She wasn’t sure if she dreaded it or looked forward to it.
Looking forward to it made no sense. The man had broken her heart.
So why did something about him still make her feel safe?
Maybe part of her was relieved to see a familiar face here. That was probably all it was. Her feelings for him had long since died. Part of her doubted the truth in her thought, however.
The three women sat together at the table, the house quiet around them. Sissy had put Georgie on the floor, and she ate slowly, eyes lowered, one hand resting protectivelyover her stomach. She didn’t say much, but she didn’t seem uncomfortable either. Just present.
Millie found herself relaxing. Not totally, but enough to enjoy the food and feel the warmth of the room, the normalcy of it.
Then the back door opened.
Caleb stepped inside and called, “Morning.”
Something shifted in her chest, and the easy sense of belonging slipped away. Awareness took its place—awareness of Caleb, of herself, of the past stretching between them.
“Morning,” Naomi called back to him. “Come eat while it’s still warm.”
Millie studied Caleb as he took a seat at the table. He looked rested and steady, as if the world hadn’t cracked open beneath his feet. No, his life had kept moving forward while hers had imploded.
The two of them being around each other was inevitable, she reminded herself. They would have to talk. Work together. Exist in the same space.
She’d been through a lot. Certainly she could manage to get through this also.
Conversation stayed light as they ate. Plans for the day. The weather. Dogs.
Sissy listened more than she spoke, Georgie tucked close to her feet. Biscuit and Hamilton sat quietly by, staring longingly at the food on the table.
Millie kept her focus on her plate, her thoughts racing back to another time. A time when she was happy. When it seemed like the whole world was in front of her.
She’d had a rough childhood, especially after her parents divorced. Splitting time between their homes, listening to them fight over her, watching as they started new families and she fell in the gaps in between . . . it hadn’t been easy.
But as soon as she’d gone to college to study business, she’d become distant with her family—and they hadn’t seemed to notice. After graduating, she’d moved to DC for her job as a grant writer while they stayed behind in Michigan.
She could have fled back home when things went south with Garrick, but she knew he’d find her there.
Everyone had said she had so much potential . . . but then things had fallen apart.
How could she let Caleb see what she’d become? How could she let him know that when he’d walked away all those years ago, he’d made the right choice? That he’d walked away from a disaster?
Her life since then told a story she didn’t want him reading.
Especially not the part about the man she’d married.
She bowed her head slightly, hands resting in her lap.
Please, she prayed.Just let me get through this.
Because she was out of options. Even though she could find another job in a new location and support herself, there was nowhere she’d be safe.
Not if Garrick knew where she was.
chapter
seven
Caleb madegeneral chitchat through breakfast. Max joined them about halfway through, and they discussed the tasks and schedules of the day. It was important that their meals feel normal. That was one of their rules here.
