Page 14 of Traces Of You

It was a miracle she wasn’t more messed up in the head than she was.

Considering what she did six days ago, she’d bet no one would say she was stable.

“You were abused,” he said. “I don’t know by who, but since it happened, your mother allowed it or was part of it.”

“Both,” Reenie said. “I left when I was eighteen. I promised myself I’d never get in that situation again.”

A sigh escaped, Ford’s deep brown eyes shut.

Oh, how she remembered those eyes for years.

So caring and concerned. Always watching out for her.

There was love behind them too. The youthful crush kind.

One that she never let herself experience. Or at least admit she felt.

Why bother when she knew she’d have to pick up and move again?

One school year was more than she’d thought she’d get with Ford. Longer than she’d had other places, especially when people started asking questions.

“But you were in an abusive relationship and are running from him now?” he asked. “Oliver?”

“Yes.” She pulled her sleeve up and showed him a scar. “He broke my arm about nine weeks ago. I had to have a pin put in it. That was one of a few things he’d done. Bruised ribs was another. You know, a trip on the stairs and slid down them hitting my side on the way.”

“Why lie?”

“Because he never left me alone to tell the truth,” she said.

“When you had surgery you could have? You could have told anyone,” he said.

“I could have, but it would have done no good. I’d left him once to stay with a friend and he found me and I ended up back after he made threats to me and them.”

His lower lip disappeared behind his bottom teeth. “It’s not important now.”

“No,” she said. There was no reason to go into all the stupid things she believed and the fears she’d lived with.

That Oliver wasn’t even the first abusive relationship she’d been in.

“So you left and he’s looking for you? How can you be so sure? Coming from Florida you have to have been on the road for a few days.”

Reenie laughed. A forced one.

“Six days. I’ve been mentally planning a way to escape for about six months. Saving money and buying prepaid credit cards. I had some cash. Not enough money as I would have liked, but I couldn’t let this opportunity pass. I’d purchased this car about four weeks ago once I had the funds and was storing it with the people helping me.”

“Why not go underground to escape?” he asked.

“I didn’t want to change my name. I didn’t want to not live a normal life. But I also didn’t want to have them think I was in another country. Oliver doesn’t know my mother is Canadian. He doesn’t know I’ve got a passport, let alone dual citizenship.”

“And if he can’t leave the country, then he’s got a criminal record?”

“DUI. Possession and assault charges. I didn’t know those things until the first time I ended up in the ER.”

“What was the reason you were there then?”

“That was my ribs.”

His fingers were in a tight fist. “How many ER visits did you have?”