He answered anyway.“Almost always.”
Right at this moment, she didn’t disagree with him.How much simpler her life would’ve been if she’d never opened the door to Melissa in the first place.
She placed the last load of stuff in the car.But how much emptier.
Would it be worth it in the end?
She knew when Tanner was about to show back up by the way Noah disappeared without a word.Sure enough, a car pulled up the long driveway a few moments later.
But when she saw who it was with Tanner, Bree almost burst into tears again.
Dan and Cheryl.
When they rushed out of the car and hugged her, this time, for the first time, she hugged them back.
“Oh, sweetheart!You’re okay!”Cheryl kept her arms around Bree almost in a choke hold, but Bree didn’t mind.“When Tanner told us what was going on, we came right over here to help.I’m so glad you’re safe.”
“And I’m so glad I will eventually heal from the bruises Mrs.A’s smacks gave me when she found out you were here and that I hadn’t really run you out of town,” Tanner muttered.
But he grinned and winked at Bree from where she remained trapped in Cheryl’s arms.
“Dan and Cheryl are going to take the twins and leave town,” Tanner explained.
Cheryl finally pulled back.“We’re going to go visit my son and his wife in Texas.Stay completely out of the fray.Tanner explained that you’re doing something important and dangerous.”
“Yes.”
Dan placed himself so he was between her and Tanner.“Bree, you don’t have to.You can come with us and the babies.We’ll hide out until this all blows over.”
She reached out and grabbed Dan’s hand, something she wouldn’t have been able to do a month ago.“This will never blow over.I have to make a stand here or the babies and I will never be safe.”
Once the Organization uploaded the software to the phones, they would be able to find her no matter where she hid.
“Okay,” Dan said.“I just wanted you to know you have a choice.”
She squeezed his hand.“This is my choice.”
“And I’m going to make sure she’s safe,” Tanner said.“If they want to get to her, they’re going to have to go through me.”
They all spent the next few minutes getting the babies ready for their road trip.Bree kissed them both tenderly before placing them into the car seats.Way before she was ready, they were pulling away.
Bree didn’t cry.Didn’t stare after the car.Didn’t let herself dwell on the fact that she might never see Christian and Beth again.
Instead she pulled on every bit of strength she’d developed from years of living on her own—strength her mother had instilled in Bree before her own strength disappeared—and turned to Tanner.
“It’s time to get to work.”
The Organization had stolen way too much of her life.
She wasn’t going to let them steal any more.
TANNERHADNEVERseen someone do what Bree could do with a computer.She had been working for nearly three days straight to try to get into Communication for All’s inner computer system.
She’d tried to explain exactly what she was doing the first day, but he hadn’t understood ninety percent of what she said.So he’d just tugged on her ponytail until she’d looked up from the computer screen and kissed her to shut her up.
He was pretty sure her fingers hadn’t stopped typing the whole time.
The woman was completely focused on the task at hand.
