came here and realized you and my nephew were a
At his words, Lauren’s blood chilled. “Oh my God. What if she recognized you? What if she already knows?”
“Recognized him how?” Thomas asked.
Jason placed a calming hand on Lauren’s shoulder. This time she
“Lauren and I visited her sister in prison,” he said.
Hank’s eyes opened wide, and without warning, he reached over and smacked Jason on the side of the head.
“Hey! What was that for?” Jason raised a hand to his head, rubbing the spot.
“For being an idiot! You went to see a Perkins in prison?” Hank yelled.
Lauren’s temples began to throb. “Look, we didn’t tell Beth Jason’s last name, so there’s a chance-”
“There’s no chance!” Hank insisted. “I heard when the police raided this house last year they confiscated files on almost every citizen. Especially us Corwins. Trust me, she knows.”
Lauren’s gut told her he was right.
“Could it be that the visit upset her enough to precipitate the breakout?” Thomas asked, always the polite, rational brother.
Lauren shrugged. “I don’t think it matters what precipitated it. She’s out. She has an agenda and I can’t begin to guess what it is. It’s not like she confided in me.” She paused, thinking about what she did know about Beth. “I can tell you two things for certain.”
All three men stared at her intently.
“One.” Lauren held up a finger. “Beth wouldn’t hurt me, and two, she’s not stupid enough to show up here.” She raised a second finger.
“That’s a lot of faith in a-”
“Don’t say it, Uncle Hank.” Jason grabbed his uncle’s elbow and started nudging him to the door. “We appreciate you stopping by to check on us, but as you can see we’re fine. And we have police protection.” He pointed to the street through the side windows near the front door. “So you two can go home and rest easy.”
“But-”
“No buts. I’ll call you in the morning and check in,” Jason said, his tone firm.
Thomas nodded. “He’s right. Let’s go.” The two men had started for the door when Jason’s father suddenly turned. “Ms. Perkins?”
Surprised, Lauren met his gaze. “Yes?”
“Try to rest easy. You can trust Jason to make the right decisions. You’re in good hands.” Thomas Corwin nodded at his son. Then he led his brother out the door.
Once the men were gone, Lauren retreated to the den once more. Jason followed, settling into a seat on the couch.
She eased down beside him, her mind on Thomas Corwin’s words and the love in his expression. She’d never known such unconditional love and acceptance from her own parents and never would. But she was glad Jason had found it with his dad.
Lauren smiled. “Your father is proud of you.”
Jason glanced away. “I don’t know why he would be.”
Lauren blinked, stunned at his words. “Why would you think that? You’re a son anyone would be proud of.”
He cocked his head to one side, struggling to find the right words. All it had taken was his father’s comment about Jason making the right decisions to bring his frustration and insecurity roaring back.
Not that he didn’t think of his failings every day, but since Lauren’s return, he’d been able to put them to the back of his mind.
Until now. “What’s there to be proud of? What
“Now who’s unfairly blaming himself? Did you do drugs? Ingest them? Cheat? No, you did not. So I won’t have you trash-talking yourself!” Lauren was obviously appalled on his behalf. “Just where did this negativity come from?”
“It’s always been there. Ever since the committee refused my appeal…when I realized that nobody would ever believe in me again. I just never let you see it.” He stared out the window into the dark night. “Hell, I try not to see it myself.”
Lauren stood and crossed the room, raising her hand to his face. “Jason, you have always been the most honest, determined, goal-oriented man I’ve ever met. I’d trust you with my life. How can you not believe in yourself?”
Instead of comforting him, her words only served to remind him of his failures. His current lack of a goal, a dream.
“I don’t believe in myself because I allowed my goals to be taken away from me. And I haven’t replaced them with anything meaningful since.” He turned and walked out of the room.
TWO DAYS of tense silence passed. Two days of nonstop work on the house to fill the time while waiting for news on Beth. The insurance adjuster came and went. He took photographs to submit to the company and promised to get back to them. Meanwhile, Lauren felt brittle, yet somehow she kept moving, thoughts of Paris keeping her going. She had to focus on her upcoming debut, because nothing here in Perkins made sense.
Since their conversation the day of her sister’s escape, Jason had withdrawn. They slept in the same bed but he made no overtures toward her, and when she rolled on top of him in her sleep, he pulled away. She ought to be grateful he was giving her the distance she’d been asking for.
She wasn’t.
He’d become a man filled with his own demons. Demons she believed he’d suppressed beneath a brave facade until his father’s comment shattered the illusion he’d created for himself.
She ached for him, surprised he couldn’t see that his father’s perception of him was dead-on.
And she was angry at herself for being so emotionally invested in Jason, since it was going to be that much harder to leave him behind.
EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, Jason placed Trouble’s food bowl on the kitchen floor and the cat dove for his meal. The feline devoured the canned food while Jason wondered how even a cat could eat such foul-smelling stuff. “Better you than me,” he muttered.
He called his crew together and gave them assignments for the day while he could look forward to haggling with the insurance adjuster. The sooner they agreed on a settlement, the sooner he could begin work on the area damaged in the fire. If they finished in time for closing, Lauren would accomplish her goal, sell the house and walk out of his life. The end was near.
He was finished deluding himself and he had his father and Lauren to thank for opening his eyes. “You’re in good hands,” his father had told her.
“He’s proud of you,” Lauren had said.
They’d inadvertently brought him face-to-face with the past he’d been trying to outrun. He wasn’t over it yet, much as he’d tried to lose himself in Lauren and pretend otherwise. And when she was gone, he’d have plenty of time on his hands to figure it all out.
In the meantime, he’d been giving her what she wanted-the emotional distance that would make it easier to leave later. He’d taken a lesson from Lauren and put up his own walls to protect himself, even though he knew it wouldn’t make losing her hurt any less.
“Jason!” Lauren called from across the house. “Jason!” He started for the bedroom but she came running, meeting him in the kitchen.
“What’s wrong?”
“Beth’s doctor just called on my cell and you’ll never guess who came to the prison not long before the fire and
