Page 80 of Soldier Cowboy
“Yes, I…well, Colton thought maybe I should talk to you about this. I really don’t know why or where to start. It’s not easy to talk about and—”
“It’s never easy. But if you’re talking to someone who understands, it can make all the difference.”
“Yes.” Jennifer swallowed the golf ball in her throat. “I had a stalker.”
She chose to go with the past tense because she wanted to believe Dan had given up on her since he could no longer find and terrorize her. It no longer fed into his need to control.
“I’m sorry. An ex-boyfriend of yours?”
“He wasn’t even a relationship.”
And then Jennifer explained it all, how obsessed Dan became after only one date because he’d somehow fooled himself into a deeper relationship as a fan of her podcast.
“This was…all before I met Colton, of course.” She might confide in Eve, but Jennifer would stop short of confessing he was actually her bodyguard.
Eve nodded. “And did the man hurt you?”
“I was lucky. He didn’t lay a hand on me. But he hurt my sense of peace, my self-esteem, my freedom. He may have robbed me of a successful career. I may never go back to my podcast. It’s too public and I can’t risk him finding me again.”
“There’s more than one way to hurt someone. Before my stalker hurt me, he wouldn’t stop calling or texting. He couldn’t accept that I no longer wanted to see him.”
It sounded far too familiar.
Eve went on. “I made the mistake of not realizing quite how desperate he’d become for my attention. And coming from where I did, in Stone Ridge, I was accustomed to men who respected me. Who listened when I said no. This man didn’t.”
“Did you…did you blame yourself?” The words were low and almost hushed.
“For a long time. But because he nearly killed me, I suddenly had a lot of support. It shouldn’t come to that, but it did. The police, the prosecutors, my family, and friends all explained that I’d done nothing wrong. For a while, I kept thinking: maybe if I’d just been less polite to him. If I’d shut him down immediately and been more straightforward. Or, if I’d never gone out with him in the first place. That was the tough one. It was a choice I’d made so it was easy to take part of the blame. I made a snap decision I lived to regret.” She tapped on her ear. “I lost the hearing in this ear, but I came out with my life. It took a few years to get past all the trauma because the attack left me feeling isolated emotionally. But my friends, like Sadie, wouldn’t give up. Then Jackson came back to town, and we got our second chance. I don’t like that any of it happened, but it took me on a journey. I grew and changed and feel stronger for it. Still, of course, I wish it had never happened.”
Here was a woman who’d almost lost her life and had come to a sense of peace about her ordeal. Now, she helped others, in the same way she was helping Jennifer.
“Please.” Eve’s hand went softly on Jennifer’s shoulder. “Don’t blame yourself.”
“I’m trying not to but…”
“Don’t.”
“Okay, I won’t.” Her eyes wet, she wiped them with the heels of her hands.
Eve gave her a gentle and understanding smile. “Easier said than done, I know. But work on it.”
And then Eve put her arms around Jennifer and hugged her for a long time.
CHAPTER20
“And then, finally she kicked him out of the house.” Regina completed the long, winding sad story of Cherisse and Taylor. “I know she regrets every day that she sent you that awful email. Just in case it doesn’t work out with your fiancée, Cherisse’s still got feelings for you. Not that I hope it doesn’t work out because Jennifer seems like a lovely girl.”
“Thank you, she is.”
He decided to take the opportunity of having a good phone signal to give Horace a call. They hadn’t checked in since Jennifer told him about the emails and Colton had reported back late one night when Jennifer was sound asleep.
Before they’d started sleeping together.
“Excuse me. I’ll be right back.”
Colton stepped just outside the front door for some privacy and phoned Horace, who picked up immediately.
“Looks like he left town. He told his landlord and a few other people that he’d found a job opportunity back East. Left quite suddenly. I had a feeling this would work. Out of sight, out of mind. The idiot has moved on. He’ll find another easy mark. It looks like Jennifer can finally come home. Is she anxious to get back?”
