Page 45 of Rescued Dreams

“I’m carrying his child.” Cherry’s eyes filled with tears. “I really should stay with you.”

“I really don’t have the space, sorry.” Her cabin was barely big enough for one person. Having Ridge in there eating pizza with her had only reinforced how small it was.

He hadn’t seemed to think less of her for having a tiny place, so she figured it was her insecurity.

“The police in this town are good people. They do their jobs well.” Amelia wanted to believe that was true, anyway. Even if they had no idea what had been going on at her house. “If you have a problem, call them. They’ll get here faster than I will.”

“He’ll take me before they get here.” Cherry gasped. “I might not be able to call 911 in time.”

Amelia said, “You have to do what it takes to protect your child from him. But I’ll call an officer friend of mine and ask them to come by later and check on you. Is that all right?”

Cherry sniffed. “If you think that’s enough to keep me safe from him.”

Amelia might seem like she didn’t care, but there was something about this situation that told her not to get involved. She wasn’t part of Nicholas’s life. She wasn’t required to help Cherry beyond this. A needy woman who seemed just a little too unable to stand on her own two feet…Amelia wasn’t like that, and people who were tended to rub her the wrong way.

She was either trying to run as far away as she could from the person she had been with Nicholas. To the point where she rejected anything that seemed even close to it.

Or she’d been burned by lies far too many times, and it had made her a horrible person.

“You have my number,” Amelia said. “But you need to call 911 if you even glimpse him out the window. Or if he calls you. Okay?”

Cherry nodded. “Okay.” The word sounded small.

“Get some rest.”

Before she could draw Amelia in more, Amelia turned and headed for the door. She’d walked away from Nicholas and rebuilt her life. This woman was going to have to do the same thing. There were programs she could draw from and people whose nonprofits or organizations were there to offer help.

The idea this might be another one of Nicholas’s manipulations didn’t sit right, not with a pregnant woman. But the tiny chance it could be? She wanted to run away.

On the way out, she called Ridge from her phone.

He’d told her to.

She walked to her car, listening to it ring. Not even thinking about why she’d reached out to him.

“Hey.” His strong, steady voice filled her ear.

“I don’t have to turn myself in knots to help her. I don’t have room. That isn’t my life. It’s hers. I got out of it.” She had to pause and take a breath.

“Okay, so there was a lot there. Want to come over for dinner? We can talk about who that woman is and what she told you.”

Amelia got in her car and closed the door fast, almost like someone was chasing her. But there was no one there.

It’s not happening again.She wasn’t going to let it.

“Amelia?”

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll come over. Give me your address.”

SIXTEEN

Ridge stood at his front door. He’d told Amelia where to find the guest parking space and watched her walk from her car to the town house. She’d changed at the end of shift like he always did and wore jeans, a pair of white Converse, and a T-shirt that Maddie would approve of. Over the shirt, she had pulled on a thin gray hoodie and a black leather jacket.

Her hair hung loose around her shoulders, but like she’d run her hand through it.

On the phone, she’d sounded flustered in a way he’d never heard from her before—even with all the shocking situations they’d seen at work. Gruesome injuries. Bodies they’d recovered, burned beyond recognition because they’d been unable to rescue the person.

But it was the arrival of a pregnant woman that had shaken Amelia to her core.