Page 34 of Sneak Attack

“Hilary would have wanted to still bealive,Marley. And she would have wanted me to be the one who ran in front of that truck.”

“For about a day, but don’t be foolin’ yourself. She was too damn sweet to hold a grudge and she woulda forgiven you both in time. Cole forgave himself, heck, herfamilyforgave him. Hilary woulda done it. My question is…why can’t you?”

Because I didn’t deserve forgiveness. Hilary’s if she was capable of giving it, Cole’s or her family’s or even my own parents.

I struck the match and set it against the kindling. I took that first step. I wasn’t some innocent bystander or a naive girl who got swept away with childish emotions.

I lit the match and burned my little world to the ground.

“You don’t know everything, Marley.”

“I know seven years is long enough. I know in the Bible, God uses the number seven as the number to signify completion. Seven feasts. Seven churches. Seven days to create the world He gave us to enjoy. Lots more examples I can give you. Now, for seven years, you’ve wallowed and carried a burden that ain’t ever been yours to pick up, but you done it. And it’s been long enough. It’s time to finish killing yourself with it and start something new.”

“With Cole,” I assumed, and it came out with a bite in my tone, but my nerves were itching beneath my skin and Marley’s hits were cutting deeper than the dog scratches slathered with bacitracin on my arm. She was wrong. Dead wrong about a lot of things.

Cole didn’t storm into her house that first day, take a look at me, and see my devastation. He looked at me and sawhisdestruction.

He might have been feeling bad about it now, but that didn’t mean he’d ever see me any other way.

We’dalwaysgo back to what started us.

“You and Cole were meant to be, and I knew that long before you two probably considered it. I didn’t bring you back here to take care of me and hook up with him if that’s what you’re thinking. I did it because I knew you needed it. You needed to face your past before you can be free from it, so yeah. It’d be nice if you and Cole could find your way back to each other—”

“We were never together—”

“Not anywhere outside that boulder you two don’t think I know anything about, but you were something even if you hid it, and I saw it plain as God’s love for me. But fine, you two don’t work out, okay. I’ll be at peace knowing you’rehealed, precious girl. And that’s more important to me than anything.”

“You’re a stubborn old lady. You know that?”

“I’m a woman who’s usually right. Ain’t nothing stubborn about it.”

God, I loved her.

A dog barked in the distance, growing louder and it didn’t take a genius to know who the dog was or who it belonged to.

“Bongo’s coming,” I muttered.

“Name fits him. Crazy and bounces all day long. And I bet he’s not alone, so I’m gonna head back home. You deal with the dog and that owner of his, yeah?”

“I’ll walk you.”

“No need.” She raised a hand and started shuffling away. “Know these woods like the back of my hand.” She coughed into said hand and paused.

“Marley—”

“Stop worrying, precious girl. At least about me. You got bigger fish to fry.”

By fish she meant dog and quarterback. They appeared through the path, the sun shining on them making Cole look even more like a superhero and Bongo like the crazy bouncing dog Marley called him.

“Marley. Need a hand?” he called out as she shuffled toward the path to her house.

“Not the one who needs help today, Cole, but I’m sure my time will come.”

He frowned, full lips pushing out on his tanned face before he chewed on the inside of his cheek and glanced back at me.

“What’s that about?” he asked once her silhouette was no longer visible in the trees.

Bongo ran straight to me, and ran circles around my leg, effectively trapping me from escape unless I wanted to trip over him.

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