“Can’t we stay here and climb?” one boy asked. “Please?” Thick red hair, which stood up in back, and a face full of freckles made him look as young and untainted by the world as a boy his age should be. But the scars on his arms told a different story. Most of the students who came to New Horizons had difficult backgrounds, which was why Dallas didn’t ask what’d happened to this one. His own arms had scars that looked so similar he was fairly certain he could guess what’d happened to this poor kid.
“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “Ms. Turner rented the equipment for the entire day. If you’ll go to lunch and to the rest of your classes, you can come back after school’s out. I’ll be here until four-thirty.”
“Cool!” the boy cried, and his friends made similar exclamations as they hurried out of the gymnasium.
“Let’s walk over and have some lunch ourselves,” Gavin said.
Dallas turned. He’d seen Aiyana and Eli go with the boys to the cafeteria and hadn’t realized his other brother was still around. “Sounds good to me.”
While Eli helped Aiyana administrate, Gavin handled much of the grounds and maintenance. What his mother had created was thriving, and Dallas was once again grateful to her—grateful to know that she was still providing a safe and stable place for lost boys, like the kind of boy he’d been, to finish growing up.
Briefly, he considered coming home to work. There was certainly a need he could fill here—and he wanted to do it.
He just didn’t know if he could take the daily reminder of his own childhood. He’d been running from the past for so long, he wasn’t sure he could ever stop.
6
Dallas wasn’t home. Emery had checked the main floor and called downstairs a few times to say good morning—all with no response. It soon became obvious she was alone in the house.
With a sigh, she sat at the kitchen table and reread the message she’d received from Ethan. I miss you. He’d sent just those three words, but she nearly went ballistic every time she saw them. How did he expect her to respond? He acted as though he hadn’t destroyed her career, her life.
Maybe he didn’t care.
Her jaw tightened and her fingers itched to type a vicious retaliation. She’d never in her life been so incredibly angry. But she had to tamp down that anger and think. Only then might she improve the situation.
He’d opened communication between them. Maybe his arrogance would work in her favor and cause him to miss the trap she was setting for him.
So... What could she say that would cause him to admit he was the one who’d put that video on the internet? To tell her how things had transpired when KQLA hired him back? Was there a chance he’d let it slip that Heidi knew he was guilty of sabotaging his coanchor’s career? That upper management had turned a blind eye to his toxic behavior? Allowed him to submarine a fellow employee without any reaction—except to give him his job back even though he was as guilty of breaking the “no romance” rule as she was?
It was a long shot. Ethan wasn’t stupid. He was just feeling comfortably in command at the moment. But she had to try.
She pictured his big white teeth and wide smile, the care he took styling his hair and choosing the right clothes, as she mulled over various responses. Would riling him up or placating him work better?
She hadn’t quite decided when she received a message from Aiyana.
We’re having lunch in the cafeteria. The food isn’t bad. Come over and eat with us, if you feel like getting out.
Thanks to Ethan, she doubted she’d ever feel like going out again. The question was whether she could drag herself from the house for any type of public interaction, let those around her whisper and murmur and shoot her curious, if not damning, glances.
Would she have the resilience to weather that?
She still felt so raw. But Aiyana had said “we.” Since Dallas wasn’t home, that “we” likely included him. He’d protected her yesterday, made it possible for her to not only leave the house but to relax and have fun, even after she bumped into Sidney.
She bit her lip as she texted Aiyana back. She had to put herself out there and at least try to heal. Dallas had said it was all in her attitude, that she could determine how others reacted to her by shrugging off what’d happened as though it wasn’t any big deal. They would take their lead from her.
She’d seen proof of that yesterday. But it required more strength and determination than she’d ever had to muster to tell Aiyana she’d come when she didn’t have him or anyone else to walk over with.
Once she got there, maybe Dallas could help her decide how to respond to Ethan. Because he wasn’t emotionally embroiled in this nightmare, he could be more objective...
After pulling her hair into a messy bun, she changed into some jeans and a blouse, dabbed on some blush, lipstick and mascara, and rushed out of the house without giving herself time to reconsider. She could do this. What were the chances that any of the students had heard about her or seen that video?
The possibility couldn’t be too great. They were young and busy with school and sports. Who would point out a news clip like that to them—especially here, at a correctional school? While going to New Horizons, where most of them boarded, they were somewhat isolated.
That meant she likely only had to worry about the teachers.
Once she stepped inside the cafeteria, however, and all eyes turned her way, Emery felt she was being skewered by a thousand tiny daggers. There weren’t any girls on the boys’ side of campus, and only about half the staff were female. Of that half, most were quite a bit older. She told herself
