Page 130 of The Me I Left Behind

Lia hugged her shoulders. “Just let it all settle tonight, Maggie. Let Julia do her lawyer thing on your behalf, and you let things happen as they will. There’s really nothing more for you to do tonight but take care of yourself.”

Maybe. And maybe not.She felt like there were probably some things she shoulddo. “I don’t know if I can.”

“Be here for the kids. That’s good for now.”

Yes, yes. I will do that, of course. But there is more. More that I have to do—not for the kids, but for myself. Things I need to know.

Julia leaned toward her. “I can see if Melinda, my therapist, can schedule a call with you.”

No. I don’t want therapy. I want answers.“Thanks, Julia, but no. Not now. Maybe later.”

Julia nodded. “Okay.”

“There’s something else I have to do first.”

Alice touched her hand. “What is it, Maggie?”

I think I need to go to Australia.

She thought about telling her—telling them all—but didn’t want them to talk her out of it. Besides, this was something she knew she had to do for herself. And probably by herself.

Unless she could talk Carol into going with her?

That thought warmed her heart somehow, even at the end of this horribly, tragic day.

Maggie clasped Alice’s hand. “Nothing for you to worry about, Alice. Just something I need to handle on my own.”

Twenty-Two

Lilly looked into her rearview mirror to check on Leo, who was blessedly asleep in the backseat. She had adjusted the mirror in such a way so she could peek at him easily while driving, rather than turn around. While that rendered her rearview mirror practically useless, she felt better being able to see him. She’d learned to effectively use her side mirrors ever since Leo was born.

Glancing at Poppy seated to her left, she smiled as the older woman’s head bobbed with each dip in the road. Lilly wasn’t surprised. She’d started yawning not long after they’d left Poppy’s apartment. The morning sun warmed her side of the car, too, which would lull anyone back to sleep.

The wheels of her Mazda droned against the pavement, providing a backdrop beat to the thoughts rolling through her head. Lilly flexed her fingers and then gripped the steering wheel, as if holding on tighter would keep herself in check. The past weeks had been a bit of a nightmare, and it was time to get out of town for a few days. Her emotional self needed rest, and her physical body craved safety and security.

She’d been uneasy after her encounter with Max at his condo—the morning she’d discovered the other woman there. Uneasyenough to hurry home and make sure all the doors and windows to the house were secure. After the day he’d grabbed her face in the bedroom, and the subtle threats he’d tossed at her the following day, she didn’t want to feel vulnerable.

But shefeltvulnerable. And she would not sit around and wait for him to embolden himself to take more serious action. The locksmith came that day—she’d called and gladly paid extra for a rush job. He changed all the locks and installed a new security system with cameras.

Max badgered her by phone and text for days, wanting her to meet him so they could talk. When she didn’t respond to his texts, he started calling, leaving messages and demanding she call him back. When that didn’t get the action he apparently wanted, the gifts started arriving—roses, chocolates, her favorite wine, lingerie….

That’s when her vulnerability quickly morphed from concern into panic.

Max’s next move, she felt certain, would be to arrive at her doorstep.

And she was right.

He showed up early, pounding on the downstairs door and demanding she let him in to see Leo, shouting threats, and cursing the fact that his keys wouldn’t work, nor his security code. She called the local police. He left before they arrived, but she gave the officers all of Max’s information—how and where to find him, his phone number, and his business.

That’s when she left… Heading to the bush to visit Freya. She convinced Poppy to come with her.

They all needed a break, she’d argued.

Poppy had said no originally, oblivious to all that was going on. “You need time with your friend. Go visit Freya and have fun. I’ll rest at my place while you’re gone. Dibble-dabble in this and that. Unless you want me to house sit for you.”

“Oh no. I don’t want you at my place. I want you to come with me.”

Poppy still hesitated. But when Lilly finally told her the reason—told her more about what Max had done—Poppy agreed and was happy to do so.