Page 51 of Salvation

“Look, Soren and Sarah belong together. I’d never come between them.”

So why did you sleep with her?she wanted to yell.

“I didn’t even know there was a baby, and they thought I was dead…”

Now she was really confused. She’d spent the last months thinking Sarah was dead. Why would Sarah have thought Todd was dead?

“I got here the day you did. Jesus, Anna. What we have is totally different.”

She thought it was different, too. She’d felt it in her bones, in her heart. But what if she was wrong?

“Anna.” A soft voice came from the door to the apartment, and her head snapped up. It was Sarah, holding the baby.

Anna buried her face in her hands. God, she couldn’t face it. Her own cousin had slept with the man she wanted for herself? Rationally, she knew it shouldn’t matter. It had happened months before she’d even met Todd, so it was hardly a betrayal. But she couldn’t get past that being-late-to-the-party feeling. That gut-sinking feeling of everyone being in on a terrible secret except her.

“Anna, I’m so sorry…” Sarah whispered.

Todd was sorry. Sarah was sorry. Was she supposed to be sorry, too?

“Let me explain…”

She stood quickly. Maybe later, she could sit quietly and soak in an explanation. But right now, she couldn’t do it. Right now, all the demons of her past were welling up and taking over.

“I gotta go,” she blurted, scurrying past Sarah’s outstretched arm.

“Anna—” her cousin cried.

“Anna—” Todd called, but she hurried through the door to the apartment and down the stairs.

Regroup. She needed to regroup. She made a beeline for her car but pulled up short. It was blocked by Soren’s pickup, which was filled with yet another load of junk to give away.

The deck overlooked the back lot, and the baby started crying.

She cried, too. That was Todd’s baby. Todd’s son. With Sarah.

God, she had to get away for a little while. She needed space to pry apart the emotions that were battling in her soul. Old ones, new ones. All her recent hopes lay shattered and sprinkled with pain.

She jumped into the truck and gunned it to life. Soren wouldn’t mind. She’d driven a load to the salvage place earlier that week, so she knew the way. What better form of therapy could she find than throwing things? She could already hear the satisfying screech of metal against cement, the blast of shattered glass. A perfect substitute for screaming at the top of her lungs.

Todd emerged from the building looking so hurt, so ragged, she nearly stopped. But she’d already started backing the truck out of its spot, and making the transition to forward and driving away was an instinctual thing. Before she even had time to think it over, she was halfway around the turn.

When she glanced back, Todd was already out of sight.

Concentrate on the road, damn it!She blinked the tears out of her eyes and clutched the wheel harder.

Regroup. Just need a little time to regroup.

But no matter how many times she told herself that, it still felt like a lie.

Chapter Thirteen

Todd sprinted around the corner and down the street then slowed to a jog. He stood panting at the intersection of the alley and the main street, watching Anna leave while his bear ravaged and roared inside.

Don’t stop! Get her! Don’t let her go!

He didn’t want to let her go, but running after her wouldn’t help, either.

Neither does standing here, scratching your head. Do something!his bear screamed.

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