropped his hand and stood up, towering over him. “Go get Nathan and we’ll have some dinner.”
“Really?”
“After, I’m going to take a long bath. Probably have some wine while you take care of Nathan.”
He stood up, one step below her, which made them about the same height. “We’ll need to figure out how to tell him about Josh.”
She couldn’t imagine what they would say. There was no manual, no easy words, for this kind of thing. For all the reasons she hated Josh, this was the biggest. He was going to break Nathan’s heart.
“Yeah, and then we’ll learn how to be a family without Josh’s influence.” She couldn’t think of a better ending. “One day at a time.”
Chapter Sixty
Not everything had gone according to plan. She’d cleaned out Josh’s bank accounts but had also intended to steal the house from under him. Kill him and claim self-defense. Destroy his reputation. Plant evidence that tied him to Abby’s disappearance and wipe out any life he had.
Rachel hadn’t counted on Elisa stepping in to take the stabbing meant for him. That was a miscalculation. She should have known. Loyalty was an integral part of who Elisa was. It was in her blood.
If things had been different, if she were different, she and Elisa might have been friends. They could have met and formed a bond. Had coffee together. Gone out to lunch. Done all the things normal people did, but she knew she wasn’t normal. Emotions had been ground out of her. She long ago lost the ability to care about how people felt and reacted.
If onlyLauren’s momcould have stopped being Lauren’s mom and tried being hers this might have had a very different ending. But she’d been taught, through inattention and alack of concern, not to attach. Groomed to believe she didn’t deserve a family.
Josh took everything from her when he killed Lauren. Took her sister away before they could know each other. Lauren would have loved her, but Josh stole that one chance she had of a family connection, of living without the unending fights and yelling.
