Page 2 of The Atonement
It couldn’t be him.
There was no way.
And yet, every car that passed us, I worried. Every gas station I’d stopped at, I’d scanned the faces of each person I passed, convinced that as I rounded a corner, he’d be there. Waiting for me. Waiting for me with that stupid, charming smile.
Was he going to make me pay for what I did?
Not if I could help it, no.
My children needed me to stay alive. They needed me to protect them—from the world and from their father.
Next to me, Maisy stirred against the cool pane of the window. I checked on the boys again. Dylan’s mouth hung open in the back seat, his head resting against his seat belt, and Riley was all but lying down.
They would be hungry soon, I suspected. And readyfor showers. The car was caked with sand at that point, but there was just no time for us to stop. We had to keep moving for as long as we could.
I wasn’t sure where we were going or where we would be safe. All I knew was that I couldn’t let him find us.
I couldn’t let him ever find us again.
I slowed down as the car grew closer, willing it to pass me, to let me know it wasn’t following us. Instead, the driver slowed too, still following me closely despite the clear left lane.
Chills lined my arms.
No.
I was overreacting.
Being paranoid.
It wasn’t Peter.
Reaching forward, I turned the radio down further, driving with only the hum of the road noise in my ears as I searched for signs and weighed my options.
The likelihood that Peter had found us so quickly was terribly low, but I couldn’t put anything past him. How long had he had to track us down, after all? How long had I lain on the beach thinking I’d won, thinking I was finally free, yet all the while I’d failed in every way?
How stupid could I have been?
I should’ve made sure it was done.
But there was no sense dwelling on the past or hating myself for my mistakes. All there was left to do was fix things. Fix everything.
It’s what I was best at, after all.
CHAPTER TWO
AINSLEY
To my relief, the kids managed to sleep through the night, giving me enough time to formulate some semblance of a plan by the time we arrived in Nashville early the next morning.
I couldn’t take them home.
Though I suspected Peter was already long gone, I couldn’t risk it.
School wasn’t an option either, as I’d piggybacked the vacation to start before fall break, but even if I hadn’t, I assumed he’d check there.
I crossed Glennon’s home off my mental checklist too—she was still out of town, but it would also be another one of the first places Peter would think to look for us.
A hotel was out in case he checked our bank statements, which would’ve already led him to Florida, and then this direction. I’d taken out cash at every station that would let me, so I could space out my need for using the debit card, but even still, I’d left a trail.
