Page 9 of The Atonement (Arrangement #3)

CHAPTER EIGHT

PETER

I checked off a list of possibilities for where my wife might be. She was home now, that much was obvious, so the list of places I’d need to check was growing smaller.

I drove to Glennon and Seth’s first, though I didn’t truly believe she’d be naive enough to go there. But maybe… No doubt she still thought I was seeking her out in Florida, or on my way back up the same path she’d traveled.

Seth and Glennon’s was as empty as it had been for months. Ainsley’s car wasn’t in the bank parking lot, and the school secretary said the kids weren’t there.

The list was dwindling.

She had nowhere to go. Nowhere to run to.

No family she could count on.

Thanks to me, her only friends were now halfway across the country.

I was it.

She needed me .

And soon enough, I’d get her to admit that.

I’d checked the bank account that morning—the credit cards, too—but there were no new transactions. No hotel or restaurant charges. Wherever she was, she was lying low. I had to respect that.

But soon enough, I’d find her.

I was a bloodhound on her scent, and I’d run myself ragged until she was home with me. And she would be home with me. Once she’d calmed down. Once her fit had been thrown and her anger had subsided.

She needed me, maybe more than I needed her. I’d learned that recently, and now I was realizing she could use some reminding.

Luckily, I was up for the task, and there was just one place left on my list to check.